Sotheby’s New York sale tops $43.4 million on rare gems

Sotheby’s New York High Jewelry sale closed at $43.4 million on June 16, with 119 lots offered and 98 percent sold, as the room and online bidders pushed 63 percent of the jewelry above estimate. The exhibition ran June 11 to 15 at 945 Madison Avenue, and more than one-third of purchases were made online, a reminder that the appetite for rare stones now extends well beyond the auction floor.

The sale’s most closely watched colored gemstone was a 7.70-carat Paraíba tourmaline from a private collection of five stones. Sotheby’s cataloged the gem as a superb unmounted oval-shaped stone of Classic Brazilian origin with no indications of clarity enhancement, accompanied by AGL and Gübelin reports. It sold for $1.4 million, more than double its estimate, and helped lift the Paraíba group well above expectations.

If the Paraíba lot showed how sharply the market can price rarity in colored gemstones, the top lot showed that fancy-color diamonds still occupy the highest rung of prestige. A 10.02-carat Fancy Intense Blue diamond sold for $8.7 million, making it the top jewelry lot in New York’s spring auction season. Sotheby’s said it was only the third 10-carat-plus Fancy Intense Blue diamond offered at auction since 2008, which helps explain why the stone drew such forceful bidding.

The sale did not depend on one headline gem alone. A 5.02-carat Fancy Intense Pink diamond ring brought $2.9 million, while a pair of Art Deco Cartier Kashmir sapphire earclips sold for $1.6 million after intense bidding. Together, the results showed a market that is still rewarding color across categories, from Brazilian Paraíba tourmalines to the rarest blue and pink diamonds, with exceptional provenance and clean gemological papers adding further price support.

Quig Bruning, Sotheby’s Global Head of Jewelry, said the results reflected strong demand for timeless designs and exceptional specimen stones, especially Paraíba tourmalines. The sale’s 38 percent increase over Sotheby’s equivalent High Jewelry sale in June 2025 suggests that the upper end of the market is still paying for scarcity, but the blue diamond remains the clearest prestige anchor when collectors want color with the deepest auction cachet.