Explainer | Why rare coloured diamonds like Jennifer Lopez’s green engagement ring are so desirable - and expensive

Jennifer Lopez is engaged (again) to Ben Affleck. In 2002, her ring was a pink diamond. This year, it’s a green diamond – the second rarest diamond in the world

In what could be chalked up to being the ‘JLo effect’, insiders say the demand for coloured stones and unique settings and cuts seems to be on the rise

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Jennifer Lopez wearing her green diamond engagement ring from Ben Affleck in April 2022. Her ring seems to be putting the spotlight on rare coloured diamonds.

Published: 4:15am, 9 May 2022

Call it the JLo effect if you want, but Jenny from the Block seems to have an inexplicable ability to influence almost anything – even gemstones.

In case you missed it, multi-hyphenate star Jennifer Lopez has reignited her romance with actor Ben Affleck. The pair first dated in the early ’00s and were engaged in 2002. Affleck proposed with a super rare 6.10-carat fancy intense pink diamond ring from Harry Winston, sparking a new trend in engagement rings. They then split in 2004.

In what could be seen as the ultimate sign that the world’s appetite for Y2K nostalgia isn’t going anywhere, the pair reunited in July 2021. In April 2022, Lopez revealed they were engaged again.

The ring? A spectacular 8.5-carat natural green diamond, the second rarest diamond in the world after intense red.

Sotheby’s sold a 5.29-carat fancy intense green diamond at auction in October 2021 for US$3 million.

The stone’s rarity makes it incredibly desirable. In November 2009, a 2.52-carat fancy vivid green diamond sold for US$3.1 million at auction house Sotheby’s Geneva – a per carat world record auction price at the time for a vivid green diamond. Sotheby’s also sold a 5.29-carat fancy intense green diamond at auction in October 2021 for HK$23,770,000 (US$3 million).