Mark Zuckerberg Engagement Ring
By Devorah Isenberg 
, Thursday, May 31, 2012 3:19 AM
With a net worth of $20 billion, recently bolstered by his company’s much-hyped IPO, Mark Zuckerberg was in a position to buy his new wife medical student Priscilla Chan, any diamond engagement ring she wanted. Even a $5 million diamond engagement ring like Beyonce Knowles’ or Kim Kardashian’s would have represented the merest fraction of the super-wealthy Facebook founder’s fortune. But when Chan was seen having lunch with friends in a Palo Alto cafe the day after her and Zuckerberg’s surprise wedding, the photos revealed a completely different ring choice than we might have expected.
The three stone ring, set in a platinum band, is relatively modest and simple—not surprising when you consider the couple’s relatively low-key lifestyle. In fact, the center stone is not even a diamond at all. Zuckerberg, who designed the ring himself, chose a rare and valuable ruby to set in the center stone. While some news outlets and bloggers criticized the ring for looking cheap, with a relatively small center stone compared to the mammoth diamonds set into the engagement rings of many celebrities, there is more to the deep-red stone in the center of Chan’s ring than meets the eye. Although the ruby is not particularly large, it appears to be a Burmese ruby—imports of which are no longer legal in the United States. To legally secure a Burmese ruby today, one must find one available on the resale market—making those of good size and quality relatively expensive for their size. So while based on size alone (the ruby is likely between 2.75 and 3 carats) experts estimated the value of Chan’s ring at about $25,000, the ruby itself could easily be worth up to $100,000, depending on quality.
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| Custom diamond and ruby engagement ring |
Mark Zuckerberg Engagement Ring |
Either way, it is a refreshing change of pace to see a newly-fabulously-wealthy woman choose a ring with more aesthetic and symbolic significance (rubies are highly symbolic in Asian cultures) over the constant race to have a bigger and bigger diamond. In the week since Chan’s unorthodox choice in bridal jewelry was revealed, sales of rubies have already spiked, and prices are sure to rise as more and more brides realize how beautiful, unusual and symbolic they are.
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