The Most Expensive Rubies Of All Time
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Most Expensive Rubies Of All Time
What you will notice when comparing the most expensive rubies against the most expensive sapphires, is that sapphires tend to achieve much larger carat sizes than rubies. At the same time Rubies are much more expensive per carat, often achieving the highest prices paid per carat amongst any coloured gemstone.
One reason rubies are often found in smaller sizes is because the chromium that gives rubies their colour tends to create fractures, limiting their growth & size. Also rubies are geologically rarer than sapphires & the per-carat prices of rubies is consistently rising and auction records are often being set.
Below are some of the most expensive rubies of all time:
1 - The Estrela De Fura Ruby
The Estrela De Fura ruby is the most expensive ruby of all time weighing 55.22 carats, it sold for 34.8 million USD in 2023 at Sotheby’s auction house.
The rough stone was discovered in 2022, weighing a staggering 101 carats, is the largest gem quality Ruby ever discovered in both rough & faceted form. Surprisingly the stone was discovered in Mozambique surpassing the value of all the prestigious Burmese rubies on this list, largely due to its sheer size compared to the other rubies.
2 - The Sunrise Ruby
The Sunrise Ruby weighing 25.59 carats sold for 30.4 million USD in 2015 at Sotheby's auction house. The untreated Ruby coming from the famous Mogok mine is reported to have the desirable pigeon's blood red colour. For several years it held status as the most expensive Ruby on planet earth.
3 - The Crimson Flame Ruby
The Crimson Flame Ruby sold for 18.3 million USD in 2015 at Christie’s auction house. Another stone from the Mogok mine of Burma, this “pigeon's blood” cushion-shaped ruby, weighing 15.04 carats, is set onto a white gold ring surrounded by a halo of cushion-shaped diamonds.
4 - The Jubilee Ruby
The Jubilee Ruby weighing 15.99 carats sold for 14.1 million USD in 2016 at Christie’s auction house. From the famous Mogok valley of Burma, this was the most ever paid for a coloured gemstone at a US auction.
5 - The Ratnaraj Ruby
The Ratnaraj ruby ring, of Burmese origin, sold for 10.2 million USD in 2016 at Christie’s auction house. Ratnaraj, which literally means in sanskrit “king of gems”, is the term for ruby.
Weighing 10.05 carats, the masterpiece is the works of Faidee who specialise in selling the finest Burmese rubies.
6 - Graff Ruby
The Graff ruby, a Mogok Burmese stone weighing 8.62 carats, sold for 8.6 million USD at Sotheby’s auction house in 2014, with its vivid pigeon blood hue.
7 - Zoe Red Brooch
A Cartier Ruby & Diamond brooch, known as the Zoe Red Brooch, (Ruby weight of 10.10 carats) was sold at Christie’s auction house for 8.4 million USD in 2014. The Burmese stone is said to have a pigeon's blood red hue.
8 - The Hope Ruby
The Hope Ruby is a famous 32.08 carat cushion cut Burmese ruby with a vivid red colour set in a diamond ring, made by Parisian jeweler Chaumet. It sold for 6.7 million USD in 2012 at Christie’s auction house which was the highest price ever paid for a ruby at the time.
It got its name because it was the top lot sold during Christie’s “Jewels for Hope” charitable auction.
9 - The Elizabeth Taylor Ruby
The famous 8.24 carat Van Cleef & Arpels ruby & diamond ring sold for 4.2 million USD at Christie’s auction house in 2011 setting what was a world record price paid per carat for a ruby.
The ring was one of the most recognisable pieces of jewellery of the 20th century.
10 - The Alan Caplan Ruby
The Ruby sold for 3.6 million USD at Sotheby’s auction house in 1988. Sold by the Sultan Of Brunei to Lawrence Graff. Weighing 15.97 carats, the cushion cut Burmese ruby set a world record for the highest price ever paid per carat for a ruby at the time.
Other notable rubies:
1 - Rosser Reeves Ruby
Unlike the other rubies on the list above, the Rosser Reeves Ruby is held by a museum, specifically the Smithsonian national museum of natural history. According to its latest appraisal, it was valued at 40M USD which would mean it could potentially top the list as the most expensive ruby of all time. The ruby is unlikely to ever go for sale however.
The ruby is an incredible 138.72 carat Sri Lankan gemstone cut into a cabochon star ruby.
2 - The Delong Star Ruby
The 100.32 carat was discovered in Burma and eventually donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It has a strong six rayed star of light making it one of the worlds most magnificent star rubies.
In 1964, a notorious robbery took place among many other famous gemstones, the Delong Star was taken.
Jack Murphy & Allan Kuhn scaled the museum walls, climbed a fire escape & slipped through a fourth-floor bathroom window they had deliberately left unlocked earlier in the day.
A 25,000 USD ransom was eventually paid & in September 1965 the gemstone was recovered from a telephone booth near palm beach in Florida.
3 - The Carmen Lúcia Ruby
One of the finest faceted Burmese rubies in a major public collection. Weighing 23.10 carats, the gemstone is celebrated for its exceptional colour & transparency. An incredibly rare gemstone given its size & qualities! Mined in the famous Mogok mines, it now sits in the famous Smithsonian National Gem collection named after Carmen Lúcia who gifted it.
4 - The Liberty Bell Ruby
This fine ruby was carved from a massive ruby crystal that was discovered in Burma, the largest ever discovered. The finished carving, which represents the Liberty Bell of Philadelphia, weighed approximately 8,500 carats.
Astonishingly, in November 2011, four masked men entered the Stuart Kingston Jewellers in Wilmington Delaware.
They tied up the store employees, smashed glass cabinets to steal high end jewellery pieces and forced an employee to open the back store vault where the ginormous ruby was kept.
The four thieves fled the scene in a van & the gem has never been recovered.
5 - The Burmese Ruby Tiara
Queen Elizabeth II commissioned Garrard to make her a new tiara in 1973. The rubies received by Queen Elizabeth II were from the people of Burma. The gift included 96 rubies, all of which are now set in the tiara. Additionally, the Nizam of Hyderabad Tiara was dismantled & some of its diamonds were reused in the piece.
A 2024 valuation estimated the tiara’s worth at £7 million.
Below are some of the most expensive unnamed rubies sold at auction:
1 - 13 million USD
A ruby & diamond ring sold for 13 million USD in 2017 at Christie’s auction house.
2 - 11 million USD
In 2018, a 24.70 carat stone was sold at Sotheby's auction house for 11 million USD.
3 - 10.4 million USD
In 2017, a 13.26 carat stone sold at Sotheby’s for 10.4 million USD.
There we have some of the most expensive rubies of all time and as you can see fine quality rubies can be significantly more valuable than other gemstones, sometimes even more so than diamonds!
Historically, rubies have often been mistaken for red spinel or even red garnet. The most famous example is the Black Prince’s Ruby.
For centuries, the Black Prince’s Ruby was thought to be ruby but was in fact red spinel. If it were to have been a ruby, weighing an incredible 170 carats, it would likely have found itself very high on the above list, especially given its long royal history entering English royal possession since 1367.
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