A 55.22-carat ruby named Estrela de Fura sold for a jaw-dropping $34.8 million at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new record price for the precious stone.
Estrela de Fura Ruby
The exceptional gemstone was painstakingly cut from a rough stone weighing 101 carats. The rough stone, discovered in July of the previous year, came from the Montepeuz mine in Mozambique, which is operated by the prestigious Fura Gems company.
Estrela de Fura was the star attraction at a jewelry sale that featured a diverse collection of 100 exquisite pieces. With an initial bid price of $21 million, the ruby sparked intense interest and eventually sold for an impressive $30 million, excluding fees and commissions, to an anonymous buyer who participated via telephone.
The previous record for the most expensive ruby sold at auction belonged to a 25.59-carat Burmese ruby that fetched $30.33 million at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva in 2015.
Quig Bruning, the head of jewellery for Sotheby’s in the Americas, expressed his awe at the exceptional rarity of the Estrela de Fura, stating, “This is really a true wonder of nature.
Any ruby that comes out of the ground that ends up over five carats as a polished ones is something that’s rare. Ten carats are really rare. Twenty carats is almost unheard of. Any ruby really over 50 carats is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
In addition to the magnificent ruby, Sotheby’s also set a new record by selling “The Eternal Pink,” a captivating 10.57-carat diamond sourced from a Botswana mine.
The diamond sold for the same record-breaking price of $34.8 million, setting a per-carat value of $3.29 million for a stone of its color.
While these exceptional sales made history, the “Pink Star,” a 59.60-carat gem that commanded a staggering $71.2 million at an auction in Hong Kong in 2017, remains the most expensive pink diamond ever sold.
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