Sotheby's sells HK$267.5m in Hong Kong as rubies take top three
A Mauboussin ruby necklace led at HK$16 million, 1.45 times its high estimate. Cartier tutti frutti earrings made HK$7.9 million on an HK$850,000 high estimate, and over 180 lots were offered.
By The Auctions Desk
What changed
Rubies took the top. Sotheby's Hong Kong High Jewelry sale made HK$267.5 million, or $34.1 million. Ruby lots took the three highest prices, led by a Mauboussin necklace at HK$16 million.
What it means
- If you bid on Burmese ruby: the top three lots were ruby. Two cleared HK$12.8 million each.
- If you consign coloured stones: small estimates moved furthest. A Cartier pair made 9.3 times its high estimate.
- What this is not: a diamond market reading. No diamond-led lot reached the top ten.
Key figures
| Sale total$34.1 million, all lots | HK$267.5m |
|---|---|
| Top lotMauboussin ruby necklace | HK$16m |
| Best multipleCartier earrings over estimate | 9.3x |
| Lots offeredRapaport's own count | 180+ |
Source: Sotheby's Hong Kong High Jewelry sale of 17 September 2026 · results and estimates as reported by Rapaport, 17 September 2026 15:21 UTC
Rubies took the three highest prices
Mauboussin led. A Mauboussin necklace of tumbled rubies and ruby beads made HK$16 million, or $2 million, against a HK$11 million high estimate.
Two at 12.8. A pair of Burmese ruby earrings and a 5.06-carat Burmese ruby ring each made HK$12.8 million.
| Lot | Sale price | High estimate | Price ÷ high |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mauboussin necklace, tumbled rubies and ruby beads | HK$16m | HK$11m | 1.45 |
| Burmese ruby earrings, 5.20 and 5.08 carats | HK$12.8m | HK$20m | 0.64 |
| Burmese ruby ring, 5.06 carats | HK$12.8m | HK$16m | 0.80 |
| Paraiba tourmaline ring, 7.52 carats | HK$10.5m | HK$15.5m | 0.68 |
| Cartier tutti frutti earrings | HK$7.9m | HK$850,000 | 9.29 |
| Burmese ruby ring, 6.05 carats | HK$7.7m | HK$7.8m | 0.99 |
| Harry Winston Colombian emerald earrings | HK$7.2m | HK$15m | 0.48 |
| Sugarloaf sapphire ring, 20.84 carats | HK$5.8m | HK$9.5m | 0.61 |
| Tanzanian spinel ring, 21.36 carats | HK$5.2m | HK$6m | 0.87 |
| Van Cleef & Arpels mystery-set ruby earrings | HK$5.1m | HK$1.4m | 3.64 |
Notes on this table
Source. Rapaport's report of 17 September 2026, which pairs each lot with its own estimate band and sale price; the pairing was re-checked against the page's underlying markup rather than its flattened text, because estimate, price and description sit in that order inside each block.
Carat Capital's arithmetic. the last column is sale price divided by high estimate: 7,900,000 ÷ 850,000 = 9.29, and 12,800,000 ÷ 20,000,000 = 0.64, which is 64% of the high estimate and 36% below it.
Not a whole sale. these are the ten Rapaport names out of more than 180 lots, so they are a selection, not the catalogue.
Small estimates moved furthest
Cartier multiplied. Cartier tutti frutti earrings carrying an HK$850,000 high estimate made HK$7.9 million, 9.3 times that figure.
Van Cleef followed. Van Cleef & Arpels mystery-set ruby earrings made HK$5.1 million on a HK$1.4 million high estimate, 3.6 times it.
Coloured stones filled the top ten
No diamond led. Every one of the ten highest prices went to a lot led by a coloured stone, out of more than 180 offered. A 7.52-carat Paraiba tourmaline ring made HK$10.5 million.
The trailed pair cleared low. The earrings led in the 6 September preview made HK$12.8 million, 64% of their HK$20 million high estimate and 36% below it.
What to watch
- 20 September 2026Victorins' September Edition sale in Fredericksburg, the next dated jewellery result.
- Mid-to-late September 2026Gemfields' next emerald auction result, the coloured-stone desk's standing anchor.
- Late September 2026FCRF's Q3 fancy-colour index, the next dated coloured-stone reading.
The story so far
Go deeper
What would change this call
A second September sale at these levels. One session in one city is a single reading, and a house can assemble a ruby-heavy catalogue in a market that is not paying up for ruby anywhere else.
How a price-over-estimate multiple reads
A high estimate is the house's public ceiling on what it expects, set by its specialists before the room bids. Dividing the hammer-inclusive sale price by that ceiling gives a single number: above 1 the room outbid the house, below 1 it did not. The multiple is most informative at the small end, where a modest band leaves room for a result many times it, and least informative at the top, where a wide band absorbs almost any outcome. A ratio of 9.29 on an HK$850,000 band and a ratio of 0.64 on an HK$20 million band can sit in the same sale without contradicting each other.
Method
Rapaport's report of 17 September 2026 is the source for the total, the lot descriptions, the estimates and the prices. Its own attribution for the top lot is the Sotheby's website. Sotheby's own High Jewelry results page was fetched directly for a second reading and returned 860,277 bytes of served HTML carrying no sale total, no lot price and no occurrence of the word Mauboussin; the figures are rendered by script after load, so this page is single-sourced on Rapaport and says so. The lot pairing was taken from the article's markup, not its flattened text: each block runs estimate, then sale price, then description, and two separate lots sold at HK$12.8 million, so a text-order read can attach the wrong band to the wrong stone. The last column of Table I is Carat Capital's own division, printed beside the figures it comes from. ARCHIVE: Sotheby's Hong Kong High Jewelry sale - ours of 2026-09-06 covers the PREVIEW period, the published estimates before the sale, and names the HK$20 million earrings, the 5.06 and 6.05 carat rings and the Mauboussin necklace; this item covers the RESULT period, the session of 17 September and its prices. DIFFERENT PERIOD, so ADVANCED, not a repeat. Searches for 267.5, Mauboussin, tutti frutti and Paraiba were each opened and read rather than counted.