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The 9.54 ct. fancy deep blue diamond ring was worn by Temple throughout her life 

Sotheby’s will auction the Shirley Temple Blue Diamond (pictured, right), a 9.54 ct. fancy deep blue diamond ring worn by child star–turned–American diplomat Shirley Temple (pictured, above) throughout her life.

The ring, which is cushion-cut and in its original Art Deco–inspired setting, was owned by Temple until her death in 2014.

Temple’s father purchased the ring in 1940 for $7,210; it is estimated to sell at the Sotheby’s April 19 Magnificent Jewels auction in New York for $25 million–$35 million.

Joburg diamonds are rare but, boy, do they have a story to tell. 

The story told by three diamonds dug up near Klerksdorp more than 80 years ago is of a time when plate tectonics were first beginning to shift deep inside the earth.

A group of international scientists from South Africa and Canada have used diamonds to take a peek at what was happening on earth 3.5 billion years ago.

The diamonds used in the study came from a collection in Museum Africa in Johannesburg.

“Ancient diamonds are time capsules. They are messengers from way back then,” explains lead author Dr Katie Smart of Wits University.

If there is a holiday gift almost guaranteed to make a recipient swoon with joy, it is a diamond. But while such stones remain appealing as jewelry, the value of certain colored diamonds has increased while traditional white diamonds have fallen.

Diamond dealers are talking about pink, blue and red diamonds as investments, citing a recent track record of double-digit returns. This new interest in such rare gemstones can make a holiday gift 10 to 20 times more expensive than a similar, high-quality white diamond. Yet there are others in the trade who question whether these stones will pay the dividends people imagine in the Christmases to come.

Now is the time to own (and sell) colored gemstones. Blue sapphires, striking red rubies, and pink diamonds made up 9 of the top 10 jewels sold at auction in 2015. Pink diamonds, in fact, accounted for a solid half of those sales. The only clear diamond to make it on the list? A 100-carat, emerald-cut stone that’s so large it looks unreal, the gemological equivalent of clown shoes. (Very, very expensive clown shoes.)

Of course, it’s one thing to be a massive colored stone; it’s another to have an equally sparkling provenance. Check out the backstories of this year’s top 10 jewelry sales, which combined for a grand total of $214 million, below.