Buyer Pays $9,5 Million for Rare Blue Diamond From Petra Diamonds’.

More accurately, $9.5 million. A rare blue diamond from Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan Mine was recently auctioned to an anonymous bidder for that sum. I suppose the anonymous bidding could be called inconspicuous consumption.

What in the world is wrong with a very small percentage of the population of our planet? I’ve struggled for as far back as my 58 year-old memory goes to understand life and the best ways to live it and have never come close to understanding the minds of the truly wealthy.  Please don’t misunderstand me; should I ever be fortunate enough to have the ability to start fires with legal tender, I’d live in a much nicer home, with much more beautiful furnishings, located in a part of the world where the climate is perfect all year. Well, I suppose I’d have to have several homes because I like white Christmases. I’d drive a new, well-equipped hybrid car, I’d wear stylish clothes, maybe even have some cosmetic surgery–I’m vain enough. I might even buy a $550 pair of sneakers, as did Mrs. Obama. I was at first appalled by her purchase, until my wise daughter suggested that she may have been making certain that the shoes weren’t constructed by poverty-stricken workers in a third-world country and that the shoes will probably be donated eventually for a charity auction. But I refuse to believe I’d spend $9.5 million on a gemstone the size of my thumbnail unless my intention was to place it on display, charge people to see it, and then donate the money from ticket sales to one of my favorite charities.

The thing is beautiful (see below), but my sister had an aquamarine years ago that looked nearly identical. And imagine losing such a thing. Oh, wait; anyone with $9.5 million to spend on geegaws probably wouldn’t shed a tear. Well, maybe a small tear.