Diamonds are a girl’s best friend: Marilyn Monroe’s 24.04ct Moon of Baroda set for Hong Kong auction
A 24.04ct fancy yellow diamond that American actress Marilyn Monroe wore to promote the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes will be up for auction later this month in Hong Kong.
The pear-shaped canary yellow diamond is named the Moon of Baroda, and it is estimated to sell for US$500,000 – US$750,000.
An autographed photograph of Monroe wearing the yellow diamond will also be offered. It is estimated to sell for US$10,000 – US$15,000.
The auction will take place on November 27 at Christie’s.
Monroe sang Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes while her character, Lorelei Lee, worked in a nightclub as a cabaret singer.
The Moon of Baroda comes with an incomplete history, but the Gemological Institute of America recently determined its provenance as from the Golconda mines in India.
The mine is believed to be the birthplace of some of the most important and iconic diamonds in the world, including the 105ct Koh-i-noor and the 67ct Hope Diamond.
The Moon of Baroda was sold to Meyer Rosenbaum, the president of Meyer Jewelry Company in Michigan, in 1953.
It switched hands in 1990, when it was sold at Christie’s in New York for US$297,000, almost tripling its initial estimate.
It later surfaced again in 2008, when it was displayed at the Diamond Diva exhibition in Antwerp.
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The actress wore the pear-shaped canary yellow jewel, estimated to sell for US$500,000 – US$750,000, to promote the 1953 film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ in 1953