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Top 20 Most Expensive Diamond Rings Ever Sold at Auction as of 2023

Curious about the Top 20 Most Expensive Diamond rings in the World, sold at auction as of 2023?

Jewellery has represented wealth and sophistication for millennia. The ancient Egyptians used gold to help distinguish the rich and powerful, while the Romans used precious stones to help communicate status and wealth. Today, jewellery is still regarded as the ultimate symbol of wealth. Coloured diamonds are highly coveted by collectors and the historical significance of some pieces can add greatly to their value.

This makes expensive diamond ring pieces a sound investment. But to the uninitiated, one expensive diamond ring looks very much like another, as our resident diamond experts often find which one is worth investing in.

So how do you know which expensive diamond ring pieces have the best investment potential in 2023?

To find out, let’s take a look at the 20 most expensive pieces of jewellery and diamond rings in the World, sold at auction by 2023.

Fine assets are always in big demand as prices at auctions around the world continue to grow every year. You may also want to read our comprehensive articles on the most expensive assets ever sold on auction for assets like fine wine collections, most expensive Cartier jewelry, luxury handbags, classic cars , diamonds and art.

If you like watches, then we wrote articles on the Top 10 most expensive Rolexes ever sold , Top 10 Most Expensive Watches ever sold, and Top 10 Brands of Fine Watches you Should Invest in

Table of Contents

What is the most expensive diamond ring in the world in 2023 after COVID-19?

Interestingly, overall jewellery sales have actually increased during the pandemic once stores and auction houses had a chance to open again. And, what type of jewellery led the sales? Diamond rings.

COVID-19 reminded people that life is fragile and about the importance of living in the moment, which caused the number of engagements to rise. Also, since people couldn’t have huge weddings during COVID, they have decided to spend more on the event’s most tangible asset, the expensive diamond ring.

The pandemic has even seen many people decide to upgrade their wedding rings since the jewellery industry doesn’t have to compete with travel, its number one competitor.

So, what is the most expensive diamond ring in the world in 2023? Read on to find out.

1. Pink Star Diamond Ring – £57.3 million

Mounted on a platinum four-pronged ring, the Pink Star Diamond is an ultra-rare 59.60-carat ‘fancy pink vivid’ diamond mined in South Africa by De Beers in 1999.

The stone was meticulously cut over a two-year period to create the ultimate flawless pink diamond. So this ultra-rare and giant gemstone was sure to create a storm when it came up for sale at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong in April 2017.

After frenzied early bidding from three buyers, the hammer finally came down at £57.3 million, making it the most expensive diamond ring in the world as of 2023.

The lucky buyer was Chinese jeweller Chow Tai Fook Enterprises who bought the most expensive diamond ring in the world and renamed it the CTF Pink Star in memory of the company’s founder, Dr Cheng Yu-Tung.

2. Oppenheimer Blue Diamond ring – £40 million

The Oppenheimer Blue is the largest vivid blue diamond ever to come on the market, and another worthy entry on our list of most expensive diamond rings in the world in 2023.

The stone is set alongside two trapeze-cut diamonds on a platinum five-blade ring and is named after Sir Philip Oppenheimer, whose family owned the De Beers Mining Company. Oppenheimer was very secretive and little was known about the ring until after his death in 1995.

So when it came up for auction at Christie’s Geneva in May 2016, it caused quite a stir. After an initial flurry of bidders, just two determined buyers were left to battle it out. They traded blows for close to 20 minutes before the hammer finally came down at £40 million.

This is the highest price ever achieved for a blue diamond ring.

3. The All-Diamond Ring – £44 million

The All-Diamond is a 150-carat ring. Shawish Geneva Jewelers carved it into its current shape from a larger stone. As the name suggests, the ring is pure diamond and the world’s first diamond ring.

Ancient diamond rings have precious metals in them, with the diamond as the centerpiece. The All-Diamond Ring, however, has no metal support; the entire band is diamond.

Inspired by the president of Shawish Geneva, the ring is a perfect intersection of fantasy, reality, art, and style. The jewelers copyrighted the design long before the ring’s release.

After the release, the ring underwent many tests to laser the design and maintain the original stone. In 2012, appraisers gave it a value of £44 million.

Though it has so far never been sold at an auction, it is one of the most expensive diamond rings in the world as of 2023 and would be worth whatever price the buyers decide on.

4. The Pink Legacy diamond ring – £38.5 million

The Pink Legacy is another piece once owned by the Oppenheimer family.

The ring is set with a rare emerald-cut fancy pink diamond weighing 18.96-carats, flanked by two clear diamonds on each side. The large pink stone was described by Christie’s international head of jewellery Rahul Kadakia as “one of the world’s greatest diamonds” when it came up for sale at Christie’s Geneva in November 2018.

