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Name, weight, description and sale pricea
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Source & date found
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Current
Location
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Reference
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Blue Belle of Asia
392.52 ct; faceted, cushion shape in necklace; $17,295,796 total ($44,063/ct) at Christie's Geneva (Lot 348), 11 Nov.2014. Auction record total price for sapphire.
Notes: A "reputed gem dealer" allegedly sold this sapphire to Lord Naffield of Britain. The Blue Belle is described as “being held in the highest esteem among blue sapphires owing to its highly prized peacock blue colour and its excellent clarity.”
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Pelmadulla, Sri Lanka
1926
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Purchased by anonymous buyer
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Christie's 2014
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Jewel of Kashmir
27.68 ct; faceted, octagonal shape; ring; $6,745,688 total ($243,703/ct) at Sotheby's Hong Kong (Lot 1860) 7 Oct. 2015. Auction record per carat price for a single sapphire.
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Kashmir
Date unknown
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Purchased by anonymous buyer
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Sotheby's 2015
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Imperial Blue
17.16 ct; faceted, octagonal shape; ring; $8,372,094 total ($176,106/ct) at Sotheby's Hong Kong (Lot 1938) 7 Oct. 2014. Former auction record per carat price for a single sapphire.
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Kashmir
Date unknown
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Purchased by anonymous buyer
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Sotheby's 2014
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Richelieu Sapphires
Sapphire earrings with sapphires of 26.66 and 20.88 cts; $8,372,094 ($176,106 per ct) at Sotheby's Geneva 13 November 2013 sale (Lot 371). Former auction record total price for sapphire.
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Kashmir
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Purchased by anonymous buyer
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Sotheby's 2013
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Star of Kashmir
Cushion-shaped sapphire of 19.88 cts set in diamond ring; $3,483,017 ($175,202 per ct) at Christie's Geneva 15 May 2013 sale (Lot 306). Former auction record per carat price for a single sapphire.
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Kashmir
Date unknown
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Lawrence Graff
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Christie's 2013
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Unnamed
An octagonal-cut Ceylon sapphire brooch of 60.44 cts; $1,859,965 ($26,000 per ct) at Christie's Geneva 13 November 2012 sale (Lot 349). Auction record total price for a single Ceylon sapphire.
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Ceylon
Date unknown
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Purchased by UK trade buyer
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Christie's 2012
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Unnamed
Cushion-shaped sugarloaf cabochon Kashmir sapphire of 31.53 cts; set in gold and platinum ring within a circular-cut diamond surround, with circular-cut diamond shoulders; signed Van Cleef & Arpels, N.Y., No. 17988; sold for $2,658,500 ($84,3002/ct) at Christie's NewYork 17 April 2012, (Lot 225). Auction record per carat price for a cabochon sapphire.
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Kashmir
Date unknown
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Purchased by US trade buyer
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Christie's 2012
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Unnamed
Cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire of 26.41 cts; sold for $3,838,508 ($145,342/ct) atChristie's Hong Kong 29 November, 2011 sale (Lot 2813). Former auction record per carat price for a single blue sapphire.
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Kashmir
Date unknown
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Purchased by anonymous Asian private buyer
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Christie's 2011
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Unnamed
Sapphire & diamond bracelet by Cartier; 49.61 cts total weight; sold for HK$53,860,000 (US$6,942,856) at Christie's Hong Kong 1 June, 2010 sale (Lot 2388). Auction record total price for a single lot of blue sapphire.
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Kashmir
Date unknown
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Purchased by Ben Mellen & Son
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Christie's 2010
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Unnamed
Cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire of 42.28 cts; sold for $3,489,167 ($82,500/ct) at Christie's Geneva 20 November, 2008 sale (Lot 279). Former auction record total price for a single blue sapphire.
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Kashmir
Date unknown
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Purchased by anonymous buyer
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Christie's 2007
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Unnamed
Cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire of 22.66 cts; sold for $3,064,000 ($135,216/ct) at Christie's NYC 25 April, 2007 sale (Lot 261). Former auction record per carat price for a single blue sapphire.
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Kashmir
ca. 1886
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Purchased by anonymous buyer
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Christie's 2007
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Rockefeller Sapphire
62.02 ct; faceted, rectangular step cut;mounted in diamond ring; John D. Rockefeller, Jr. puchased this sapphire from a maharajah (rumored to be the Nizam of Hydrabad) in India in 1934; it was recut by Reginald Miller from 66.03 to 62.02 ct in the early 1970s; sold to Ralph Esmarian at Sotheby's St Moritz, Feb. 20, 1988, for $2,828,546 ($45,607/ct). At Christie's NYC 11 April, 2001 sale, it sold for $3,031,000 ($48,871/ct) (Lot 435). Former per carat and total price world record for a single blue sapphire.
In 1934 John D. Rockefeller, Jr. purchased the sapphire from an Indian Maharajah rumored to have been the Nizam of Hyderabad through Raymond Yard who advised him on many of his jewelry transactions. Raymond Yard was also a close friend of Raphael Esmerian (1903–1976), the world's leading gem dealer of his time. Esmerian would appraise it on a regular basis. This was an opportunity for him to look at one of his favorite gems and to speak of the stone's perfection. In the early 1940's Esmerian was consulted by Pierre Cartier to improve the stone as it was to be remounted as a brooch for Rockefeller's wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874–1948). Cartier recut the stone to approximately 66 carats and made a brooch with calibré-cut sapphires and diamonds. In the 1950's Rockefeller's second wife, Martha Baird Rockefeller (1895–1971) had the brooch redesigned by Raymond Yard. In the winter of 1971, the Rockefeller family sold the jewelry from John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s estate in Zurich. The sapphire was purchased by Raphael Esmerian for approximately $170,000 and then sold the following year to an Italian private client. Upon this man's death, the family consigned the stone once more for auction in the spring of 1980. This time it was bought by Ralph Esmerian, Raphael's son, for approximately $1,500,000. Ralph Esmerian has continued his father's legacy by dealing in rare gems and exquisite objects in New York. It was after this purchase that the stone was repolished to it's weight of 62.02 carats and mounted in a platinum ring. In 1986 it was sold to an American private collector who only collected stones of the highest caliber. Other gems in his collection included the Ashoka, a superb D color, Internally Flawless diamond of 41.37 carats, a 20.00 carat square-cut pink diamond and an extraordinary green diamond of 3.02 carats. In 1988, this collection was sold at auction in St Moritz. The Rockefeller sapphire fetched a world record price of $2,850,000 and was purchased again by Ralph Esmerian who sold it to its present owner.
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Burma
Date unknown
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Purchased by Asian private
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Sotheby's, 1988a
Hughes & Sersen, 1988b
Federman, 1992
Matthews, 1993
Christie's, 2001
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Unnamed
Sapphire & diamond necklace, with sapphires of 36.00, 31.43, 30.91, 14.55 and 10.96 ct. Sold at Sotheby's New York, Oct.
26, 1989 (Lot 58) for $3,520,000. World record for a single lot of sapphires.
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The 30.91-ct stone is from Sri Lanka; others are from Kashmir
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Unknown
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Sotheby's, 1989
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