Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** This report details the valuation of jewelry seized from former Prime Minister Zapatero, with a diamond-and-emerald necklace appraised at €278,000 as the most valuable piece.
Ansorena Concludes That Zapatero’s Most Valuable Jewelry Piece Is a Necklace ‘Studded with Diamonds’ and ‘Zambian Emeralds’: Valued at €278,000
The second most valuable piece in the jewelry collection seized from the former Prime Minister is another 18-karat white gold necklace topped with ’13 sapphires’ from Thailand.
E.M.
Esteban Urreiztieta
Madrid, Spain
Updated: Friday, June 12, 2026 – 14:16
Judge Calama opens a separate investigation into Zapatero for tax and smuggling offenses related to the jewelry found during the search of his office.
Luis Arroyo, Zapatero’s spokesperson, apologizes for ‘having misled’ regarding the value of the jewelry found in the former president’s office.
The jewelry house Ansorena concludes that the most valuable piece among the jewelry seized from José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is a white gold necklace ‘studded with diamonds’ topped with ‘two natural emeralds’ from Zambia. This single piece is valued at €278,000.
The second most valuable piece in the collection seized from the former Prime Minister is another 18-karat white gold necklace, in this case topped with ’13 sapphires’ from Thailand that are ‘accompanied by diamonds’ and valued at €220,000.
In third place is another necklace, this one covered with a ‘band of diamonds’ and a ‘cascade of oval-cut natural rubies treated with lead glass, accompanied by brilliant-cut diamonds.’ This piece, the third most valuable according to Ansorena, which quantifies the total jewelry at €1.3 million, amounts to €155,000.
In the jewelry collection, Ansorena’s specialists also highlight a white gold bracelet ‘with two natural rubies treated with lead glass’ with a setting ‘studded with diamonds’ valued at €72,000, and a bracelet, also in white gold, topped with ‘three natural emeralds’ that originate, like the most valuable piece in the collection, from Zambia. In this case, the appraisal amounts to €95,000.
In the collection seized by the Judicial Police, other examples appraised include a bracelet ‘with 7 mixed pear-cut sapphires accompanied by openwork vegetal motifs studded with diamonds’ valued at €80,000, and a ‘cocktail ring made of white gold with a central natural emerald, pear-cut, crowned by a vegetal motif studded with diamonds.’ In this case, the appraisal amounts to €85,000. The most valuable collection, which Zapatero attributes to a gift, is completed by a pair of earrings ‘decorated with four emeralds’ also from Zambia, fixed at €80,000, and another pair of earrings, in this case decorated with ‘8 natural sapphires’ from Thailand, which would be worth €70,000 at market price.
Ansorena’s appraisers emphasize that the valuations they have carried out correspond to the ‘replacement value’ of the jewelry. This type of quantification is ‘usually requested for including jewelry in insurance policies’ and therefore represents ‘moderate prices.’