Record Auction Sales: The Most Valuable Coloured Diamonds and Gemstones

By the Byrex Gems team, Toronto · Published 25 September 2026

From the $71.2 million CTF Pink Star to the Estrela de Fura ruby and the 2026 Ocean Dream: verified auction records for coloured diamonds and gemstones, and what they mean for the market.

Auction results are among the few public price points in the market for rare gems. Most important stones change hands privately, so major results at Sotheby's, Christie's, Phillips or Bonhams are watched closely by the trade. This article gathers the most significant auction results for natural coloured diamonds and for rubies, sapphires, emeralds and spinel, checked against auction-house announcements, laboratory publications and the trade press.

How to read these figures

Prices are in US dollars as reported at the time of sale. For Geneva and Hong Kong sales this is the conversion published on the day, not today's exchange rate.
Headline prices include the buyer's premium, the fee added on top of the hammer price. They are retail-level transactions for exceptional single stones, not wholesale benchmarks.
Price per carat is given as reported where the auction house or trade press stated it. Figures marked "c." are our own arithmetic from the reported price and weight, rounded.
Colour grades are those quoted by the auction house from the accompanying laboratory report, usually GIA for diamonds.

Coloured diamonds: the benchmark results

CTF Pink Star
Carat: 59.60
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Pink, Internally Flawless, Type IIa
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Hong Kong
Date: April 2017
Price (USD): $71.2 million
Per carat: c. $1.19 million

Williamson Pink Star
Carat: 11.15
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Pink, Internally Flawless
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Hong Kong
Date: October 2022
Price (USD): $57.7 million
Per carat: $5,178,124

Oppenheimer Blue
Carat: 14.62
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Blue, VVS1
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: May 2016
Price (USD): $57.5 million
Per carat: c. $3.93 million

De Beers Blue
Carat: 15.10
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Blue, Internally Flawless
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Hong Kong
Date: April 2022
Price (USD): $57.47 million
Per carat: c. $3.81 million

Winston Pink Legacy
Carat: 18.96
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Pink
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: November 2018
Price (USD): $50.4 million
Per carat: about $2.7 million

Blue Moon of Josephine
Carat: 12.03
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Blue, Internally Flawless
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Geneva
Date: November 2015
Price (USD): $48.4 million
Per carat: just over $4 million

Graff Pink
Carat: 24.78
Colour / notes: Fancy Intense Pink
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Geneva
Date: November 2010
Price (USD): about $46 million
Per carat: c. $1.86 million

Bleu Royal
Carat: 17.61
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Blue, Internally Flawless, pear shape
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: November 2023
Price (USD): about $44 million
Per carat: c. $2.5 million

The Orange
Carat: 14.82
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Orange
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: November 2013
Price (USD): $35.5 million
Per carat: $2.4 million

The Eternal Pink
Carat: 10.57
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Purplish Pink, Internally Flawless
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, New York
Date: June 2023
Price (USD): $34.8 million
Per carat: $3.3 million

Spirit of the Rose
Carat: 14.83
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Purple-Pink, Internally Flawless
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Geneva
Date: November 2020
Price (USD): $26.6 million
Per carat: about $1.8 million

Mellon Blue
Carat: 9.51
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Blue, VVS1
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: November 2025
Price (USD): $25.6 million
Per carat: $2.7 million

Bulgari Laguna Blu
Carat: 11.16
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Blue, pear shape
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Geneva
Date: May 2023
Price (USD): $25.2 million
Per carat: c. $2.26 million

Ocean Dream
Carat: 5.50
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Blue-Green, triangular
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: May 2026
Price (USD): $17.37 million
Per carat: c. $3.16 million

Aurora Green
Carat: 5.03
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Green, VS2
Auction house, city: Christie's, Hong Kong
Date: May 2016
Price (USD): $16.8 million
Per carat: $3.3 million

Graff Vivid Yellow
Carat: 100.09
Colour / notes: Fancy Vivid Yellow, VS2
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Geneva
Date: May 2014
Price (USD): $16.3 million
Per carat: $163,331

