Mona Lisa Mega-Gem Makeover

What do you do with a 30-year collection of precious gemstones? If you're an anonymous Chinese collector with an affinity for Da Vinci, you create a 100,000-carat replica of the Mona Lisa and put it on display in a local shopping mall.

And you thought The Real Housewives had too much leisure time?

The carat-heavy creation is thought to be the most expensive replica of the masterwork and perhaps the most expensive artwork ever made - taking five years to complete.

While many strange materials have been utilized in the past as the basis for Mona Lisa duplicates - including coffee cups, pieces of toast, motherboard components and even burger grease - jewels and gems are apparently a first.

So what's the price tag for macked-out Mona? The secretive designer won't reveal the final number - which is sure to be hefty one if it goes on the auction block later this year.

In the meantime, mall rats can marvel at Mona in between stops at the Shenyang shopping center food court and accessory splurges at Claire's.

Blue Diamond Rocks The Auction Block

Huge diamond alert! Christie's held their "Jewels: The New York Sale" yesterday, and the famous Bvlgari Blue Diamond wasn't just their top seller at a whopping $15.7 million - it broke the price-per- carat barrier to boot!

What a little over-achievor...

"A world record price was achieved on Oct. 20 for The Bulgari Blue, a much-celebrated stone that came up for sale at Christie's for the first time in almost 40 years," said Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry for Christie's Americas in a release.

The jewel was purchased in Rome in 1972 for $1 million and was given as a gift from the collector to his wife to celebrate their first son's birth, according to Christie's.

How could I have left $15 million diamonds off my Jewelry Gift Guide for New Moms? The horror.
 
Do ridiculous diamonds give you 'the giddys' too? Scratch the itch with me by gawking at yet another blue beauty - this one fetched more money than any stone at auction. Ever!

Hyperventilating. It's the world's worst cologne.

Christie's Auctions $5 Million Diamond

I've got one doozy of a 'lower jaw drop' alert, jewelry lovers. Christie's reports that the storied 'Evening Star' diamond recently sold for a whopping $5.4 million, the latest in a line of remarkable diamonds to dazzle at auction.

According to a press release, the 39-carat, D color diamond from India's famed Golconda mines was snatched up by an anonymous buyer, paying $138,000 per carat for the diamond dubbed the "Evening Star" because its previous owner liked to wear it out at night.

How charming for them.

The icy rock was part of Christie's "Magnificent Jewels from a Distinguished Private Collector" sale, held Thursday in New York.

The sale of the "Evening Star" comes on the heels of the record-setting $10.8 million sale of "The Vivid Pink" diamond Dec. 1 in Hong Kong and the $7.7 million sale of the 32.01-carat D-flawless Annenberg Diamond in October.

"The diamond market continues to show remarkable strength despite the volatility of the financial world," Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry at Christie's New York, said in the release.

Indeed.

My question is: who wears these things in the light of day? Don't you have to have a body guard brigade following your every move? Or is it something these folks will just keep in a showcase for or a vault somewhere for their own personal enjoyment (which would be a crying shame)?

What would you guys do with a rock that size? Weigh in!

Rare Blue Diamond Sets Record!

Colored diamonds are coveted by jewelry lovers everywhere, and despite the economic woe affecting the luxury industry, sales for big, rare stones are still going strong.

While nothing can compare to the world's most expensive blue diamond, The Wittelsbach, which sold to diamond dealer, Laurence Graff, last year for $24.3 million, Sotheby's just unloaded another blue bauble for a stunning $9.4 million.

"The price achieved is a world record by value per carat. This will certainly increase consumers' confidence in buying sparkling stones," said KK Sharma, executive director, Indian Diamond Institute (ID

African miner, Petra Diamonds, unearthed the gem from the Cullinan mine in South Africa, famous for yielding most of the world's best blue diamonds. The fancy vivid blue gem weighs 7.03 carats and is rated internally flawless by the G.I.A. - high praise for a natural stone.

According to the Natural Colored Diamond Association, only one diamond in 10,000 possesses a natural color so strong that it can be classified as fancy color diamond, with reds and blues being the most rare.

Colored diamond fans who don't have millions lying around to snatch a natural stone for their own jewelry box, can find more affordable treated diamonds in every color of the rainbow.

Treated colored diamonds are actually natural white diamonds that are subjected to intense heat to give the stones a range of different hues - from black and pink to yellow and blue. And you don't have to have an auction paddle to snatch one of your very own.

Cure your case of the blues on Jewelry.com, where you can shop for many treated colored diamond styles from the coffers of the retailers you trust.

Then take a look at this video of the real thing. And die a thousand deaths.

Michael Jackson Auctions His Neverland Treasure Chest

If you are in the market for a piece of pop music history, Michael Jackson is having a glorified garage sale of the entire contents of his Neverland Ranch next month, and the loot includes everything from his famous arcade game collection to the actual front gates (Macaulay Caulkin not included).

Julien's Auctions has been workin’ workin’ day and night to sift through thousands of items from the storied property and found so much MJ memorabilia they had to schedule eight different auctions over the course of four days.

So what's on the auction block? There’s a jeweled glove collection – including the iconic white glove worn when Jackson moonwalked his way into pop music history. There’s a closet full of those sequined military jackets from the Victory Tour era (sorry, the Beat It Jacket is not among them). And there’s also a disturbing number of lawn sculptures featuring young children.

Oh, Michael.

Over 2,000 items are up for grabs, and the auctioneers hope to bring in as much as $20 million for Jackson, with a portion of the proceeds going to the music industry charity, Musicares.

Lot highlights, including the glove collection and a pair of moonwalk socks, are currently touring major cities worldwide. The main event begins on Wednesday, April 22nd and runs through Saturday April 25th in Beverly Hills.

What would you do if you had a few grand to put in the mix? Would you loosen your purse strings for the moonwalk socks? Or do you think the whole thing is totally 'off the wall'?

Weigh in!