Word: carat
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...girl's best friend can be a politician's worst enemy. Last week the French satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné charged that President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, while serving as Finance Minister six years ago, had accepted a 30-carat tray of diamonds worth $240,000 from Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who was deposed as Emperor of the Central African Republic last month. There is no law prohibiting French politicians from accepting such largesse. The Elysée Palace, in fact, while trying to minimize what it called the "nature...
Precious stones are also being snatched up, though unwary investors can lose disastrously. In the past year, high-grade "investment diamonds" of one carat or more have risen 45% in value and now often sell for $31,000 per stone. But smaller and flawed gems, which are normally sold only for jewelry to hide the imperfections, may be poor buys; four quarter-carat, lesser-quality stones are usually worth much less than a single good-quality, one-carat stone...
...ailing leg, and Fawcett was forced to hobble on crutches to watch a contest selecting her Israeli lookalike. About the only hosts unhappy over her tour were some members of the diamond exchange in Tel Aviv, where normally frantic trading halted while the golden girl oohed over a 17-carat diamond worth $1.5 million. "She cost us a lot of money," growled one trader on the exchange...
...Elizabeth Taylor's fifth husband wowed her with the gift of a rare and incredible gem: a $1.2 million, 69.42-carat diamond. Now that Richard Burton has gone his way and Taylor is married to John Warner, the apricot-size gem has, for Burton at least, become love's labor's cost. Taylor, taking advantage of changing markets as well as men, quietly sold the stone for nearly $3 million to New York City Jeweler Henry Lambert. Two bidders, neither of them American, are dealing with Lambert for the clear white, 58-facet stone. Both want...
...amuses its millionaire patrons with tongue-in-checkbook "ultimate gifts" in its Christmas catalogue. Among this year's offerings: a professionally filmed documentary of your life for $50,000, a private island and lighthouse in the Pacific for $750,000, your wife's weight in loose 10-carat diamonds at $4 million per lb. and an offshore oil rig, capable of drilling in 300 ft. of water, for $28.7 million...