150-Carat All-Diamond Ring Breaks Records

Shawish Jewelers of Switzerland has just unveiled the world’s first diamond ring. For anyone who thinks that can’t possibly be true, that diamond rings have surely been around for centuries and practically every woman will own one at some point in her life, consider this: every other so-called “diamond ring” in the world is made of gold, platinum or another precious metal and set with a diamond as adornment. This ring, unveiled this week by Swiss jeweler Mohamed Shawish, is made of a diamond—that is, carved entirely from a single enormous loose diamond stone.

Shawish explained that he created the ring—which weighs a hefty 150 carats—from a single stone using a combination of traditional diamond cutting techniques as well as laser cutters, a process which took over a year to plan and execute. The ring is currently copyrighted and is being scheduled to go up for auction—experts predict it will net at least $70 million and will likely be purchased by a private collector.

This unusual style of ring—in which the shank and crown are carved from a single continuous stone—is not incredibly rare, and has actually become somewhat of a popular trend in costume jewelry in recent years. Synthetic stones are often used to create the effect, due to the prohibitive cost of using a genuine gemstone that large for this purpose, although rings in this style are available made of jade.