George Clooney’s $750,000 Canary Engagement Ring to Amal Alamuddin

May 18th, 2014 by Noam Flint

George Clooney has long been known as one of Hollywood’s most eligible bachelors – and most assumed he’d stay that way for eternity.

Though he was married to actress Talia Balsam from 1989 to 1993, after his divorce, he consistently claimed he simply was not the husband type. In fact, when asked about marriage last December, he told Esquire magazine:

I wasn’t very good at it.

Follow his split with Balsam, Clooney had a string of relationships with a number of women, including British model Lisa Snowdon, “Baywatch” star Krista Allen and former wrestler Stacy Keibler, none of which worked out.

So when news broke last month that the Oscar-winner had popped the question to Amal Alamuddin, the world was in shock. Even more jaw-dropping was the canary sparkler he chose to slip on Alamuddin’s finger when he got down on one knee in Dubai April 22.

An unusual romance – and engagement ring

According to People magazine, the stunner features a 7-carat emerald-cut yellow diamond flanked by two tapered baguettes, all set in a platinum band. This is no blood diamond, either: The source noted that the massive stone was “ethically mined.”

Apparently, Clooney had a very specific idea of how he wanted the ring to look, too. Hollywood Life explained that the “Gravity” star had some major say in the look of the awe-inspiring sparkler, which the source noted supposedly set him back roughly $750,000. The ring was designed by jeweler to the stars, Jacob Arabo (Jacob & Co), Facenfacts.com reported.

Clooney’s yellow diamond engagement ring is certainly not your standard bling. But then again, this is not your typical relationship, either. CNN News noted that Alamuddin is a highly accomplished Lebanese-born British attorney who specializes in internal law and human rights. With the infamous WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the Royal Court of Bahrain on her client list, she evidently has just as much to boast about in the brains department as she does in beauty. Still, many are amazed that Alamuddin was able to not only tie Clooney down after dating for mere months – but acquire a jaw-dropping rock in the process.

Did Clooney overpay his $750,000 canary diamond engagement ring?

To answer this question, let’s examine what we know (or think we know) about the engagement ring.

The Diamond:

1. It is 7 carat +
2. It is an emerald cut
3. It has a clear yellow color
4. Ethically mined and conflict free

The engagement ring:

1. Flanked with two clear tapered baguettes
2. Mounted in Platinum setting
3. Designed by jeweler to the stars, Jacob Arabo

A 7 carat diamond, any kind of diamond, is extremely difficult to find. A 7 carat canary yellow is even harder since canary diamonds are far more rare.

While we do not know the exact details of the diamond (and these “fine” details can mean a lot of difference money wise), from the looks of it the diamond has a pure and strong yellow shade which can imply an intense color.
Therefore, a 7 carat intense yellow diamond costs nowadays approximately $125,000. But we do know that the diamond is an emerald cut, a shape that is harder to find and more expensive than radiant then the price can easily be anywhere from $150,000 – $180,000.

There was a great deal mentioning that the diamond was ethically mined. Besides for the fact that a star of Clooney’s caliber has to protect his actions and not to be associated with “doing bad”, reading of Clooney’s background of doing good it seems to be a matter that is truly important to him, and same goes to Amal. However, this does not supposed to have a direct impact on the diamond’s price as it is the normal state when buying a diamond from a registered dealer. All registered diamond companies go through very strict regulations during importing and exporting of goods in order to verify that the diamonds are conflict free (not blood diamonds). This is thanks to the Kimberley Process.

The diamond is mounted onto a platinum setting and flanked with two tapered baguettes. Since these baguettes appear to “sit” on the shank it implies that they are of standard size and therefore the entire setting should not have much effect on pricing when it comes to the materials and shouldn’t costs more than few tens of thousands of dollars – a high amount though negligible compared to the price of the diamond.

This brings us to a total estimated cost of less than $200,000.

The unknown factor

Though the master craftsmanship of a high end and prestigious jeweler like Jacob Arabo cannot be measured and quantified here, as can easily be understood from the breakdown above, most of the price of the engagement is comprised from the price of the diamond.

So what could have caused the engagement ring to be that much more expensive?

Two “small” changes that if apply can really impact the price of the diamond are the color intensity and clarity.

If the diamond is actually a vivid yellow (instead of intense), the price could be double. If the diamond is extremely clean, a flawless diamond, then once again the price would be significally higher than the $180k level.
You can also imagine what the effect would be if it would turn out to be a flawless vivid…

HOWEVER, these factors can also go the other way – if the diamond is fancy and with lower clarity or even with fluorescence – it could be half the price.

The yellow rocks of Hollywood

It goes without saying that the Amal’s canary diamond engagement ring is special. However, it’s not the first yellow stone we’ve seen on a celebrity’s finger.

InStyle magazine reported that when Jerry O’Connell popped the question to Rebecca Romijn, he did so with a 6-carat yellow diamond ring. Romijn told the magazine that when she got pregnant, she had to have the ring re-sized, and she opted to have friend and famed jeweler Lorraine Schwartz transform the piece with an unusual dangling setting.

Carrie Underwood said “yes” to hockey player Mike Fisher’s proposal, which involved a yellow diamond ring by Jonathon Arndt that Fox News noted has an estimated value of about $150,000.

Kelly Clarkson is another star that made headlines when she tweeted a picture of her enormous Jonathon Arndt canary diamond engagement ring, which features tiny white diamonds all around the center stone.

While married to Seal, supermodel Heidi Klum sported a Lorraine Schwartz yellow canary diamond ring, which weighed a whopping 10 carats.

Adele also wowed the world when she showed up at the 2012 Brit Awards wearing a teardrop-shaped yellow diamond ring. According to Fox News, she claimed she’s not married on Twitter, but the rumors are still circulating that she’s engaged to boyfriend and father of her son, Simon Konecki.