Criss Angel’s new A&E Biography special, necklace by Boucheron

TVT

Criss Angel at the 2009 KLUC 98.5 FM Toy Drive.

By Robin Leach (contact)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 | 2:09 p.m.

Boucheron

Boucheron's Criss Angel Believe necklace.

A&E will have TV cameras here all next week shooting a new Biography special about Mindfreak magician Criss Angel and his Cirque du Soleil show Believe at the Luxor. Las Vegas personalities will be featured in the one-hour special, which also will give viewers an extraordinary backstage glimpse of the 30 illusions Criss is adding to the show.

Meantime, Boucheron of Paris, one of the world’s most famous jewelers, is honoring the illusionist. The multimillion-dollar Inspiria collection includes 20 stunning necklaces each inspired by a Cirque du Soleil show, and the Criss Angel Believe necklace is the center-masterpiece. It is set with purple drop sapphires paved with yellow, pink and purple sapphires and rubies set in blackened gold.

The French jewelers describe it as their interpretation of a daydream with an uneasy twist featuring multi-colored sapphire volutes dithering amid petticoat frou-frous and rabbit ears, with a black prince’s hypnotic gaze and a knot untwisting to unleash an outlandish realm.

The extraordinary collection marks the 25th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil and the 150th anniversary of the House of Boucheron. It is priceless and rare because only two copies of each necklace have been made -- one for showing, and one for sale! The debut viewing of the collection will run at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, the city of Cirque’s headquarters, until Aug. 29. Plans for it to go on show here in Las Vegas this fall have not been finalized.

A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to Cirque founder Guy Laliberte’s One Drop water charity. Jewelry experts estimate that each rare piece of the diamond and sapphire collection will earn into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.