The ‘Emerald for Elephants’ exhibition drew to an exciting close when the most valuable elephant in the London Elephant Parade was auctioned to raise funds for the World Land Trust and Wildlife Trust of India.
The ‘Emerald Queen’ elephant features a Gemfields 678ct emerald and was auctioned for an amazing £150,000 and eight unique pieces of emerald jewellery raised an additional £550,000. A staggering £750,000 was raised in 40 minutes.
Numerous VIP’s and celebrities from the UK and India were in attendance at this glamorous auction, these included Indian cricket star Yuvraj Singh, Mark Shand, Jack Penate, Andrea and Alice Dellal and the owners of Selfridges, Hılary and Galen Weston.
Gemfields, one of the world’s leading coloured gemstone producers, provided Zambian emeralds to eight of the world’s most treasured designers, each hand picked to create the ‘Emeralds for Elephants’ collection. Each designer has created a unique piece inspired by the elephants themselves and other examples of the abundant biodiversity of fauna and flora that depends on these tropical forest habitats for their survival.
The jewellers chosen were just as diverse in their style and designs, including the renowned court jewellers to the Moghul emperors, Gem Palace from India, cutting edge jeweller Shaun Leane, high society jeweller Theo Fennell and the new talented designer on the block, Dominic Jones, all from the UK.
The ‘Emeralds for Elephants’ exhibit caught the attention of some famous faces that have shown remarkable support to the World Land Trust. Lily Cole has kindly donated her time to model the unique collection of emerald jewels and has said: ‘It is heart warming to see the commitment and work of conservationists, such as the World Land Trust, defending precious and threatened species. It is also quite amazing to see the collaborative efforts that have been put in by the public, artists, jewellers and businesses from many different spectra to contribute towards this project and this aim. I think it is so important that as we, the human race, continue to grow, develop and expand we take into consideration our responsibility to share the planet with other animals and their right to space to live and grow in too, even if they cannot articulate or fight for it themselves.’
International Cricketer, Yuvraj Singh’, Yuvraj Singh say’s ‘It’s the elephants that are the real jewels of India’ and will visit London to attend the auction and say a few words about his support for the project.
Yuvraj and Lily join the great Sir David Attenborough who is patron of the World Land Trust and offered his support by saying, ‘I have been immensely lucky in that my professional work has taken me to all corners of the world where I have been able to see first hand some of the rarest and most spectacular wildlife on earth. But the fate of these creatures, which share our planet lies entirely at the hands of mankind. It is within our power to protect them or watch them become extinct. Let us choose the first route.’
