Record Title for Most Valuable Dreidel

Estate Diamond Jewelry is so excited to announce that we have recently broken the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ for the most valuable dreidel in the world, valued at $70,000.

• Why We Created this Dreidel?
• The Inspiration Behind the Design
• Achieving The Guinness World Record Title
• The History of Chanukah
• What is a Dreidel?
• How to Celebrate Chanukah?
• Fun Trivia about our Dreidel
• Contact Estate Diamond Jewelry

Why we Created this Dreidel?

Estate Diamond Jewelry has been collecting important jewelry and rare vintage engagement rings for over 40 years. To date, we have one of the rarest vintage engagement rings collection in the world. We are really passionate about history. That’s one of the reasons that we started our company. It’s also the reason that we were so driven to create this dreidel.

The inspiring message of Chanukah (aka Hanukkah) has always resonated with us and we love whimsical jewelry, so naturally, we have always tried to get our hands on an important antique dreidel to add to the collection.

A few months ago, however, we decided that we wanted to create our dream-dreidel all by ourselves, inspired by the artistic designs of the vintage jewelry from our collection.

We had no idea how fun this journey would be.

The Inspiration Behind the Design

Before handcrafting this dreidel, we searched through 100’s of dreidel designs. Most of the contemporary artistic deviations didn’t seem faithful enough to the “classic dreidel design” and so we decided that we would have to try to find the design inspiration ourselves.

We wanted the symmetrical and balanced lines – highly characteristic of the Art Deco Era – to be the dominant design factor. The indented edges of the faces, the sharp diagonal lines of the pavilion, and the straight top are all strong themes of the Art Deco Era. The final design was heavily inspired by the Chrysler Building (which is only a few blocks away from our showroom) and is one of the most revered Art Deco icons.

The diamond-encrusted script of the Hebrew characters (Nun, Gimmel, Hey, and Shin) are formal and are more similar to the Hebrew characters found in the Torah Scroll than the characters typically used in traditional modern Hebrew writing.

The bottom of the Dreidel has a rounded bezel (instead of a squared bezel) in order to heighten the important 4.20-carat diamond that is set within.

Achieving the Guinness World Records Title

As of November 27th, 2019, our dreidel was officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the most valuable dreidel in the world.

“It has been a very high honor receiving this title. It has been one of our greatest accomplishments in 2019.” – Afshin Shaddaie of Estate Diamond Jewelry.

Guinness World Records also sent a crew to film and document the story of our dreidel. We had so much fun working with them. Guinness World Record is a great organization and its staff is incredible!

Click here to view the official record title on the Guinness World Records website.

The History of Chanukah

The story of Chanukah took place over 2200 years ago. Israel was ruled by the Syrian-Greeks, who tried to force the People of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of mitzvah observance and belief in God.

A tiny group of Jews, led by Yehudah (Judah) the Maccabee, defeated the Greeks and drove them from the land. The Maccabees reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which had been completely ransacked, and rededicated it to the service of God.

When they sought to light the Temple’s Menorah, they found only a single jug of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days.

Click here to learn more about Chanukah and how to celebrate it.

What is a Dreidel?

The traditional Chanukah dreidel heralds to the times when the Greek armies of King Antiochus controlled Israel, and before they were defeated by the Maccabees. The powerful regime passed a series of laws outlawing the study of the Torah. The Jews were compelled to take their Torah learning into secrecy.

Jewish children resorted to learning Torah in outlying areas and forests. It is said that if a Greek patrol passed by they would quickly pull out the dreidel and pretend to be in the middle of a game.

The Rules:

The rules of dreidel are very simple. Everyone playing puts 1 unit in the center. The first player spins the Dreidel and the side that is facing upwards determines what he needs to do.

• Nun – Absolutely nothing happens
• Gimmel – You get to take the whole pot!
• Hey – You get to take half of the pot. Leave the odd item there.
• Shin – You put a unit into the middle pot

How to Celebrate Chanukah?

Chanukah is celebrated in many different ways. This year (2019), the first night of Chanukah will begin on Sunday, December 22 and the eighth day will be on Monday, December 30.

Here are some of the ways to celebrate Chanukah:

• Most Famous: Light the Menorah on each night of Chanukah (and say the blessings). On the first night, you’ll light one candle. Each subsequent night, you’ll add one more candle. On the eighth night, you’ll be lighting all eight candles. Click here to learn how to light the Menorah.
• Play the Dreidel. Click here to learn the rules.
• Give gifts of money (gelt) to friends and family. Don’t forget to give 10% of that gift to charity.
• It is customary to eat food that is made with oil (like latkes and donuts)
• Join a Chanukah Party

Fun Trivia about Our Dreidel

There are so many elements that make this dreidel special. Here are some of the more noteworthy pieces of trivia.

• We started building and handcrafting this dreidel at the beginning of August in 2019. It took almost 4 months to complete.
• The diamond at the bottom of the dreidel is a high-quality 4.20-carat round brilliant-cut diamond with a GIA certificate (M Color and VS2 Clarity).
• We inlaid 222 modern-round-brilliant diamonds into the Hebrew letters on each face of the dreidel.
• The dreidel is a lot larger than a typical commercially-available dreidel and stands 10.8cm high off the ground.
• The body of the dreidel is made from 18k yellow gold. The letters are made with 18k white gold.
• The design of the dreidel was inspired by the Chrysler Building in New York, which is only a few blocks away from the Estate Diamond Jewelry Showroom.

Contact Estate Diamond Jewelry

If you have any questions or comments about our dreidel (or you want more pictures), please feel free to contact us.