AN INCREDIBLY expensive sapphire ring has sold at an auction in England for over £100,000 after an intense bidding war.
The Kashmir sapphire ring was sold for a total of £175,980 at an auction in Birmingham after a bidding war between four customers.
The auction took place in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham where the 11.9cts sapphire was Lot 105 in the Fine Jewellery sale.
The Kashmir is an incredibly rare stone and was one of the highest prices ever achieved for a single item in the 145-year history of Fellows Auctioneers.
Stephen Whittaker, Auctioneer & Managing Director at Fellows, said: “We are delighted to have received so much interest in the incredible Kashmir sapphire ring, which was hugely popular in our Fine Jewellery sale.
Kashmir sapphires are some of the most sought-after stones in all of jewellery. “It was exciting selling the item and seeing the multiple bids come in for the ring.
“The buyer has themselves a really superb item of jewellery. It was a grand team effort to ensure the ring received the best possible price and the Fine Jewellery sale was a success.”
Fellows Auctioneers placed a pre-auction estimate of £100,000 – £150,000 on the ring, and it sold for a hammer price of £141,000 (£175,980 including fees).
There were interested bidders over the phone and via internet bidding platforms but the bidding started below £90,000 and quickly shot up to over £120,000.
The winning bid of £141,000 was placed over the Fellows Live internet platform, ending the five minute bidding war which took place at approximately 11:25am on Thursday 29th July.
Kashmir sapphires were only mined in the northernmost Himalayan Mountain for 50 years from their discovery in 1879 and are so rare that the area is still guarded to this day.
The Fine Jewellery sale in Birmingham had more than £1 million worth of jewellery go under the hammer at the same auction.
