The Goods | JEWELLERY
GENIUS AT WORK
Top Of The Rock Tiffany & Co takes its high jewellery to new heights with an extraordinary necklace celebrating the house’s Manhattan roots. Words: Paige Reddinger
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JUNE 2022
THERE’S BEEN NO shortage of jawdropping jewels coming out of the workshop of Tiffany & Co during its 184 years in business. Notable among them is the company’s 128-carat yellow-diamond necklace worn by Audrey Hepburn, Lady Gaga and, most recently, Beyoncé. But sadly for collectors and celebrities alike, the piece has never been for sale. Poised to rival that bijou’s fame, however, is the new World’s Fair Necklace, set with more than 175 carats of diamonds. Valued at a skyscraping US$20 million to US$30 million, it’s the most expensive and elaborate creation the jeweller has offered to prospective clients. The company honours its 1939 version in the design of the contemporary edition. Created, as its name suggests, for the World’s Fair in Queens, New York, during the art deco era, the original was set with an over 200-carat aquamarine at its heart. The necklace’s release also coincided with the debut of Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue boutique, which opened its doors for the first time in 1940. In a full-circle moment, the 2022 version will make its entrance this autumn (assuming it doesn’t sell to a collector before it arrives), timed to the reopening of the jeweller’s New York City flagship after a three-year-long renovation to the space. This time around, the piece has been reconceived with an 80-carat, D-colour, internally flawless diamond, dubbed the Empire Diamond, at its centre. And for the first time, the stone can be popped out of its cage and put into the setting of an accompanying ring. According to the company, the original necklace’s whereabouts are unknown, making the 2022 edition an even more valuable slice of high-jewellery history.
