Jackie Kenndy Onassis was amongst one of the most famous women in America, partly due to the fact that she was, for a short period of time, the First Lady to John F Kennedy and also because she was the wife of the president who was so cruelly assassinated. But one thing that most people are unaware of is how much she loved her jewellery and the amount of incredible pieces that she amassed throughout her life.
Following on from her death in 1996 a large amount of her jewellery was sold as a part of her estate and much of it was sold for incredible amounts. One piece in particular that consisted of a pearl necklace and pair of ear clips were purchased for a staggering $85,000.
Jackie has had two incredible engagement rings in her life. The first was presented to her by John Kennedy in 1953 and was created in an art deco style. It included several different types of stones and a variety of stone cuts including a beautiful green emerald that weighed 2.84 carats along with a diamond weighing 2.88 carats. In 1963 Jackie had the rind redesigned and added an additional marquise cut diamond of 2.12 carats and a number of smaller round cut diamonds.
Following on from the death, burial and commemoration of John F Kennedy with beautiful inscription on Granite Headstones , Jackie eventually became engaged to Aristotle Onassis who was a Greek shipping industry business man in 1968. The ring contained a diamond weighing 40.42 carats and was originally a part of the larger Lesotho brown diamond found famously in South Africa. The original diamond weighed over 601 carats and was eventually cut into 18 smaller stones, of which the stone in Jackie’s engagement ring was one.
It is reported that Jackie only wore the ring twice and opted instead to have it secured in the New York City bank vault for safety. It was only recovered from its secure place in vault after her death when the ring was put up for sale alongside other items from her jewellery collection. The ring was purchased for an incredible $2.59 million. It seems such a shame that she only wore such a beautiful ring only twice.