Ruby Outsells Blue Diamond at Sotheby’s Auction

RAPAPORT… A ruby and diamond ring by Indian jeweler Bhagat was the top lot at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale last week, while a rare blue diamond ring failed to meet its reserve price.

The oval-shaped, 13.26-carat Burmese ruby is flanked by two rose-cut diamonds and diamond-set prongs. The ring was sold to an Asian private buyer for $10.5 million (HKD 81.7 million), translating to $788,296 per carat.

The second-highest seller at the auction — and top-selling diamond — was an unmounted, 31.98-carat, D-color, flawless stone with excellent polish, cut and symmetry, which sold for $5 million (HKD 38.9 million), or $155,747 a carat. A pair of pear-shaped diamonds achieved the third-highest price at the auction. The two stones, one a 12.36-carat, D-color, flawless and the second a 12-carat, D-color, internally flawless diamond, sold for $2.9 million (HKD 22.3 million) to an unnamed Asian buyer.

Meanwhile, a rare pear-shaped, 5.14-carat, fancy deep blue, SI1-clarity diamond failed to sell, a spokesperson for Sotheby’s confirmed with Rapaport News. The piece had a pre-sale estimate of $7 million to $9.6 million.

The auction garnered total sales of $64.5 million (HKD 504.1 million), selling 66.8% by lot and 66.2% by value.