People News

Ellen Barkin nets $20 Million in sale of jewels

By Stone Martindale Oct 11, 2006, 18:33 GMT

Diamonds are a girl's best friend! Actress Ellen Barkin has sold her jewels she accumulated during her six-year marriage to billionaire Ron Perelman that ended this last winter, selling more than 100 pieces at Christie's New York on Tuesday – for a total of $20,369,200, including commission, reports Reuters. Barkin's bauble sale from the Revlon chieftain included her wedding band, which pre-sale estimates had placed at $50,000. Instead, the ring fetched $130,000, reports New York's Daily News. Good return on investment.People magazine reports in its Oct. 9 issue, Perelman had given Barkin many significant gems, including her first strand of pearls and a lollipop-size 22.76-carat diamond ring. But after he surprised her with divorce papers, she told The New York Times, "these are just not memories I want to wear."Barkin held the auction of jewels by Bulgari, Cartier, and 17 from JAR, by Joel Rosenthal, who makes only 70 to 80 pieces a year.During Tuesday's sale, three individual items broke the $1 million barrier: a diamond oval-cut 22.76 carat ring by JAR (more than $1.8 million), a rectangular-cut 30.8 carat diamond ring ($1.47 million), and a pair of diamond bangles, also by JAR, (slightly more than $1.13 million)."She was very, very pleased," Francois Curiel, chairman of Christie's Europe and its international head of jewelry, told Reuters about Barkin's reaction.