The auction house will be putting the valuable gemstone up for sale in June.
Named the Estrela de FURA, this gem is the world’s largest ruby to appear at auction. Weighing 55.22 carats, Sotheby’s has estimated its price at over $30 million.
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If achieved, the gem will set two new world records. The current most expensive ruby ever sold at auction is the Sunrise Ruby, a 25.59 carat Burmese stone. It went for $30.3 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in May 2015.
This sale also set the highest price recorded for any ruby per carat ($1,185,451 per carat). The Estrela de FURA could very well overtake these records.
The largest and most valuable ruby to ever appear at auction comes to #SothebysNewYork: The Estrela de FURA 55.22.
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) April 5, 2023
Carrying an estimate in excess of $30M, the ruby is set to break auction records and will appear in our Magnificent Jewels sale this June. pic.twitter.com/o4S9LJJVNn
The large stone was discovered by FURA Gems at its ruby mine in Montepuez, Mozambique in July 2022. Originally weighing 101 carats, the ruby’s moniker means “Star of FURA” in English.
According to Sotheby’s, experts considered the gemstone as “an exceptional treasure of nature for its fluorescence, outstanding clarity and vivid red hue, even in its natural, uncut state.”
Now seven months after its discovery, the Estrela de FURA has been cut and faceted into a breathtaking cushion-shaped stone. It has outstanding clarity with a “pigeon’s blood” color, a characteristic of many Burmese rubies.
The gem lab Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF) wrote that “a natural ruby from Mozambique of this size and quality can be considered very rare and thus an exceptional treasure of nature.”
The ruby is currently on display at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, and will then travel to Taipei, China, Singapore, Geneva, and Dubai.
It will then appear in Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels sale in New York this June, headlined by a 10.57 carat pink diamond, The Eternal Pink, that is expected to fetch over $35 million.
Banner image via Instagram @furagems.
