Yours for £500k... the sapphire ring of crazed Caligula
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A SOLID sapphire ring thought to have graced the finger of notorious Roman Emperor Caligula is on sale for half a million pounds.
The maniacal ruler, assassinated in 41AD after four years on the throne, is remembered for bizarre antics including trying to make his horse a senator.
But he also made many enemies by draining Rome’s treasury with excessive spending, including on gems, as he maintained an utterly debauched lifestyle.
The sky-blue sapphire ring is a hololith – meaning it has been carved from a single piece of stone. And the face engraved on it is thought to be Caligula’s fourth and final wife, Caesonia, said to be so beautiful that he paraded her naked in front of his troops.
The ring was previously part of the Marlborough Gems collection and is now owned by Wartski, jewellers to the Queen and Prince Charles. It will be the star feature in a London show of engraved gems next week that is drawing global attention.
Wartski director Kieran McCarthy said: “It is crafted entirely of sapphire.Very few hololiths exist and I would argue this is the best example you can find.
“We believe it belonged to the debauched Emperor Caligula and the engraving shows Caesonia.
“The gems at the exhibition have prices ranging from £5,000 to £500,000. While we don’t want to disclose its price out of discretion for buyers, this gem is at the top end of that range.”
Caligula succeeded his uncle Tiberius as Emperor in 37AD.
His catastrophic campaigns included an attempt to invade Britain in 40AD. It got as far as the Channel, where he ordered his troops to simply gather seashells to take back to Rome.
Caligula’s own Praetorian Guard finally had enough of his bizarre behaviour and killed him in 41AD, along with Caesonia and their daughter Julia.
His life was portrayed in the controversial 1979 film Caligula, produced by men’s magazine Penthouse and starring Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and Sir John Gielgud.
The sapphire ring was in the collection of the Earl of Arundel from 1637 to 1762. It then joined the Marlborough Gems, a set of 800 engraved jewels amassed by George Spencer, 4th Earl of Marlborough. The 7th Duke of Marlborough sold them in 1875 to pay for repairs to the ancestral home of Blenheim Palace.
The ring eventually emerged at Sotheby’s in London in 1971, fetching £750, then featured in a French private collection before Wartski acquired it.
At present, only a quarter of the Marlborough Gems are accounted for.