The Rise of the Ruby at Auction

In December 2023, Bonhams landed a coup. A cushion-cut Burmese ruby of 2.22 carats sparked a bidding frenzy. It was loose, so it had no signed name to bump its price. There was no famous owner, so provenance didn’t play a role. What the bidders desired was just the stone itself, and it sold for $165,600.

“That’s $80,000 a carat,” points out Caroline Morrissey, the auction house’s director and head of jewelry. Normally Bonhams would expect $30,000 or $40,000 per carat, she says. “The market is strong for rubies. It is more highly coveted than ever before, and at the same time, it’s becoming harder to find that top-quality material.”

This is driving activity on the auction market as ruby seekers cast the net wider to find such material, sometimes breaking down vintage pieces to liberate stones. The hype around rubies is attracting investors, according to Morrissey, but she offers a word of warning to anyone hoping to make a quick buck.

“People are [bidding on rubies] for investment; whether they are doing it wisely is another matter,” she says, noting that the fierce bidding right now means investors might have to hold onto stones for another 10 years to get a good return. “People who bought rubies five years ago and earlier, it might be worth considering selling now.”

At present, the majority of rubies at auction are Burmese due to the age of the jewels reaching the salesroom, but Morrissey sees potential for more contemporary stones from Mozambique in future.

“It is an interesting time for Mozambique to start emerging a little stronger, and they are certainly making big prices,” she says. “We are not seeing a huge amount of Mozambique material on the secondary market yet, but it is [increasing] as the larger brands take them on.”

In May, Bonhams sold a pair of platinum and diamond earrings with oval Mozambique rubies weighing just over 5 carats each for HKD 2.8 million (about $359,110).

So, can we expect ruby prices to remain sky-high at auction? Morrissey believes so, driven “in the short to medium term by a pivot away from diamonds and toward color,” and by scarcity coupled with unprecedented demand. “As a consequence, the top material, irrespective of size, when it does come to market, goes bananas.”

Main image: A Cartier ruby and diamond clip brooch, circa 1935, sold by Bonhams.