World’s Most Expensive Doll: Barbie by Stefano Canturi, $500,000

For someone who’s over 50 years old and still looks like she’s in her early 20s – like Barbie –, the saying “diamonds are a girl’s best friends” seems truer than ever, since neither of them will ever age.

To celebrate the iconic Barbie doll, whose popularity throughout the years has only come to grow, Mattel commissioned designer Stefano Canturi to do something fancy.

Since diamonds on a beautiful girl, complimented by a similarly gorgeous outfit, is as fancy as it gets, Canturi created a special Barbie doll that will most likely sell for half a million dollars.

According to the press release sent out to members of the media (via Hollywood Outbreak), this Barbie is not special only because of the $500,000 price tag – but also because she’s unique.

The doll will go up for auction at Christie’s in New York and will fetch between $300,000 and $500,000. What’s even better, all the proceeds will go to charity.

The money will go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, in recognition of Breast Cancer Month, it has been announced.

This, if possible, adds even more charm to this one of a kind doll.

“Stefano Canturi was invited by Mattel to create a historical concept to highlight how iconic Barbie has been throughout her 50 years. The result is Barbie by Stefano Canturi, the rarest and most valuable Barbie ever created,” the press release says.

“Her blonde hair styled in an updo, wearing an openwork variously-cut diamond collar necklace, centering upon a cut-cornered modified square-cut fancy vivid purplish pink diamond, weighing approximately 1.00 carat, and a diamond ring, to her black strapless party dress and pink peep-toe stilettos Designed by Stefano Canturi,” the same release reads.

Asked about how he came up with the idea to make this Barbie doll, Canturi says all he had to do was take a look back at the long Barbie history to find inspiration.

“I wanted the jewelry design to pay homage to Barbie’s modern yet timeless style over the ages,” Stefano Canturi says. The design was inspired by Cubism. 

The bidding for the Barbie doll by Stefano Canturi ends on October 20, 2010.