Argyle Phoenix
Carat: 1.56
Colour / notes: Fancy Red
Auction house, city: Phillips, Geneva
Date: May 2024
Price (USD): $4.2 million
Per carat: $2.7 million

Hancock Red
Carat: 0.95
Colour / notes: Red
Auction house, city: Christie's, New York
Date: April 1987
Price (USD): $880,000
Per carat: $926,315

Pink diamonds

CTF Pink Star. The 59.60-carat oval, graded Fancy Vivid Pink and Internally Flawless, remains the most expensive diamond, gemstone or jewel sold at auction. It had been knocked down at Sotheby's Geneva in November 2013, but the bidder failed to pay; Sotheby's took the stone back under its guarantee and reoffered it in Hong Kong in April 2017, where Chow Tai Fook bought it and renamed it. The rough reportedly weighed 132.5 carats and was mined by De Beers in 1999.

Williamson Pink Star. Cut by Diacore from a 32.32-carat rough found at Petra Diamonds' Williamson mine in Tanzania, this 11.15-carat cushion set the current world record price per carat for any diamond or gemstone at auction, more than $5.1 million per carat, when it sold in Hong Kong in October 2022.

Winston Pink Legacy. Formerly in the Oppenheimer family, the 18.96-carat stone was bought by Harry Winston at Christie's Geneva in November 2018. At about $2.7 million per carat it set the per-carat record for a pink diamond at that time.

The Eternal Pink and Spirit of the Rose. The 10.57-carat Eternal Pink achieved about $3.3 million per carat in New York in June 2023, a record for its colour description. The 14.83-carat Spirit of the Rose, cut in Moscow from a 27.85-carat rough recovered by Alrosa in Yakutia, set the auction record for a Fancy Vivid Purple-Pink in Geneva in November 2020.

Blue diamonds

Oppenheimer Blue and De Beers Blue. The 14.62-carat Oppenheimer Blue, once owned by Sir Philip Oppenheimer, holds the auction record for a blue diamond at $57.5 million (Christie's Geneva, May 2016). The larger 15.10-carat De Beers Blue, cut from a 39.34-carat rough found at the Cullinan mine in South Africa in 2021, fell short by roughly $70,000 in Hong Kong in April 2022.

Blue Moon of Josephine. Also from Cullinan, cut from a 29.62-carat rough recovered in January 2014, the 12.03-carat Blue Moon was the first diamond to exceed $4 million per carat at auction when it sold in Geneva in November 2015.

Bleu Royal, Mellon Blue and Laguna Blu. The 17.61-carat pear-shaped Bleu Royal, after 40 years in a private collection, was the top auction jewel of 2023. The Mellon Blue, from the estate of Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, is an instructive resale: Rapaport reports that it made $32.6 million at Sotheby's New York in November 2014 and about 20 per cent less, $25.6 million, at Christie's Geneva in November 2025. Bulgari's Laguna Blu set a record for a Bulgari jewel in May 2023.

Other colours

Orange, green and red diamonds rarely reach the sizes seen in pinks and blues, which makes their per-carat results striking. The Orange (14.82 carats) set a record per carat for any diamond at the time of its sale in 2013. The Aurora Green became the most expensive green diamond at auction when Chow Tai Fook bought it in 2016. The Ocean Dream, described as the largest known Fancy Vivid Blue-Green diamond, sold for $17.37 million (CHF 13.57 million) in May 2026 after a 20-minute contest, more than twice its price at Christie's in 2014. In reds, GIA notes that the 0.95-carat Hancock Red set a per-carat record for any gem when sold in 1987, and the 1.56-carat Argyle Phoenix set price and per-carat records for a Fancy Red at Phillips in May 2024. In yellows, the 100.09-carat Graff Vivid Yellow remains the benchmark.

