Mona Lisa's Mega-Gem Makeover

What do you do with a 30-year collection of precious gemstones? If you're an anonymous Chinese collector with an affinity for Da Vinci, you create a 100,000-carat replica of the Mona Lisa and put it on display in a local shopping mall.

And you thought The Real Housewives had too much leisure time?

The carat-heavy creation is thought to be the most expensive replica of the masterwork and perhaps the most expensive artwork ever made - taking five years to complete.

While many strange materials have been utilized in the past as the basis for Mona Lisa duplicates - including coffee cups, pieces of toast, motherboard components and even burger grease - jewels and gems are apparently a first.

So what's the price tag for macked-out Mona? The secretive designer won't reveal the final number - which is sure to be hefty one if it goes on the auction block later this year.

In the meantime, mall rats can marvel at Mona in between stops at the Shenyang shopping center food court and accessory splurges at Claire's.

Blue Diamond Rocks The Auction Block

Huge diamond alert! Christie's held their "Jewels: The New York Sale" yesterday, and the famous Bvlgari Blue Diamond wasn't just their top seller at a whopping $15.7 million - it broke the price-per- carat barrier to boot!

What a little over-achievor...

"A world record price was achieved on Oct. 20 for The Bulgari Blue, a much-celebrated stone that came up for sale at Christie's for the first time in almost 40 years," said Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry for Christie's Americas in a release.

The jewel was purchased in Rome in 1972 for $1 million and was given as a gift from the collector to his wife to celebrate their first son's birth, according to Christie's.

How could I have left $15 million diamonds off my Jewelry Gift Guide for New Moms? The horror.
 
Do ridiculous diamonds give you 'the giddys' too? Scratch the itch with me by gawking at yet another blue beauty - this one fetched more money than any stone at auction. Ever!

Hyperventilating. It's the world's worst cologne.

Ruby Ring Brings in Millions

Jewelry hounds, I've found the 'covet of the day' bling for your drooling pleasure.

Recently both Christie's and Sotheby's held successful jewelry auctions, with diamonds, emeralds and pearls exchanging hands for millions. But this particular gem caught my eye - a stunner of a ruby ring once owned by philanthropist (aka: filthy rich) eccentric, Isabella Stewart Gardner.

Mounted in platinum, the cushion-cut ruby ring weighs 8.66 carats and is flanked by single-cut diamonds weighing approximately .12 carats. The piece sold at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels sale for (wait for it....) $2.098 million (!) with a pre-sale estimate of only $1 million to $1.5 million.

According to Luxist, Gardner was a visionary patron of the arts whose personal collection of fine jewelry and decorative art is housed in her former home, now an esteemed Boston museum, called the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She was strong-minded and intellectually curious and enjoyed her reputation in Victorian era Boston for leading an avant-garde lifestyle - with a particular penchant for rubies.

This particular ruby was originally purchased with a $50,000 inheritance given to Gardner by her brother when he died as a token of remberance. Now many decades (and quite a few zeros) later, some lucky bidder walked away with her sentimental stone - and let's hope a few body guards for good meausre.

What kind of jewelry would you buy with $50,000? Are you a diamond diva or a gemstone kinda gal? Weigh in!