Investing in Precious Gems

Are precious gems such as Rubies and Sapphires quickly catching up as an alternative to fancy color diamonds due to the latter’s quickly rising value? Are they also a medium of investment and wealth protection?

For the last few years, many important and rare rubies and sapphires have been sold at auction houses and have been breaking record after record. My attention was finally caught after the Graff Ruby sold for a new world record price in Geneva on November 12, 2014 for $8,600,410 or slightly just under $1 million per carat ($997,727.37 per carat to be precise). 

I was actually following it on my iPhone while traveling. The Ruby is of Burmese origin, and it broke the word record per carat and total price paid for a ruby. 

A day earlier, the largest Sapphire had broken a record as well when it sold for $17,564,156. It is a 392.52 carat Sapphire of Ceylon origin. In plain language: it’s rare! It broke the world record for a total price paid for a Sapphire.

The world record price per carat for a sapphire was set broken on November 12 in Geneva at Sotheby’s auction house. It was for a 27.54 carat Kashmir Sapphire. The total price paid was $5,984,474 or $217,301.16 per carat, a world record. 

On the other hand, the world record for a pink Sapphire of Ceylon origin was broken on May 14, 2014 while I was at Christie’s auction in Geneva. It was a 49.04 carat, and sold for a record $2,037,123.

In gemstones, just like in fancy color diamonds, there many varieties of stones of the same origin. The origin of a sapphire will play a role in its value as well as the color. Graff’s Ruby was a Pigeon Blood Red color, a rare red hue for such a stone. We also have to ensure it is untreated in order to maximize its value.

In early 2015 I will be reporting to you about the valuation of several important precious gems such as rubies and sapphires, and their acceleration in value against other financial and investment vehicles, similar to what I have done for fancy color diamonds.

I look forward to covering these beautiful gems as an investment and capital appreciation alternative in 2015. I have a feeling 2015 will continue to be an exciting year for both fancy color diamonds as well as precious gems.

What do you think about investing in precious gems? Would you invest in them?

1,04 Karat, Rot, Madagaskar Ruby, Rund Form

3,01 Karat, Rot, Mosambik Ruby, Kissen Form, Kein Nachweis einer Hitzebehandlung, GRS

4,03 Karat, Blau, Madagaskar Sapphire, Kissen Form, AGL

2,11 Karat, Rot, Ruby, Kissen Form

2,35 Karat, Grün, Sambisch Emerald, Achteck Form, GRS

1,10 Karat, Blau, Sri-lankisch Sapphire, Rund Form

2,08 Karat, Peach, Madagaskar Sapphire, Kissen Form

1,53 Karat, Rot, Birmanisch Ruby, Birne Form, GRS

7,45 Karat, Grün, Sambisch Emerald, Birne Form, CD

3,28 Karat, Blau, Sapphire, Rund Form, Kein Nachweis einer Hitzebehandlung

0,91 Karat, Grün, Madagaskar Sapphire, Rund Form

4,02 Karat, Blau, Sri-lankisch Sapphire, Smaragd Form, CD