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Famous Sapphires

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Lady Diana Spencer and Charles, Prince of Wales, became engaged in February 1981. Her engagement ring consists of 14 solitaire diamonds surrounding a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in 18-karat white gold. It was created by jeweler Garrard and cost at the time, 28,000 pounds sterling. Diana's selection of this ring was unusual. It was neither custom-made nor unique and was, at the time of her engagement to Charles, featured in Garrard's jewellery collection and available to anyone for purchase. Some commentators say Diana selected it because it reminded her of her mother's engagement ring. Jewellery historian Leslie Field stated: "She [Diana] had obviously already said she would like a sapphire; she had half a dozen rings [to select from] and she chose this one purely because she liked it." Fields continued: "Somebody came up with the story that she immediately went for the biggest, but I asked her and she told me it definitely wasn't the