(IDEX Online) - The world's largest gem quality ruby, the 55.22-carat Estrela de Fura, has sold for a record $34.8m at Sotheby's New York.
The highest price paid previously for a ruby was $30.3m, for the 25.59-ct cushion-cut Sunrise Ruby, a Burmese gemstone which sold at Sotheby's Geneva in May 2015.
Sotheby's said before last Wednesday's Magnificent Jewels auction, that the cushion-shape, brilliant/step cut gem was "expected to achieve in excess of $30m".
The Estrela de Fura (Star of Fura in Portuguese), was recovered in Montepeuz, Mozambique, by Dubai-based miners Fura as a 101-ct rough gemstone.
"To see a natural ruby of this size, with such a combination of quality characteristics spared from treatment was considered almost unimaginable," said the Gubelin gem grading lab.
"The natural ruby of 55.22-ct is setting a new record not only for Mozambican rubies, but also for rubies in general."
Pic courtesy Fura