A gold, diamond, and ruby ring designed and owned by rap legend Tupac Shakur created the record nearly 30 years after his 1996 death. Not only did the 14-carat custom-made ring sell for a whopping $1,016,000 at a Sotheby’s auction, it was purchased by celebrated musician Drake. Champagne Papi took home the “most valuable hip-hop artifact ever sold at auction,” per Sotheby’s.
The ring was last spotted on the New York-born rapper during his final public appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 4, 1996, a few days before his death. It was an ode to his relationship with former beau Kidada Jones, with the words “Pac & Dada, 1996” inscribed on the band. The ring went under the hammer for triple its $300,000 estimate.
Yaasmyn Fula, the hitmaker’s godmother, provided the piece to the auction house. She said, “Tupac’s gold crown ring is a creation purely from his imagination, tooled and re-tooled according to the icon’s specifications until perfect. Reflecting his recent affinity for Niccolo Machiavelli’s political manifesto, The Prince—Tupac would start going by “Makaveli” after reading The Prince while incarcerated—Tupac modeled his design after the crowns of the medieval kings of Europe in ‘an act of self-coronation.”
“This one-of-a-kind, custom ring was meticulously designed by Pac and is among the final products of his boundless creative energy — a unique artifact from a period of time that is a testament to his enduring influence on hip-hop,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science & popular culture, said in a statement. The Hotline Bling singer flaunted his pricey possession on an Instagram Story holding the ring. Sotheby’s confirmed that the Canadian rapper was the one to purchase the valuable piece of jewelry.
