Diamond Sale Makes Marshals History

Published on 24/06/08

A platinum diamond ring has become the most expensive piece of jewellery ever to be auctioned by the US Marshals Service.

The diamond jewellery, which was seized in a 2007 embezzlement case, fetched $1.7 million (£863,000) when bidding closed last week, reports Cleveland.com

Before the auction, the Marshals Service valued the Graff 11.88-carat diamond ring at just $875,000.

Lisa Black, a property management specialist in the Marshals Service's asset forfeiture department, tells the website: "I was watching every second of the ring sale. Once it surpassed the million-dollar mark, my heart kept beating faster and faster."

Another Graff ring in the collection, priced at $88,875, sold for $111,226.

In other jewellery sale news, a solitaire diamond ring fetched £5,600 in an Angus, Scotland auction house last weekend. Another piece in the collection - a diamond brooch - sold for £3,200 at the same Saturday sale.