All pink diamonds are rare, expensive and incredibly valuable for investment purpuses, but what makes the Pink Legacy special is its even colour distribution and balanced saturation. This qualifies it as a ‘fancy vivid’ stone by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), a designation which only 1 in a million diamonds achieve.

So naturally, there was strong competition for this beautiful, rare and elegant piece when it came up for auction. After just five minutes of furious bidding, the hammer came down at £38.5 million. The buyer was identified as none other than U.S. jewellery house Harry Winston.

5. The Blue Moon of Josephine diamond ring – £31.7 million

The centrepiece of this rare and expensive ring is a blue diamond weighing 12.03-carat. Blue diamonds make up just 0.1% of diamond production, so any blue diamond is rare and valuable.

But this particular blue diamond is also rated as flawless.

Almost all high-end luxury diamonds contain microscopic elements of non-crystallised carbon which show up as dark flecks when inspected under a microscope. But the Blue Moon of Josephine contains no such inclusions and has been officially classified as flawless by the GIA.

So when this very expensive, exquisite diamond ring came up for sale at Sotheby’s Geneva in October 2011, it attracted buyers from across the world.

As expected, bidding was fierce for the plain set diamond ring investment opportunity. The reserve of $35 million was soon met and the price kept on climbing. When the hammer finally came down it had reached a record $48m (£31.7 million), making it one of the most expensive diamonds in the world sold prior to 2023.

The buyer was identified as Hong Kong property magnate Joseph Lau, who renamed it ‘The Blue Moon of Josephine’ after his daughter.

6. The Graff Pink diamond ring – £29 million

The Graff Pink was originally sold by celebrity jeweller Harry Winston to a private collector in the 1950s.

The centrepiece of the ring is an emerald-cut pink diamond weighing 24.78-carat. This is set using a traditional three-stone shoulder setting alongside two smaller clear diamonds on a silver crafted ring.

This beautiful piece came up for sale at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva, in November 2010.

The eventual buyer was Lawrence Graff, founder of London Diamond Merchants, Graff Diamonds. Following the sale, Graff renamed the ring the ‘Graff Pink’ and described it as “the most fabulous diamond I’ve seen in the history of my career.”

Image credit: sothebys.com

7. Princie Diamond Ring – £25.5 million

More than 300 years ago, the princess diamond first came from South Central India. The piece quickly gained favor with the royal family Hyderabad, rulers of the Mughal empire. Finally, after centuries, the royal family auctioned the ring off at Sotheby’s in the 1960s. Van Cleef and Arpels purchased the ring for £46,000 at the time.

When the ring was auctioned again at Christie’s in 2013, many people believed the piece would go for over 33.2 million pounds. Nonetheless, 25.5 million isn’t far from the expectation.

The ring was the most expensive diamond piece that Christie’s had ever auctioned at the time worldwide. The bidder’s identity is a secret, but the collector wrote that the ring is now with the Qatari royal family.

8. The Sakura – £21.6 Million

The Sakura, which means ‘cherry blossom’ in Japanese, is a 15.8-carat purple-pink diamond with a platinum and gold ring. The Sakura, which has become the world’s most expensive ring in the world sold during the pandemic, is “fancy vivid” as well as internally flawless.

Similar to the most expensive ring in the world as of 2023 (the CTF Pink Star), The Sakura has a light pink hue that drove the world of luxury jewellery wild when it came up for auction at Christie’s in May 2021.

A private Asian buyer bought what represents one of the world’s most expensive diamond rings at auction in Hong Kong for an astounding £21.6 million.

9. Cartier Sunrise Ruby ring £19.6 million

The centrepiece of this ring is a cushion-cut ruby of Burmese origin set in a traditional three-stone shoulder setting flanked by two shield-shaped diamonds.

The first non-diamond to appear in our list of “most expensive rings in the world 2023″ list, the Cartier Sunrise Ruby (named after a poem of the same name by Rumi), is described as having a highly attractive colour and fine purity.

At 25.59-carat the central stone is one of the largest rubies ever to come on the market, so there was strong competition when it came up for auction at Sotheby’s Geneva sale in May 2015.

The final sale price was £19.6 million, making it the most expensive ruby ever and the highest price ever achieved for a gemstone other than a diamond, as of 2023.

10. The Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond ring – £16.40 million

The Wittelsbach-Graff diamond is as much a piece of history as it is a piece of jewellery. This fancy deep bluish-grey diamond once formed the centrepiece of the Crown of Bavaria until it was sold by the Wittelsbach family in 1931.

