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The 393-carat Blue Belle of Asia sold for $19.9 million

$20M for 392-carat cushion-shaped sapphire

2.4 k views | Posted November 18, 2014 | By Stephanie Chan • Staff Journalist

A 392.52-carat Ceylon sapphire, said to be the fourth largest faceted sapphire in the world, has established a new world auction record price after selling for almost $20 million.

The Blue Belle of Asia, a cushion-shaped sapphire set in a diamond necklace, was sold for US$17,295,796 (AU$19.9 m) to a private collector at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva on Tuesday 11 November. The sale also broke the world record for highest total sales for a jewellery auction, achieving a total of US$150,216,738 (AU$172.5 m).

In Geneva the next day, the record-breaking jewellery auctions continued. Sotheby’s Magnificent and Noble Jewels sale on Wednesday 12 November set two new world records with the sale of one 8.62-carat cushion-shaped Burmese ruby.

The Graff Ruby was sold for US$8,600,410 (AU$9.9 m) to renowned English jeweller Laurence Graff who had previously purchased the stone and given it its current name. In addition to setting the world auction record price for a ruby, the sale also set the world record price per carat for a ruby at US$997,727 (AU$1.1 m) per carat.

Sotheby’s also broke the world auction price for a Kashmir sapphire with the sale of a rare 27.54-carat step-cut specimen set in a diamond ring for US$5,984,474 (AU$6.9 m) to a private Asian buyer.

‘Rockstar’ watch re-establishes world record
In a separate sale, Sotheby’s re-established the status of the Henry Graves Supercomplication pocketwatch as the most valuable timepiece in auction history.

As previously reported by Jeweller, the gold pocketwatch – which had been dubbed the “most complicated watch ever made completely by human hand” – set the world auction record for any timepiece when it was first sold for US$11 million (AU$12.6 m) in December 1999.

It broke this record after being sold for US$24 million (AU$27.5 m) to an anonymous buyer at Sotheby’s Important Watches sale in Geneva on Tuesday 11 November.

Sotheby’s watch division chairman Daryn Schnipper and Sotheby’s worldwide head of watches Tim Bourne commented, “This stellar result confirms the ‘rockstar’ status of the Henry Graves Supercomplication. It is more than a watch. It is a masterpiece which transcends the boundaries of horology and has earned its place among the world’s greatest works of art.”