World's largest ruby gemstone on auction sells for record $34.8 million

A Dubai-based firm's ruby sold at Sotheby's in New York on Thursday for $34.8 million, set a new record price at auction for the precious stone.

The 55.22-carat gemstone named Estrella de Fura was already the largest ruby ever to go under the hammer.

It was cut from a 101-carat rough stone discovered in July last year at the Montepeuz ruby mine in Mozambique operated by the Dubai-based Fura Gems company. The DMCC had hosted the unveiling the extraordinary gemstone at its Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) last month.

The stone was the star attraction of a sale offering 100 different pieces of jewellery.

Offered at a starting price of $21 million, it sold for $30 million plus fees and commissions to an anonymous telephone buyer.

The previous record belonged to a 25.59-carat Burmese ruby, which sold for a total price of $30.33 million by Sotheby's in Geneva in 2015.

"This is really a true wonder of nature," Quig Bruning, head of jewellery for Sotheby's in the Americas, told AFP.

"Any ruby that comes out of the ground that ends up over five carats as a polished ruby is something that's rare. Ten carats is really rare. Twenty carats is almost unheard of.