World’s Biggest Diamond Rings

On the most recent episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim’s boyfriend Kris Humphries pulled out all the stops with a romantic proposal. He decorated her room with candles and flower petals spelling out “Will you marry me?” and waited for her on bended knee with a ring clutched behind his back.

When he pulled out the ring, even Kim was rendered speechless by the overwhelming sparkle of the 20.5-carat diamond ring. With a $2 million dollar price tag, the three-stone ring has got to be one of the most expensive and biggest rings of all time. But is it? What is the biggest engagement ring ever?

Before we can begin measuring the biggest rings like the famous Elizabeth Taylor ring against Beyoncé’s fabulous rock, it bears mentioning that very big diamonds often do not have the clarity and integrity of medium-sized diamonds. The rare large diamonds that also have high color, cut and clarity grades can have exorbitant prices that lesser-quality diamonds cannot get even if they are bigger in carat size.

The value of a diamond ring has to be judged not only by the total carat weight, which is determined by adding the individual carat counts of all the stones used in the ring, but also by looking at the individual carat weight and value of the center stone by itself. Additionally, celebrity jewelry designers like Lorraine Schwartz can command a price premium that is not intrinsic to the quality of the diamond itself.

As it turns out, Kim Kardashian does not have the biggest or most expensive diamond engagement ring in Hollywood history. The reality TV star and business mogul is actually tied for fifth place biggest ring with acclaimed actress Catherine Zeta Jones, whose 10-carat marquee-cut diamond ring is also worth $2 million. But these four Hollywood engagement rings take the cake for being worth more than that!

4. When you are marrying pop princess Mariah Carey, you have to show that you understand her glitzy, glamorous style. So when Nick Cannon proposed in 2008, he brought along a custom-designed engagement ring valued at $2.5 million. The center diamond is a flawless pink emerald cut stone, and it is surrounded by 58 intense pink diamonds and two colorless half-moon side stone, for a total carat weight of 17 carats.

3. When reality starlet and heiress Paris Hilton announced her engagement to shipping heir Paris Latsis in 2005, her friends confessed that Hilton was complaining about a very unusual problem—her diamond engagement ring was so heavy it was hurting her finger. After all, the oval-shaped diamond on a diamond studded band was said to be worth $4.7 million dollars—and weigh an astonishing 24 carats. That problem was resolved seven months later, when Paris broke the engagement off.

2. Leave it to the world’s greatest hip-hop power couple to choose the most expensive diamond of recent years. After Beyoncé secretly married Jay-Z in April of 2008, she began appearing in public with a ring that was just too big to hide. The 18-carat ring consists of a single flawless emerald-cut diamond on a platinum solitaire band—and is worth a cool $5 million. The R&B superstar has to be accompanied by armed guards every time she leaves the house with the ring on her finger.

1. In first place is Elizabeth Taylor’s famous 69-carat diamond. Richard Burton purchased the diamond in 1969 when he proposed to Taylor—it sold for a then-record $1 million. Since the pear-shaped stone was too large to wear comfortably on a ring, Taylor wore it on a necklace. The incredible diamond was a celebrity in its own right—it even made a guest appearance on I Love Lucy along with its famous owner. When Taylor and Burton got divorced, Taylor auctioned off the stone for $5 million that she used to build a hospital in Botswana.