See the world's most expensive COVID-19 mask

Art rather than ostentation is the rationale behind the $1.5 million coronavirus mask

Last updated: August 13, 2020 | 16:03

Reuters and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Senior Web Editor

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Art rather than ostentation is the rationale behind the world's most expensive coronavirus mask, say the Israeli jewellers who are crafting the $1.5 million object for an unnamed U.S.-based client. | Isaac Levy, owner of Israeli jewelry company Yvel.

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Made out of 18 carat gold and studded with 3,600 black and white diamonds, the mask will be fitted with an N99 filter to offer a high level of protection, said Isaac Levy, owner of the Yvel jewellery brand.

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"I don't think the customer is going to use it going to the supermarket but he is going to use it here and there, I'm sure," said Levy. | A worker for the Israeli jewelry company Yvel holds a part of a mask in Motza.

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He described the client as a Chinese art collector living in the United States. | A diamond setter works on a part of the mask.

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"He is a young-old customer of ours, very charming, very outgoing, very wealthy and he likes to stand out," Levy said.

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The jeweller plans to deliver the mask personally when it is completed, in October.

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The mask, which a team of around 25 artisans is working on, might be viewed a vulgar display of wealth during hard economic times, but for Levy it is above all a work of art. | A diamond setter works on a part of the mask.

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"For a lot of people around the world it may be the most expensive mask in the world and maybe that's a really big thing," he said.

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"For us, it's a way to protect the positions of the people in the factory in order for them to be able to support their families."

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The world's most expensive coronavirus mask - a gold, diamond-encrusted face covering with a price tag of $1. 5 million.

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