March 31, 2026

A Girl's Best Friends: The World's Most Expensive Engagement Rings

Few objects in the world symbolize wealth as completely as diamond rings. While some propose with a twisted wire from a champagne bottle, others spare no expense when it comes to expressing their affection. Rare and exquisite jewelry becomes a good investment, appreciating in value with each passing year. In both the literal and figurative sense, a diamond engagement ring is a guarantee of the groom's steadfast feelings. This article is for those who love beautiful stones and want to peek into the world of the planet's wealthiest people. Our list won't disappoint.

9th Place: Bvlgari Blue

$15.7 million

Bvlgari Blue is a masterpiece adorned with a rare blue diamond (10.95 carats) and mirrored white diamonds (9.87 carats). The rich color and unique shape of the main stone make it a treasure of global significance, possessing both artistic and historical value.

This story began with love. A European collector gave it to his wife on their son's birthday, paying $1 million for it. This happened in 1972 in Rome. Nearly 40 years later, the family put their "precious" up for sale. Bvlgari Blue is the largest blue diamond ever offered at Christie's auction. On October 20, 2010, the ring sold for $12 million.

8th Place: Perfect Pink

$23.2 million

Perfect Pink is the embodiment of elegance, featuring an intensely vivid pink diamond weighing 14.23 carats. The rose and white gold setting with two white diamonds on either side creates a restrained and elegant look.

The stone earned its "perfect" quality rating for good reason — it has no internal flaws whatsoever. Adding to its value is the fact that pink diamonds are very rarely larger than 0.20 carats, and that the Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia has closed. It was the supplier of 90% of all pink diamonds to the world market. In Christie's 200-year auction history, only 18 stones have received such a rating. Perfect Pink became the most expensive piece of jewelry ever sold in Asia.

7th Place: Winston Blue

$23.8 million

Winston Blue is an example of a vivid blue diamond, one of the rarest colors in the world. This pear-shaped treasure weighing 13.22 carats sits at the center of a magnificent setting. This is the first ring on our list that was conceived and sold as an engagement ring.

The price paid by American jewelry company Harry Winston was approximately $1.8 million per carat, a world record for diamonds of this color. After the purchase, Harry Winston said in an interview that acquiring unique gemstones would now become his life's goal. So ancient minerals drive not only women but men crazy too!

6th Place: Graff Pink

$46.1 million

This is a vivid pink diamond (24.78 carats) with a classic emerald cut in a strict platinum setting. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) classified it as Type IIa — these are "pure," "100 percent" diamonds without nitrogen atoms in the crystal lattice. Among all the world's diamonds, only about 1–2% are of this type. But it's what happened to this stone in the hands of jewelers that makes it a true craft masterpiece.

Like Winston Blue, it simply mesmerized its new buyer. Laurence Graff purchased this stone in 2010 from Harry Winston, who had owned it for over 60 years. He bought it and immediately... had it recut! According to Graff Diamonds, the diamond had about 25 natural flaws. Now the stone weighs 23.88 carats and is considered flawless. "The risks were enormous," states the Graff Diamonds website. "One wrong move and the diamond could have shattered into pieces, scattering its fragments across the workshop floor."

Eliminating flaws wasn't Graff's only goal. He also sought to increase the color intensity. Only a few cutters in the world are capable of such work! From the name, it's clear that Graff gave the stone not only a new cut and color but also a name.

5th Place: Pink Promise

$32.5 million

Pink Promise is a pristine oval-shaped pink diamond weighing 14.93 carats. This unique piece became world-famous in 2017 when it was put up for auction at Christie's. The Pink Promise ring has been called "the Picasso of pink diamonds."

The new buyer preferred to remain anonymous, but the previous owner, jeweler and gemologist Stephen Silver, revealed that before the sale, he too decided on recutting to achieve better color ratings — and he wasn't wrong. The value increased exponentially. The risk paid off, and another star lit up in the sky of world-famous rings.

4th Place: Grace Kelly's Engagement Ring

$38.8 million

This ring is inseparable from its famous owner. The emerald-cut diamond (10.47 carats) on a platinum band by Cartier cost Prince Rainier $4 million. Now, thanks to the dazzling Princess of Monaco, it's worth somewhat more.

This ring is also notable for appearing in Grace's final film for MGM — "High Society" (1956). The jewel still belongs to the House of Grimaldi to this day.

3rd Place: Blue Moon of Josephine

$48.5 million

Blue Moon of Josephine is a true jewelry marvel, featuring a flawless cornflower blue diamond weighing 12.03 carats. As a reminder, this shade of blue is the rarest among diamonds.

The stone was discovered in 2014 at the Cullinan mine (South Africa). The cutting took six months! Immediately after, it was purchased by Hong Kong billionaire and devoted, loving father Joseph Lau for his daughter Josephine.

2nd Place: Oppenheimer Blue

$57.5 million

Oppenheimer Blue is a platinum ring featuring one of the world's largest blue diamonds (14.62 carats). Rectangular cuts are the best choice for this type of colored stone, since losses when creating rounded shapes can exceed 50%. Many blue diamonds have a slight gray tint or uneven saturation with colorless patches showing through, but Oppenheimer Blue has an even, dense, pure blue color, making it a true wonder of nature.

The name comes from the family that owned part of the famous jewelry company De Beers. Presumably, Sir Philip Oppenheimer acquired it as a gift for his wife Pamela Fenn Stirling. Commenting on the auction where the stone sold for a record $57.5 million, Christie's Asia Pacific and China Chairman François Curiel said: "Sir Philip could have had any diamond he wanted. But he chose this one." Two telephone bidders competed for the lot; the identity of the new buyer remains undisclosed.

1st Place: Pink Star

$71.2 million

Pink Star was one of the world's largest minerals in the category of flawless, naturally colored rough diamonds. And now it's a symbol of absolute luxury. It was mined at one of De Beers' mines. Original weight: 132.5 carats; after cutting: 59.6 carats. Steinmetz Diamonds spent 2 years on this work of art.

In 2014, the stone was sold at Sotheby's auction for $83.2 million to American jeweler Isaac Wolf, who gave it the name The Pink Dream. For some reason, he couldn't fulfill his purchase obligations, and the stone was put up for auction again. And sold again, for a mere pittance — $71.2 million to Hong Kong company Chow Tai Fook Enterprises.

"Lord of the Rings"

$70 million

In 2011 at the Bottaccio exhibition in London, Swiss jewelry house Shawish presented The World's First Diamond Ring. The price was announced immediately at the event: $70 million, but no buyers appeared that day. The very idea of simply drilling a hole through a diamond was somewhat absurd, yet sensational. The main difficulty in making such monolithic rings is the material's fragility — if you choose the wrong cutting angle, you can lose the entire stone. Brothers Mohammed and Mehdi Shawish spent an entire year making it. The innovative laser technology is patented. The result: 150 carats (1 ounce) and 90 facets sparkling with all the colors of the rainbow. Incidentally, the piece was conceived and created as a symbol of love and marriage — meaning this ring is a wedding band.

Sadly, the company was never able to explain the diamond's origin, and only a replica of the ring traveled on the sales "tour" (the original is allegedly kept in a secret bank vault). That's why some experts concluded that this was more likely a clever PR stunt to draw attention to an obscure brand rather than a breakthrough in technology.

Svetlana Tsyganokauthor

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