Rubies, sapphires, emeralds and spinel

Estrela de Fura
Carat: 55.22
Variety / origin: Ruby, Mozambique, unheated
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, New York
Date: June 2023
Price (USD): $34.8 million
Per carat: $630,288

Sunrise Ruby
Carat: 25.59
Variety / origin: Ruby, Burma (Myanmar), untreated, Cartier ring
Auction house, city: Sotheby's, Geneva
Date: May 2015
Price (USD): $30.3 million
Per carat: c. $1.18 million

Blue Belle of Asia
Carat: 392.52
Variety / origin: Sapphire, Sri Lanka
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: November 2014
Price (USD): $17.3 million
Per carat: c. $44,000

The Regent Kashmir
Carat: 35.09
Variety / origin: Sapphire, Kashmir, unheated
Auction house, city: Christie's, Hong Kong
Date: May 2025
Price (USD): about $9.56 million (HK$74.7 million)
Per carat: c. $272,000

Aga Khan Emerald
Carat: about 37
Variety / origin: Emerald, Colombia, Cartier brooch
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: November 2024
Price (USD): $8.8 million
Per carat: c. $238,000

Rockefeller Emerald
Carat: 18.04
Variety / origin: Emerald
Auction house, city: Christie's, New York
Date: June 2017
Price (USD): $5.5 million
Per carat: $305,000

Padparadscha sapphire ring
Carat: 28.04
Variety / origin: Padparadscha, Sri Lanka
Auction house, city: Christie's, Hong Kong
Date: November 2017
Price (USD): $2.49 million
Per carat: $88,779

Hope Spinel
Carat: 50.13
Variety / origin: Spinel, Kuh-i-Lal, Tajikistan
Auction house, city: Bonhams, London
Date: September 2015
Price (USD): £962,500 (about $1.46 million)
Per carat: c. $29,000

Rubies

Estrela de Fura. Cut from a 101-carat rough recovered by Fura Gems near Montepuez, Mozambique, in July 2022, the 55.22-carat cushion is the largest ruby sold at auction and holds the record total for a coloured gemstone. SSEF reported no indications of heating and described its colour as a well-saturated, evenly distributed red. It sold on the same evening as the Eternal Pink, the first time two gems each exceeded $30 million in one auction.

Sunrise Ruby. The 25.59-carat Burmese ruby in a Cartier ring set records in May 2015 for the price of a ruby, the price per carat of a ruby and the price of a Cartier jewel. Its later history is a useful caution: when it returned to auction at Christie's Geneva in May 2023, it sold for CHF 13.1 million ($14.6 million), below its low estimate and less than half its 2015 price.

Sapphires

The Blue Belle of Asia, a 392.52-carat Sri Lankan sapphire, holds the record total for a sapphire. The per-carat record belongs to Kashmir material: The Regent Kashmir, an unheated antique cushion, set a per-carat record for sapphire at Christie's Geneva in 2015, was overtaken later that year by the Jewel of Kashmir, and reclaimed the record at Christie's Hong Kong in May 2025. For padparadscha sapphire, Lotus Gemology's auction database lists the 28.04-carat Sri Lankan stone above as the top total, while an 8.01-carat stone sold by Sotheby's Hong Kong in October 2017 holds the per-carat mark at $97,478.

Emeralds and spinel

The Aga Khan Emerald, a square Colombian stone of about 37 carats set by Cartier in 1960 for Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, returned to Christie's Geneva after 55 years and became the most expensive emerald sold at auction. The Rockefeller Emerald still holds the per-carat record for an emerald; Harry Winston bought it in 2017. In spinel, the 50.13-carat Hope Spinel, once owned by the banker Henry Philip Hope, sold at Bonhams in 2015 for many times its £150,000 to £200,000 estimate.

Recent sales, 2024 to 2026

The last three seasons produced fewer headline totals than the peak years of 2015 to 2017, but several notable results.

