Editor’s Note
A 55.22-carat ruby discovered in Mozambique is set for a June auction in New York, where it could become the largest and most valuable of its kind ever sold.
A 55.22-carat ruby is poised to become the largest—and, if sold for over $30.3 million, the most valuable—gem of its kind ever offered at auction. The stone will be auctioned in New York in June, less than a year after Canadian company Fura Gems discovered it at one of its mines in Mozambique.
Announcing the sale on Wednesday, Sotheby’s described the jewel as “extremely rare” and “the most valuable and important ruby” ever to appear on the market. Named Estrela de Fura (Fura’s Star in Portuguese, Mozambique’s official language), the stone is expected to fetch a price “in excess” of $30 million, according to the auction house.
While record gemstone sales are dominated by diamonds, particularly colored ones, rubies are also considered one of the world’s rarest and most valuable gemstones. The current auction record for a ruby is held by the Sunrise Ruby, a 25.59-carat stone found in Myanmar that sold for $30.3 million in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2015.
Estrela de Fura was cut from a rough stone that made headlines when it was unearthed by miners last July. Originally weighing 101 carats—nearly double its current weight—it was the largest gem-quality ruby ever discovered.
The massive stone was cut into a smaller, symmetrical shape and polished, processes that remove impurities and enhance a gemstone’s color and brilliance before it reaches the market. According to Sotheby’s, a report from the Swiss Gemmological Institute stated this had “resulted in vivid red hues due to multiple internal reflections.”
Although rubies were first discovered in Mozambique several decades ago, a significant industry did not emerge until 2009, when a huge deposit of stones was found near the northern city of Montepuez. Mozambique is now one of the world’s most productive countries for ruby mining.
Estrela de Fura was one of the stones unearthed in the region. Sotheby’s described it as a stone of “extraordinary clarity” and a dark red color known as “pigeon’s blood,” a hue traditionally more associated with coveted Burmese rubies.
The ruby will be part of Sotheby’s “Magnificent Jewels” auction, which will be led by a 10.57-carat pink diamond, The Eternal Pink, expected to fetch over $35 million. Unveiled last week, the “ultra rare” gem was described by the auction house as possessing “incomparable color and brilliance.”
Both gemstones will be exhibited in several cities, including Dubai, Singapore, and Geneva, before heading to New York for the June auction.