Records,
in context.
The record sales from Chapter 14, ranked within their category, with the price per carat and what a published auction price includes.
Last reviewed
- Highest price, any jewel
- CTF Pink Star, US$71.2 million (2017)
- Highest price per carat
- US$5,178,124, Williamson Pink Star, 2022
- Records listed
- 19
Every record, by category.
Prices include the buyer’s premium, as the selling house published them. Each table runs from the highest price down.
marks the highest price in each category in this table. A sale is called a record only where Chapter 14 says so, and the claim is quoted under its name.
Pink diamonds
| Name | Stone | Carats | US$ million | Local price | US$ per carat | House | City | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTF Pink Star(highest in its category)Auction record for any jewel | Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, oval mixed cut, IF | 59.60 | 71.2 | US$71,175,926 | 1,194,227 | Sotheby's | Hong Kong | |
| Williamson Pink StarRecord price per carat for any diamond | Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, cushion, IF | 11.15 | 57.7 | HK$453,223,000 | ≈5,170,000 | Sotheby's | Hong Kong | |
| Pink Legacy | Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, cut-cornered rectangle, VS1 | 18.96 | 50.4 | CHF 50,375,000 | ≈2,660,000 | Christie's | Geneva | |
| Graff Pink | Pink diamond, emerald cut, repolished after the sale | 24.78 | 46.0 | CHF 45.44 million | ≈1,860,000 | Sotheby's | Geneva | |
| Princie | Fancy Intense Pink diamond, cushion, VS2, Golconda type | 34.65 | 39.3 | US$39,323,750 | 1,134,885 | Christie's | New York | |
| Eternal Pink | Fancy Vivid purplish pink diamond, IF | 10.57 | 34.8 | US$34.8 million | ≈3,290,000 | Sotheby's | New York | |
| Sweet Josephine | Fancy Vivid Pink diamond, named after the sale | 16.08 | 28.5 | CHF 28,725,000 | ≈1,770,000 | Christie's | Geneva |
Blue diamonds
| Name | Stone | Carats | US$ million | Local price | US$ per carat | House | City | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oppenheimer Blue(highest in its category)Price record for a blue diamond | Fancy Vivid Blue diamond, rectangular cut, VVS1 | 14.62 | 57.54 | CHF 56,837,000 | ≈3,936,000 | Christie's | Geneva | |
| De Beers Blue | Fancy Vivid Blue diamond, step cut, IF | 15.10 | 57.5 | HK$450,925,000 | ≈3,810,000 | Sotheby's | Hong Kong | |
| Blue Moon of Josephine | Fancy Vivid Blue diamond, cushion, IF | 12.03 | 48.5 | US$48,468,158 | 4,028,941 | Sotheby's | Geneva | |
| Bleu Royal | Fancy Vivid Blue diamond, pear brilliant, IF | 17.61 | 44.0 | CHF 39,505,000 | ≈2,500,000 | Christie's | Geneva | |
| The Winston Blue | Fancy Vivid Blue diamond, catalogued as THE BLUE | 13.22 | 23.8 | CHF 21,445,000 | ≈1,800,000 | Christie's | Geneva |
Colorless diamonds
The Rock tops this list, but Chapter 14 makes no record claim for it.
| Name | Stone | Carats | US$ million | Local price | US$ per carat | House | City | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Rock(highest in its category) | Diamond, G color, VS1, pear brilliant | 228.31 | 21.9 | CHF 21,681,000 | ≈95,900 | Christie's | Geneva | |
| Elizabeth Taylor Diamond | Diamond, D color, VS1, Type IIa | 33.19 | 8.8 | US$8,818,500 | 265,697 | Christie's | New York |
Rubies
| Name | Stone | Carats | US$ million | Local price | US$ per carat | House | City | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estrela de Fura(highest in its category)Highest total price for a ruby | Ruby, Mozambique, pigeon's blood | 55.22 | 34.8 | US$34.8 million | ≈630,000 | Sotheby's | New York | |
| Sunrise RubyPer-carat record for a ruby | Ruby, Myanmar, set in a Cartier ring | 25.59 | 30.3 | US$30,335,698 | 1,185,451 | Sotheby's | Geneva | |
| Jubilee Ruby | Ruby, Burma, unheated, in a Verdura ring | 15.99 | 14.2 | US$14,165,000 | 885,866 | Christie's | New York |
Pearls
La Peregrina tops this list, but Chapter 14 makes no record claim for it. The natural pearl record is not in this table: a natural pearl pendant worn by Marie Antoinette made CHF 36,427,000 in Geneva in 2018, but no weight in carats could be retrieved for it.
| Name | Stone | Carats | US$ million | Local price | US$ per carat | House | City | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Peregrina(highest in its category) | Natural pearl, in a Cartier necklace | 50.56 | 11.8 | US$11,842,500 | 234,227 | Christie's | New York |
Other
Red Cross Diamond tops this list, but Chapter 14 makes no record claim for it.
| Name | Stone | Carats | US$ million | Local price | US$ per carat | House | City | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Cross Diamond(highest in its category) | Fancy Intense Yellow diamond, cushion, VS2 | 205.07 | 14.3 | CHF 14,181,250 | ≈69,700 | Christie's | Geneva |
How to read a record.
What a published auction price includes and what it leaves out, from Chapter 14.
Premium
Hammer price plus premium
A published result is the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, a percentage the house adds on top. Under the schedule Christie’s applies from 1 September 2026, the premium is 28% of the hammer price up to US$2 million, 22% to US$8 million and 15% above that. Every price on this page includes it. Pre-sale estimates do not, so a result and an estimate are not on the same basis.
Currency
Converted on the day of sale
Each row keeps the price the house announced, in Swiss francs, Hong Kong dollars or US dollars. For a sale announced in francs or Hong Kong dollars, the US dollar figure comes from the house or from GIA at the exchange rate on the day of sale, so dollar prices from different years are not directly comparable.
Per carat
Per carat is not the total
Dividing the price by the weight favors small, exceptional stones. The 11.15 ct Williamson Pink Star made US$5,178,124 per carat, the record for any diamond, while the 59.60 ct CTF Pink Star holds the record total for any jewel. Among rubies, the Sunrise Ruby holds the per-carat record and the Estrela de Fura the higher total. Largest, most expensive and most expensive per carat are three separate claims.
Coverage
Private sales are not counted
Most gems change hands in confidential dealer transactions. Only public auction results appear here, so a stone sold privately for more would not, and an auction record is a benchmark for the top of the market rather than a guide to ordinary stones.
US$ per carat is Erebaur’s arithmetic: the US$ price divided by the weight at the time of sale. It is exact where the house published an exact US$ total. Where the US$ figure is rounded, the result is rounded to match and marked ≈. It can differ from a per-carat figure a house or GIA publishes: GIA gives US$1,266,901 per carat for the Sunrise Ruby, while Sotheby’s total works out to US$1,185,451.
