Forget diamonds – rubies, sapphires and emeralds are likely your best bets if you want your jewellery to make you rich.
Coloured gemstones are outpacing the growth of diamond prices per carat, according to a new report. Knight Frank’s Luxury Investment Index concludes that, at the end of January 2019, the jewellery category as a whole experienced a five per cent decline in value but coloured gemstones continue to harbour opportunities for investors.
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Andrew Shirley, head of luxury research at Knight Frank observes this trend. “The interesting story is that coloured gemstones are outperforming the wider jewellery market with some significant sales taking place already in 2019.”
Record prices achieved at auction suggest that emeralds and rubies have already outperformed the per carat price of the diamond. The highest per carat price achieved by a ruby is the 15.04-carat Crimson Flame that sold for US$18 million, or US$1,196,809 per, carat in 2015; the US$5.5 million, 18.04-carat Rockefeller Emerald, achieved a record per-carat price of US$305,516 in 2017.
Meanwhile, the record holder for the world’s most expensive colourless diamond is the 76.02-carat Archduke Joseph. The per-carat price of the US$21.5 million diamond is US$282,485. The record was set in 1993, suggesting that there has not been a significant breakthrough in white diamond prices in the past two-plus decades.
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The sapphire is the only gem among the “big three” that has not surpassed the colourless diamond in per-carat price, which, if recent auctions at Bonham’s London is any indication, could change very soon. A 17.43-carat kashmir sapphire ring sold for £723,063 (US$916,600) significantly exceeding the high estimate of £400,000.
CEO of Gemfields, Sean Gilbertson agrees that it is only a matter of time before the sapphire hits the big time. “The swing towards precious coloured gemstones is overwhelming. The past decade has seen the world record prices for an emerald and ruby surpass that of a colourless diamond on a per carat basis. It surely can’t be long before sapphires overtake diamonds too.”
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As with any commodity, prices are driven by interest and demand, and there’s no shortage of that among gem lovers. “We expect vibrant consumer interest and sector growth to continue,” says Gilbertson.
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