Seeing Green: Sotheby's Sell Ancient Pair of Glasses with Emerald Lenses
September 19, 21
(IDEX Online) - Two pairs of ancient jewel-encrusted glasses - one with emerald lenses, the other with diamonds - will be sold by Sotheby's New York next month.
Both pairs carry estimates of $2.1m to $3.5m.
They are believed to have belonged to members of the Mughal Empire, which ruled over the Indian subcontinent during the 17th century.
The "Gate of Paradise" glasses (pictured) have lenses believed to have been cut from a Colombian emerald weighing over 300 carats.
The lenses in the "Halo of Light" spectacles, are thought to come from a single 200-carat diamond found in the famed Golconda region.
"As far as we know, there are no others like them," Edward Gibbs, chairman of Sotheby's Middle East and India, told CNN.
Cutting the lenses would have required "extraordinary technical skill and scientific mastery," he said.