Shlomo Moussaieff

Shlomo Moussaieff (; 1925 – July 1, 2015) was an Israeli jeweler. Founder of Moussaieff Jewellers Ltd., he and his wife Alisa were ranked No. 315 on the Sunday Times Rich List 2011, with a fortune estimated at £220 million. In addition, he was regarded as one of the world's top private collectors of antiquities associated with the Bible and ancient Near East, with a collection of 60,000 artefacts.

Biography Shlomo Moussaieff was the second of 12 children of Rehavia Moussaieff, a Jerusalem-born jewellery dealer of Bukharian Jewish descent. He was named after his grandfather, Shlomo Moussaieff, a wealthy merchant who was one of the founders of the Bukharim neighbourhood in Jerusalem in 1891. Rehavia, who later traded in fine gems in Paris, introduced Shlomo to the jewellery trade at a young age. Shlomo's youngest brother, Alon, also became a Jerusalem jewellery dealer. Several of his sisters own jewellery stores: Hannah in Jerusalem's King David Hotel, Naomi in London and Aviva in Geneva. Moussaieff and his wife resided on Grosvenor Square in the Mayfair district of London. They have three daughters: Their eldest, Dorrit, is the former First Lady of Iceland and is married to the former President of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson. Their second daughter, Tamar, works in the business. While stationed in the Egyptian desert and Livorno, Italy, he searched through synagogue genizot (treasuries) during his free time and bought old Kabbalah manuscripts and marriage contracts written by well-known rabbis. Moussaieff's clients included government figures such as Imelda Marcos and Princess Ashraf and Princess Shams of Iran, and celebrities such as, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Stavros Niarchos, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Joan Collins, Bob Cummings, Shirley MacLaine, George Raft, Peter Sellers and Frank Sinatra. The Moussaieff Red Diamond, a trilliant cut, 5.11 carat red diamond purchased in 2001 or 2002,

Moussaieff retired from the business in 2004 while his wife continued to oversee sales, designs and acquisitions.

Antiquities collection

Moussaieff was regarded as one of the foremost private collectors of antiquities of the Bible and ancient Near East. According to his own estimate, he owned 60,000 artefacts,

Since he was willing to pay large sums for antiquities that proved the historical authenticity of the Bible, antiquities experts believe that some fakes and forgeries crept into in his collection. According to a blogpost by Hershel Shanks, Moussaieff had bought two ostraca (pottery shards with text written on them) from Oded Golan, one of the defendants in the trial; these purchases were also determined by the IAA to be forgeries. In March 2012, the defendants were acquitted of the forgery charges.

M23 M24 M25 M26 M45 M139 M154 unnumbered A unnumbered B

Awards and recognition Moussaieff received an honorary degree from Bar Ilan University in 2000.