Breakup Bling: Celebrities Who Auctioned Off Their Wedding Rings
Can you say "ka-ching"?
It was the 20-carat sparkler that represented the 72-day marriage between reality starlet Kim Kardashian and basketball player Kris Humphries. And it's now been sold at auction.
Yesterday, the Lorraine Schwartz-designed engagement ring was sold to a mystery buyer at a Christie's auction for a whopping $749,000, premium included. After months of back-and-forth fighting in the settlement of their divorce, Kim was probably relieved to see it gone. (Although, can we stop for a moment to recall how, as a bride-to-be, she gushed that it was "the most beautiful thing" she'd ever seen?)
While it's always sad to see any A-list marriage crumble, let's be real: it's not always surprising. And like Kris Humphries, some celebrities are even making bank off of their breakups. Some of these profits are donated to charitable causes while others are more privately sold. However, one thing is for certain: some of this hand-me-down bling we would seriously snatch up in a second (if we had thousands of dollars, that is).
1.Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio Diamonds are forever, right? Well, not exactly Ironically, for Tinseltown's most famous blonde bombshell who sang about diamonds being a girl's best friend, her own wedding ring from baseball player Joe DiMaggio was auctioned off along with other celebrity memorabilia. The platinum wedding band was adorned with 35 baguette-cut diamonds that Marilyn wore when she eloped with Joe in 1954. They had a tumultuous marriage and divorced soon after, but it was said that he always loved her and continually sent flowers to her grave after her untimely death. The ring was expected to fetch more than $300,000.
2.Elvis and Priscilla Presley Rumor has it that the King of Rock 'n Roll accidentally lost his original wedding band not long after he traded "I do's" with his wife Priscilla at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas Needless to say, he held on tight to the second one, which was made identical to the first. The platinum wedding band that she chose for him was bejeweled with a string of eight baguette-cut and 16 round-cut diamonds, and was sold at auction in 2006 for $90,000.
3.Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton If there was one thing that Liz was famous for in Hollywood, it was her love of baubles and Richard Burton The famous "Liz and Dick" duo married twice, but even though they couldn't make their tumultuous relationship work, they both always expressed a lifelong affection for one another. Richard bought Elizabeth this massive 69.2-carat Cartier diamond for $1.1 million — now known as the legendary Taylor-Burton diamond. After their second divorce, she sold the ring at auction for $5 million, which was used to build a hospital in Botswana.
4.Paris Hilton and Paris Latsis When you're the heiress to a trillion-dollar family fortune like Paris Hilton, jewelry is no luxury But the canary 24-carat sparkler her then-fiancé Paris Latsis proposed to her with is claimed to be one of the most expensive celebrity engagement rings of all time. After their amicable split in 2005, she auctioned it off for half of the original price ($4.7-million) and the money was donated to victims of Hurricane Katrina. (That still beats out Kris and Kim's ring by a long shot!)
5.Crystal Harris and Hugh Hefner When Playboy Playmate Crystal Harris got cold feet about getting hitched to Hugh Hefner (although we don't exactly blame her — he is years her senior, after all), she put her 3.39-carat engagement ring up for auction. To her credit, she only auctioned it away after her he wouldn't take it back. She didn't get much of a ROI: It was touted as a $90,000 diamond stunner, but it ended up selling at about half that price.
6.Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren Anyone would be mortified to learn that their famous husband was cheating behind their back, but not Elin Nordegren She simply got even. Tiger Woods' ex staged an auction of a staggering $2.5 million worth of jewelry given to her during their five-year marriage, including her engagement ring. That's on top of the $100 million she received in their divorce settlement. She really cashed in on the split!
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