Tiffany & Co. unveiled the most expensive piece of jewelry in its history

Tiffany & Co. continues to be a hot topic of conversation. This time the focus is on the luxurious and refined jewelry that has made the American company legendary. Sunday night in Dubai, during the fourth stage of the Blue Book, the traveling event with which it shows the best creations of the year, Tiffany presented its most expensive jewel ever: the World's Fair Necklace. What makes it so special are 578 diamonds, along with 353 round brilliant stones and 224 custom-cut baguettes (a total of 180 carats in diamonds), all set in platinum. The most valuable is found in the center of the piece and an 80-carat oval-shaped, D-colored, internally flawless diamond called The Empire Diamond, a small tribute to New York City, the hometown of founder Charles Lewis Tiffany.

Credits by CHELSIE CRAIG/WWD

The design was inspired by a necklace Tiffany made for the 1939 World's Fair, which, although in the original sketch had a very large diamond in the center, was made using a 200-carat aquamarine stone and 429 diamonds. It was priced at $28,000 (which equates to about $557,000 in today's value). The new version of World's Fair Necklace, on the other hand, is estimated to cost between $20 million and $30 million and is the most expensive piece in the history of the famous jewelry store, with the exception of the 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond, however, which is not for sale and is considered "priceless."

The one who will buy this jewel, will have a Tiffany jeweler for life to convert the piece from necklace to ring (and vice versa), simply by disassembling the Empire diamond which is not only a very precious and rare stone, but responsible. In fact, its origin is completely traceable: the diamond was mined in Botswana, cut and polished in Israel, and set in Tiffany's New York City atelier.