Billionaire Widow of Banker Edmond Safra Auctions Her Jewels for Charity

Jewels belonging to Lily Safra, billionaire widow of banker Edmond Safra, fetched $37.9 million on Monday (May 14) in a charity sale in Switzerland. The gems sold for almost double the pre-sale estimate at a Christie's auction whose proceeds will benefit 32 charities selected by Safra. Sixty-nine gems in total were sold but the crown jewel was a 32.08 carat ruby and diamond-ring by Chaumet, that was sold at a world-record price of $6.7 million - the highest auction price of any ruby - Christie's said in a statement after the sale. The private collection of Lily Safra also included diamonds and sapphires as well as antique pieces dating to the late 18th-century and period jewelry. The majority were designed specifically for the Brazilian-born socialite over the last three decades by American jeweler Joel Arthur Rosenthal. Designated beneficiaries of the jewelry sale's proceeds include Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Royal Opera House in London and several institutions researching Parkinson's, a neurodegenerative disease which Edmond Safra had, and to whom Lily Safra dedicated her thanks. "I wish to say thank you, to the man who has inspired me, Edmond, my husband. Edmond, my darling, thank you" "I am floating, I feel it's one of the best things I have done in my life, is to give all this, instead of keeping it in a safe, and to give it now, thank you" The Safra couple is known for their philanthropic work, and are responsible for building Jerusalem's Safra Square and donations to the Louvre in Paris, where a gallery bears their name.