Auction Record with 45 Billion Won Bid for Jewelry... 'Ruby' Instead of Diamond

Sotheby's "Extremely Rare and Most Valuable Ruby"

The world's largest ruby, known as the 'Pyura Star,' was sold at auction for approximately $35 million (about 45.3 billion KRW). Gem experts have evaluated it as a ruby that set new records in terms of size and price.

55.22-carat ruby 'Estrela de Fura'.
[Photo by Sotheby's YouTube]

Because rubies with vivid color and high quality are hard to find, rubies are considered one of the gemstones recognized for their rarity, comparable to diamonds.

According to foreign media including CNN on the 8th (local time), this 55.22-carat ruby was first discovered last July at a mine in Mozambique by Pyura Gems, a jewelry mining and sales company headquartered in Canada. Currently, Mozambique is one of the leading ruby mining countries in the world.

Rubies contain a substance called chromium, which gives rubies their vivid red color but also causes tiny cracks and small inclusions within the ruby.

For this reason, it is very common for inclusions to form during the ruby crystallization process, making it difficult to obtain rubies of a certain large size without inclusions. High-quality rubies over 3 carats are treated as precious as diamonds.

The 55.22-carat ruby "Estrela de Fura," which was sold for a winning bid of 34.8 million dollars (approximately 45 billion won).
[Photo by Sotheby's Instagram]

The Pyura Star originally weighed about 101 carats when discovered, roughly twice its current weight. It was shaped into its current form by removing impurities and smoothing the rough surface.

The famous auction house Sotheby’s described this gemstone as "an extremely rare and most valuable ruby." Several experts evaluated it as an "exceptional gemstone," noting not only its large size but also its vivid red color called 'pigeon’s blood,' which had previously only appeared in rubies from Myanmar.

'Estrela de Fura'. [Photo by Sotheby's Instagram]

Sotheby’s posted a video of the auction scene on Instagram, stating, “This is the moment that set a world auction record not only for rubies but for all colored gemstones offered at auction.”

Previously, the ruby with the highest auction price was the 25.59-carat 'Sunrise Ruby,' mined in Myanmar. The 'Sunrise Ruby' was sold for about $30.3 million (approximately 39.2 billion KRW) at an auction held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2015.