A record-breaking auction: Giant 55.22 carat ruby ‘Estrela de Fura’ sells for $34.8 million

Cut and shaped in a rough stone of 101 carats discovered in September in a mine of Montepeuz, in Mozambique, operated by the company Fura Gems, the jewel was a star during this sale of jewels which included 100 lots.

Proposed at a starting price of 21 million dollars (a little less than 19.5 million euros), it was awarded 30 million dollars (about 27.8 million euros), i.e. 34.8 million dollars with fees and commissions, to an anonymous purchaser by telephone.

The marketing of this extremely rare jewel, exhibited in Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Geneva, Dubai and New York, was an event for the world of jewellery.

“It’s a true wonder of nature. Any ruby ​​that comes out of the ground and ends up exceeding five carats as a polished ruby ​​is something rare. A 10 carat ruby ​​is very rare. 20 carats is almost never seen. A ruby ​​over 50 carats is once in a lifetime,” Sotheby’s head of jewelry for the Americas, Quig Bruning, told AFP.

During the same auction session, “The Eternal Pink”, a rare pink diamond of 10.57 carats, resulting from the exploitation of a mine in Botswana, was sold for the same price of 34.8 million dollars. , a record per carat ($3.29 million) for a stone of this color.