Monaco – A 7.1-carat natural Burmese ruby and diamond ring sold at auction this week for €2.9 million ($3.3 million), almost 12 times its pre-sale estimate of €150,000 to €250,000 ($164,000 to $273,000).
The sale makes the gem the second most expensive ruby to be sold at auction in 2023, according to French auction house Artcurial, with a price tag of around $459,000 per carat. It also set a sales record for the house’s jewellery department.
Artcurial offered the ruby ring during its Monaco Auction Week sales, held at the Hotel Hermitage in Monte Carlo from 16 to 19 July.
Set in an 18-carat yellow gold daisy ring by Guillemin & Soulaine, the stone is surrounded by 10 diamonds, each weighing between 0.4 and 0.5 carats. According to its SSEF report, the ruby is unheated and has been given a “pigeon blood” colour grade, comparable to the finest rubies from the legendary Mogok mines in Burma (Myanmar).
“A natural Burmese ruby of this size and quality can be considered very rare and exceptional,” the report said.The industry has long regarded Burmese rubies as the standard for high quality rubies.
However, the record-breaking price of the ruby ring comes amid a seemingly faltering market for rubies from the region, which are currently banned from the US due to Treasury Department sanctions that will prohibit US companies from doing business with certain entities linked to Myanmar’s Ministry of Mines until 2021.
One Burmese ruby, the 25.59-carat pigeon’s blood ‘Sunrise Ruby’, once held the record for the world’s highest-priced ruby, selling for $30.3 million to Austrian billionaire Heidi Horten at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2016.
