The all-diamond ring created by Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive and industrial designer Marc Newson sold for $256,250 at the Sotheby’s Dec. 5 (RED) auction, held during Design Miami.
The selling price tops its initial estimate of $150,000–$250,000. The buyer’s name was not disclosed.
The metal-free ring (pictured) will be fashioned from a single piece of lab-grown rough and then custom-made to fit the winner’s finger, up to a size 5. That process is expected to take six months, says Ye-Hui Goldenson, spokesperson for Diamond Foundry, the lab-grown diamond producer that created the diamond that will be used for the ring.
The finished ring will be outfitted with between 2,000 and 3,000 facets, some as small as several hundred micrometers. Its interior will be cut by a macrometer-thick water jet and laser beam.
All proceeds from the auction will go to (RED), a charity founded by U2 front man Bono to fight against AIDS and HIV. Bill and Melinda Gates matched 90 percent of the auction’s proceeds, which means the ring raised a total of $461,250. The entire auction raised $10.8 million.
Goldenson notes that this is the first lab-grown diamond to be sold at an auction.
(Image courtesy of Diamond Foundry)
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