The "Crimson Flame" is among the most expensive jewels sold this year. Photo / Christie's
The "Crimson Flame" is among the most expensive jewels sold this year. Photo / Christie's
Now is the time to own (and sell) coloured gemstones. Blue sapphires, striking red rubies and pink diamonds made up 9 of the top 10 jewels sold at auction in 2015. Pink diamonds, in fact, accounted for a solid half of those sales. The only clear diamond to make it on the list? A 100-carat, emerald-cut stone that's so large it looks unreal, the gemological equivalent of clown shoes. (Very, very expensive clown shoes.)
Of course, it's one thing to be a massive coloured stone; it's another to have an equally sparkling provenance. Check out the backstories of this year's top 10 jewellery sales, which combined for a grand total of $214 million, below.
1. "The Blue Moon of Josephine," 13.02 Carats
The "Blue Moon of Josephine" diamond. Photo / Sotheby's
This headliner sold for $48,468,158 at Sotheby's, reportedly to Joseph Lau, a Hong Kong billionaire who renamed it after his 7-year-old daughter, Josephine. The price Lau paid set a world record for any diamond of any colour, and set another one for price per carat of any gemstone, ever. Now, what will he do for her 8th birthday?
A superb and extremely rare ruby ring. Photo / Sotheby's
Sold for $30,335,698 at Sotheby's. This massive ruby, set between shield-shaped diamonds weighing 2.47 and 2.70 carats, set a world auction record for ruby sales and was the first "coloured stone" to sell for more than $1 million per carat at auction. The seller was listed simply as "a lady".
3. "The Sweet Josephine," 16.08 Carats
The "Sweet Josephine" diamond ring. Photo / Christie's
Sold for $28,523,925 at Christie's. Remember the Hong Kong billionaire from No. 1 on this list? A few days earlier he also bought this ring, also for his 7-year-old daughter, and also named it after her. This girl is going to be the best-dressed kid on the playground, hands down. (Actually, probably best to keep those hands in her pockets.)
Sold for $22,090,000 at Sotheby's. The next time someone oohs and ahs about your 2- or 3-carat diamond ring, keep things in perspective. Someone out there is carting around a perfect 100-carat ring. Presumably in a wheelbarrow.
5. "The Crimson Flame," 15.04 Carats
The "Crimson Flame" ruby. Photo / Christie's
Sold for $18,372,913 at Christie's. The auction catalogue notes that this colour is "poetically referred to as 'pigeon blood red,'" which goes to show that poets can own jewellery, but not all jewellery owners can be poets.
6. "The Historic Pink," 8.72 Carats
The "Historic Pink" diamond. Photo / Sotheby's
Sold for $15,903,422 at Sotheby's, this stone is believed to have been part of the collection of Princess Mathilde de Bonaparte, Napoleon I's niece; part of the murky provenance presumably has to do with the fact that it was kept in a bank vault since the 1940s.
7. Purple-Pink Diamond Ring, 8.24 Carats
A fancy vivid purple-pink diamond ring. Photo / Sotheby's
Sold for $13,866,553 at Sotheby's. Set between two pear-shaped diamond shoulders, the ring was the second-most expensive lot of Sotheby's November "Magnificent and Noble Jewels" sale in Geneva.
8. Ruby and Diamond Latticework Necklace, 120.74 Carats
A ruby and diamond necklace. Photo / Christie's
Sold for $13,006,656 at Christie's. The necklace has 48 rubies for a total of 120.74 carats; each stone was found in the famous ruby mines in Burma (Myanmar). The necklace was made by Etcetera, a Hong Kong-based jeweller founded by Edmond Chin, who ran Christie's Hong Kong jewellery department for five years.
A rectangular-cut colored diamond ring, mounted by Harry Winston. Photo / Christie's
Sold for $12,643,776 at Christie's. Flanked by triangular-shaped diamonds, this "fancy intense pink" diamond was mounted by Harry Winston and is merited a type IIa, the Gemological Institute of America's designation for the most chemically pure diamonds in the world.
A rectangular cut coloured diamond ring. Photo / Christie's
Sold for $10,709,443 at Christie's. The coloured diamond, mounted in gold, is surrounded by oval diamonds that weigh between .59 and .50 carats. They're each internally flawless; mere mortals would (most likely) be perfectly happy with one on its own.
