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But for her wealthy fans, Diana\u2019s jewels have become valuable collectors\u2019 items and a very good investment.<\/p>\n
Lady Diana Spencer\u2019s fondness for jewelry started early. As a teenager she wore several gold bands from her family on various fingers. On her 16th birthday, her family gave her a gold choker with a \u201cD\u201d pendant. The \u201cD\u201d became her favorite jewelry motif, and her friends bought her another pendant necklace to celebrate her birthday. In 2017, a silver \u201cD\u201d necklace thought to have been owned by Diana was sold at auction<\/a> for $8,000.<\/p>\n White pearls were a particular favorite throughout her life. When she was 18, she was gifted a three-strand pearl choker, a Spencer family coming-of-age tradition, which she wore frequently (most of Diana\u2019s early jewelry was stolen from her London flat when she was 18). She also enjoyed wearing large \u201cpower pearl\u201d studs throughout the 1980s. Kate Middleton shares her mother-in-law\u2019s penchant for pearls, and has been spotted sporting several of Diana\u2019s pearl pieces<\/a>. She frequently wears Diana\u2019s four-string pearl choker, the famous Collingwood teardrop pearl earrings, (a gift to Diana from Charles on their wedding day in 1981) and her diamond and South Sea pearl earrings.<\/p>\n Princess Diana adored sapphires, reportedly because they complimented her blue eyes. She also had fun with fashion, cheekily wearing priceless pieces in quirky ways, like the time she wore an Art Deco diamond and emerald choker as a bandeau<\/a> around her forehead. This piece, part of the Delhi Durbar Parure and originally owned by jewel-fiend<\/a> Queen Mary, had not been seen in public until Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore it at the Earthshot Prize Ceremony in 2022.<\/p>\n Despite her access to a jewelry box most could only dream of, Princess Diana also delighted in wearing costume jewelry. She wore big, chunky necklaces and bracelets when meeting with children, so they could play with her accessories. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get her out of big jewelry,\u201d British Vogue<\/em>\u2019s Anna Harvey recalled, per Eloise Moran\u2019s The Lady Di Look Book<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n As part of her divorce settlement, Diana got to keep the jewelry that she received during her royal days, but by then, she had begun to experiment with cheaper pieces. \u201cShe becomes less and less Palacised, from wearing twin sets of pearls to single strings,\u201d The Crown<\/em>\u2019s costume designer Amy Roberts told Vogue<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> \u201cand finding her fashion identity through costume jewelry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n