Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but when a rock is insured for US$1.25 million, is 16 carats and comes from the famous Golconda mine in India, a few blokes might also find themselves getting somewhat sentimentally attached.
Especially when it has a name like The Warrior.
One of the few men in Hong Kong capable of carrying off - indeed possibly just carrying - such a magnificent gem is California Fitness chief executive officer Eric Levine.
However, the pumped-up fitness guru only got to wear The Warrior on his third finger on the few occasions when he took it out of the bank vault. The problem was, according to the garrulous Canadian, that the insurance was 'so stupid, so expensive' that it cost him US$350 every time he wanted to slip it on, no doubt to impress other sparkling luminaries such as club spokes-starlet Cindy Crawford.
So after having spent a year searching for the 'D-plus or super-D' grade diamond, and a year owning it: 'I thought it's not worth it, so I thought OK, let's sell it.'
The diamond was duly displayed at a jewellery show at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in September, with the jeweller who had it on consignment agreeing to show it to a buyer at his shop the following day.
