Alexandrite Ring Sells for Record-Setting $1.9M at Sotheby’s

New York—A piece of alexandrite jewelry made history at Sotheby’s recent Magnificent Jewels auction.

A ring set with a 16.53-carat oval-shaped alexandrite sold to a buyer on the phone for $1.9 million, more than three times its high-end estimate of $600,000.

It set a record for any alexandrite sold at auction, said Sotheby’s, noting that the gemstone, remarkable for its color-change phenomenon, is experiencing a “notable surge” in the market.  

The piece was one of three alexandrite lots on offer, a group described by the auction house as being of “the finest gem quality.” They achieved a combined total of $3.3 million.