One of the highlights of Christie's Magnificent Jewels auction on November 29th in Hong Kong is likely to be a "set of multi gems gaming chips" designed and created by the Swedish artist and jeweller Kristian Ståhl. The outer frames of the 120 chips included in the set are made of 18K white gold and are set with a total of 5,160 calibrated top-quality gems, including diamonds, rubies and sapphires. But what makes the set unique is that each chip is created from a calibrated circular slice from the Muonionalusta meteorite which fell to Earth almost one million years ago.
Stahl, who gained recognition in the global luxury industry in 2004 with The Tailormade Audi project, is an artist, jeweller and gem dealer who creates 'out of the box' luxury projects. He said the idea for the gem-set gaming chips came about after he had crafted a set of dice made from Siberian mammoth ivory, which were successfully auctioned at Sotheby's Hermitage Gala Dinner in London in 2010.
"The creation of the gaming set has been a long process," Ståhl recalled. "However, it was only when I encountered a piece of meteorite from a remote part of northern Sweden called Muonionalusta, that I hit upon the idea of how to make each of the chips truly unique, by integrating in each chip a circular slice of etched meteorite," he said.
"The meteorite crashed into a remote part of northern Sweden, called Muonionalusta, almost one million years ago," Ståhl noted. It's made of iron and nickel, along with some other exotic metals and rare earth minerals. All together these are the main ingredients needed to produce man-made steel - or 'Ståhl' in Swedish. "The appeal and the challenge were too exciting to pass up," he said.
"Hong Kong is the right location to auction this unique set," Ståhl said. "There's a collector out there who is going to buy this set, knowing that this piece is a sure bet and not a gamble."
STÅHL - Bespoke Jewels, Showroom Stockholm: appointment only
Phone: +46 8 661 01 00 Mail: info@stahlstockholm.com
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