A crown-shaped gold ring that features large 10-carats of cabochon rubies surrounded by two pavé diamonds. The value should indeed by high, due to its use of quality gemstones.
But if that particular jewelry is tied to a famous celebrity, and a famous event, it has the very reason to have a higher value, and has its price increased dramatically.
This is what exactly happened to the arguably, the most important ring in Hip Hop’s history.
Worn by rapper Tupac Shakur in his final public appearance before his death, the ring was sold for huge sum, fetching a staggering $1 million, making it recognized as one of the most valuable hip-hop artifact ever sold.
This is almost three times its pre-auction estimate.
According to a post by Sotheby's, the auction house that sold the piece of jewelry, Tupac’s gold crown ring is a creation purely from his imagination, tooled and re-tooled according to the icon’s specifications until perfect.
Sotheby's said that Shakur chose the ruby as the principal stone because the gem is symbolically tied to the archetypes of monarchy and wealth.
Tupac modeled his design after the crowns of the medieval kings of Europe in “an act of self-coronation,” according to Fula, the grandmother of Tupac. Sitting atop a diamond-encrusted gold band is the crown itself: a gold circlet studded with the three largest jewels in the entire piece—a central cabochon ruby, flanked by two pavé-cut diamonds.
And indeed, the traditional European design elements can be seen from the crown and its prongs.
And just like most rings that have intrinsic value to its owner, this crown ring is engraved with "Pac & Dada 1996," which refers to Tupac's engagement to Kidada Jones, the daughter of Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton.
This ring was made to celebrate Tupac's newly-inked record deal with Death Row Records, and that he wore it last prior to falling victim to a fatal shooting.
The ring has a history, and indeed an exceptional value to whoever is a fan of Tupac, Hip Hop, or even the music itself.
At first, the buyer remained mysterious.
Before Drake made a post on Instagram wearing the ring.
Drake spent over $1 million to buy Tupac Shakur's crown ring, which adds to his expensive collection of rapper-owned jewelry.
Through his Instagram Story, he revealed that he's the proud owner of the piece.
"UTOPIA OUT NOW MELTDOWN [nauseated face and masked face emojis]," he said as he showed off the extravagant 14-carat gold jewelry.
Following Drake's revelation, Sotheby's, the auction house that sold the piece of jewelry, also confirmed in a news release that the Grammy-winning rapper is indeed the crown ring's new owner.
It's worth noting that Tupac was Drake's number one artist for his Spotify streams in 2022, so his flex is true to his fandom.
Before this, back in January, Drake initially revealed in the music video for the Her Loss single "Jumbotron Shit Poppin," that he purchased some of Pharrell's jewelry collection.
They include a Skateboard P's 14-karat, three-tone pendant chain that contained diamond-encrusted icons of Pharrell and his two N.E.R.D. members, Chad Hugo and Shay Haley.
It's also said that Drake purchased the expensive accessory for $2.2 million in November of 2022 via Pharrell's auction website Joopiter.
Tupac last wore the ring during the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards on September 4, just nine days before his death.
At the time, the music video for California Love, starring Tupac, Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman, was nominated for Best Rap Video.
When MTV asked Tupac about how he felt about ‘losing’ the award, the rapper responded:
"No, I didn’t lose, see, ’cause I sold 6.5 million copies so I won,"Tupac said.
The rapper was wearing six rings in total during the interview, and one of the many, was the crown ring he wore in his right-hand ring finger.
Days laterm Tupac was in Las Vegas to attend the Bruce Seldon versus Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand.
After the match, Tupac was in a BMW 750iL with Death Row Records chairman Suge Knight.
At 11 PM, Tupac was shot four times in a drive-by shooting, and died a few days later.
The BMW in question was put on sale for $1.7 million in 2021.
