A BARBIE DOLL wearing a diamond necklace has sold for a staggering $302,500 (€215,614) at an auction in New York.

The one-of-a-kind doll, created by Australian designer Stefano Canturi, wears a black cocktail dress and a bejewelled choker set with white diamonds and topped off a one-carat square-cut pink Australian Argyl diamond at the centre. All in all, the tiny necklace features three carats-worth of the precious stone.

The sale of the doll has broken the previous world auction record, making Canturi’s creation the most valuable Barbie ever. The previous record for a Barbie stood at $17,091 (€12,187).

However – despite the broken record – the doll actually sold at the lower end of the estimate projected by the auction house, which ranged between $300,000 to $500,000.

The bidder was anonymous.

Canturi said that in making the doll, he wished to pay homage to Barbie’s “modern yet timeless style”.

And, for those who think the exchange of such a huge sum of money for a doll is unjustifiably vulgar, you can breathe easy: all profits from the sale will go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

(However, we have to admit we couldn’t help but snicker a little at the “making of” video…)