Large Unheated Ruby Ring Auction

[lmyracle]

It's underwhelming for me but curiosity may have me go take a look....

A Natural Ruby and Diamond Ring in Platinum | Alex Cooper - Fine Art

Platinum ring featuring an oval natural ruby weighing 12.50 cts, accompanied by an AGL Colored Stone Report Doc. No. CS 1077874, surrounded by round full cut diamonds weighing approx. .50 ctw, sz 6.75, 15.6 grams

bid.alexcooper.com

 

[lmyracle]

AGL reflects it's unheated

 

[Bron357]

It’s big but it’s rather ugly.
Apart from the purple hue there’s a lot of inclusions going on and you’d have to check it over carefully in case any are surface reaching fissures.

 

[lmyracle]

I agree. These auctions always have so much poor quality items and I’m always in awe of what people pay for stuff. It seems they just like the thrill of bidding?!

 

[Rad_Fan]

I've learned from this forum that vendors always show the best of the gems because of their special lighting settings, and if this is the best we are seeing provided by the auction house...wonder what it looks like IRL without the back shooting light, eh?

It's possible that smaller auction houses might not have the expertise in CS, sometimes. Who knows?

 

[prs]

If you live neat to them call the auction house and ask if they have any previews scheduled. If so, go see it and have fun looking at all the other gems.

If it's not possible to see the gems before the auction, then forget about it!!!

 

[T L]

It’s estimate is $15 to $25k, which is pittance for an unheated ruby of an enormous size. You’re not going to get a beautiful stone at that price, and you’re paying more for size than color or other quality.

When you compare that price to millions per carat for fine untreated Burmese material (this stone is Afghan), than it’s like night and day.

That being said, 15 to 25k is an awful lot of money to waste on such an unattractive stone, even if the setting is somewhat decent. I would imagine the setting is at least $5k of that estimate. I mean I could pay $5k for a ten carat diamond, but the diamond will probably look like a cloudy ice cube with dirt in it.

 

[lmyracle]

They do have preview days and I won't bother. I've been before and it seems all they have is crap jewelry. I'm sure they privately sell the good stuff to local jewelers who resell it to consumers. I'll follow it though, just to see how much it sells for...more out of curiosity. I'm not crazy about the color, style and all of the inclusions look horrible.

 

[Arcadian]

I'm glad there's agreement on the stone not being the prettiest baby...lol But its big and its unheated and its a ruby, and that is what matters to some.

 

[Nick_G]

The colour is closer to purple sapphire IMO.