Fancy Vivid Pink ring
Carat: 6.21
Colour / variety: Fancy Vivid Pink, VS1
Auction house, city: Phillips, Geneva
Date: May 2024
Price (USD): $11.9 million
Per carat: $1.9 million

Argyle Phoenix
Carat: 1.56
Colour / variety: Fancy Red
Auction house, city: Phillips, Geneva
Date: May 2024
Price (USD): $4.2 million
Per carat: $2.7 million

The Eden Rose
Carat: 10.20
Colour / variety: Fancy Intense Pink, Internally Flawless
Auction house, city: Christie's, New York
Date: June 2024
Price (USD): $13.3 million
Per carat: $1.3 million

Aga Khan Emerald
Carat: about 37
Colour / variety: Colombian emerald
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: November 2024
Price (USD): $8.8 million
Per carat: c. $238,000

The Regent Kashmir
Carat: 35.09
Colour / variety: Kashmir sapphire, unheated
Auction house, city: Christie's, Hong Kong
Date: May 2025
Price (USD): about $9.56 million
Per carat: c. $272,000

Mellon Blue
Carat: 9.51
Colour / variety: Fancy Vivid Blue
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: November 2025
Price (USD): $25.6 million
Per carat: $2.7 million

Ocean Dream
Carat: 5.50
Colour / variety: Fancy Vivid Blue-Green
Auction house, city: Christie's, Geneva
Date: May 2026
Price (USD): $17.37 million
Per carat: c. $3.16 million

Brooch with purplish red diamond
Carat: 1.78
Colour / variety: Fancy Purplish Red, SI2
Auction house, city: Christie's, Hong Kong
Date: May 2026
Price (USD): $5.05 million (HK$39.54 million)
Per carat: c. $2.8 million

Not every major stone found a buyer. According to Rapaport, the Golconda Blue, estimated at up to $50 million, was withdrawn from Christie's Geneva in May 2025 so that the owner could sell it privately to a family member, and a 10.08-carat Fancy Vivid Pink estimated at $20 million was withdrawn before Sotheby's Geneva sale in November 2025.

What these results mean for the wider market

The top end is dominated by pink and blue diamonds. The eight highest results in our coloured diamond table are all pink or blue. GIA research found that Type IIb blue diamonds, coloured by boron, make up only about 0.02 per cent of mined diamonds, and Sotheby's notes that the Argyle mine in Western Australia, which closed in 2020, supplied around 80 per cent of recent pink diamond production. Constrained new supply is a large part of why these colours command the highest per-carat prices.

Fewer stones are reaching the very top. A Rapaport analysis of a decade of auction data, published in March 2026, found that nine coloured diamonds exceeded $20 million in 2016, against four in 2023, and that far fewer blues and pinks beat their presale estimates in 2024 and 2025 than in 2017 and 2018. Sotheby's head of jewellery attributed this to limited supply of exceptional stones, a smaller pool of buyers at that level and collectors holding on to what they own. The same study found Geneva was the leading sale centre for top coloured diamond lots, ahead of New York and Hong Kong.

Coloured gemstones have gained ground. Christie's 2025 luxury trends report, as summarised by Rapaport in March 2026, recorded increased bidding for emeralds, rubies and sapphires, while demand for white diamonds held steady. Records for the Estrela de Fura, the Aga Khan Emerald and the Regent Kashmir since 2023 point in the same direction.

A record is not a guarantee. Resales show wide outcomes. The Ocean Dream more than doubled its 2014 price in 2026, while the Mellon Blue fell about 20 per cent over eleven years and the Sunrise Ruby fetched less than half its 2015 price in 2023. Sentiment, currency movements, the number of committed bidders on the night and the circumstances of a consignment all matter. Analysts cited by Rapaport linked the cautious mood in Geneva in November 2025 to geopolitical tension, tariffs and a weaker Chinese economy.

Documentation underpins every result. Each stone above was sold with reports from leading laboratories confirming natural colour, and for rubies, sapphires and emeralds, treatment status and geographic origin. The Estrela de Fura's unheated status and the Regent Kashmir's Kashmir origin were central to their value.

For wholesale enquiries about natural fancy colour diamonds and fine coloured gemstones with laboratory reports, please email info@byrex.com or send a WhatsApp message to +1 (437) 450-3786.