The price of coloured gems hit new highs today at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong.
A 15 carat Burmese ‘pigeon’s blood red’ ruby was sold for a glittering US$18.3mln at the auction, smashing the US$15.6mln expected.
It also shattered the world record auction price per carat for a ruby set earlier this year at around US$1.1mln, as it reached a price of US$1.2mln per carat.
Also at the sale, another Burmese ruby sold for US$7.2mln, while an afghan emerald of around 10.1 carats was sold for US$2.2mln.
It is a world record price for afghan emeralds which are usually smaller than others found around the world.
The news is a continuation of the trend seen by coloured gem specialist Gemfields (LON:GEM), which recorded record revenues for lower quality stones at its recent emeralds auction in Jaipur, India.
Gemfields’ next auction is expected to take place in December 2015 in Singapore and, based on current market
demand, is anticipated to be predominantly comprised of mixed lots of ruby and corundum from the Montepuez ruby deposit in Mozambique.
Shares in the company climbed 5.4%, or 2p, to 40.3p on Wednesday.
