Dame Shirley and a diamond. Photo -https://shirleybassey.wordpress.com/
Dame Shirley Bassey’s jewellery collection smashed a world record at a Paris auction, selling for the tidy sum of 2.2 million euros. All the lots belonging to the singer were part of the Sotheby’s Fine Jewels biannual sale and proceeds from the sale will go to Bassey’s charities of choice.
Shirley’s love of jewellery
Before the auction, Dame Shirley said “I fell in love with jewellery when I first discovered natural pearls as an up-and-coming singer and I bought myself my first string of pearls – the first piece of jewellery I’d ever bought. However, I quickly graduated to my lifelong passion for diamonds which preceded the recording of Diamonds Are Forever. I accepted to sing the song because it rang true to me and the way I felt about diamonds then and now. Collecting jewellery for me is like collecting memories and this collection is full of them.”
Diamonds from the stars
Shirley Bassey, 87, grew up in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay, Wales. She sang about diamonds in the title track of the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, which starred Sir Sean Connery. In the 1960s, Sir Elton John gave her a Van Cleef and Arpels diamond ring with brilliant-cut diamonds raising a staggering 48,000 euros at the auction. Another Van Cleef and Arpels piece – an emerald and diamond necklace – which she bought to commemorate her first Royal Variety Performance in front of Queen Elizabeth II, sold for 174,000 euros. But the biggest shock of the evening was the sale of her vintage diamond brooch from 1905, which sold for 162,000 euros, despite only having an estimated value of between 26,000 and 35,000 euros.
It’s true to say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, in the end.