Mined in Golkonda, India, the first recording of the jewel was in 1686 when it was listed as part of the Habsburg family estate. This expensive diamond was then transferred to the Bavarian Wittelsbach family as part of a dowry when Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria married Charles of Bavaria.

It remained in the Wittelsbach family until 1931 when it was sold to a private collector. It remained in private hands until December 2008 when it came up for auction at Christie’s.

The eventual buyer was London diamond merchant Lawrence Graff, who paid £16.4 million for it.

Following the purchase, Graff did something controversial. He had the stone recut to enhance its clarity and colour and set it into a four-pronged platinum ring.

In its original form, the diamond weighed 35.56-carat but is reported to have lost 4.45-carat following the cut. It didn’t lose any value though. Graff is reported to have sold this expensive diamond ring piece to the Emir of Qatar for a cool $80 million, a great return on investment.

Image credit : flickr.com

11. The Perfect Pink Diamond ring – £15.08 million

The centrepiece of this expensive ring is a large pink diamond which was the only pink diamond ever to have been graded as fancy vivid pink when it was sold in 2010. That made this a very special piece indeed. So it was no surprise when it came up for auction that it achieved a price far higher than its estimate; a worthy entry on our list of most expensive diamond ring sin the world as of 2023.

The 14.23-carat diamond is set on an 18k rose gold ring in a traditional shoulder setting flanked by two clear diamonds on each side. It is an elegant piece with art deco undertones that hark back to the roaring twenties. But it is the stone’s superb vivid colour that really sets this piece apart.

The ring came up for auction at Christie’s Hong Kong on November 20th 2010. The bidding was fierce with four buyers still in the action right up until the hammer fell. The final price of the ring was $50 million, 30% more expensive than the higher estimate, and a record investment for a pink diamond at the time.

12. Exquisite Pink Diamond Ring – £14.6 Million

As far as big diamond rings go, this exquisite pink diamond ring is a stunner. Although much smaller than the largest diamond ring ever sold, the purplish pink, 10.64-carat diamond brought in HKD 155,831,000 in October 2019.

The same colour as the rarest ring in the world, Type IIa pink, this rare (and expensive) diamond is a cut-cornered rectangular mix-cut mounted on an 18-karat white and pink gold band.

Sotheby’s sold the ring as part of its Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale in Hong Kong, which brought in a total of £28.2 million. Most of the other jewellery sold in the auction included works by Chinese jeweller Anna Hu.

13. Two Fancy Vivid Heart-Shaped Rings – £13.7 Million

When determining the most expensive diamond ring in the world in 2023, the answer can be challenging, especially when auction houses sell rings in pairs, like the two fancy vivid heart-shaped rings sold in 2020.

One ring is a 5.04-carat fancy vivid blue diamond that is brilliant-cut with VS2 clarity with a platinum band and two pear-shaped diamonds on the side. The other is a 4.49-carat fancy vivid pink diamond that is internally flawless on an 18K white gold ring with two pear-shaped diamonds on the side.

Sotheby’s sold the rings in Hong Kong in July 2020 to an unknown buyer. The auction house sold the rings in separate auctions, but it is unknown whether the same buyer bought them as a set or not.

14. The 103-Carat Light of Africa Ring – £13 million

The Carat Light of Africa ring was cut from a 299.3-carat rough diamond at the Cullinan diamond mine. The ring inspires awe at sight, catching and reflecting light very well. The Stargems group bought the piece in 2021.

In 2022, the piece was auctioned again at Christie’s New York auction. The price began at £4.98 million and ratcheted higher and higher. Finally, at £10.8 million, only four bidders were left. The final price was £13 million, surpassing the expected cost.

15. 12.11-Carat Fancy Intense Blue/IF Diamond Ring – £11.7 Million

Rare diamond rings are always a favourite at auction, and this blue diamond ring sold at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in July 2020 proves it.

The 12.11-carat marquise-shaped diamond is an internally flawless and brilliant cut, making the gem a treasure among big diamond rings.

The ring caused quite a stir at the auction, with bidding continuing for more than 15 minutes. Eventually, a private collector dialling in by phone won the auction at an astounding HKD 122,385,000.

The Magnificent Jewels auction made £29.3 million overall. Other top-dollar pieces sold at the auction include the Burmese Star Ruby and Diamond necklace (£1.9 million) and a diamond and platinum necklace with sapphires (£1 million).

16. Martian Pink Diamond ring – £11.1 million

The Martian Pink was created by celebrity jeweller Harry Winston in 1976 after being inspired by NASA’s Viking mission to photograph the surface of Mars.

The centrepiece of on of the most expensive diamond rings (as of 2023) is a large 12.04-carat pink diamond graded as ‘fancy vivid’ pink with VS1 clarity. The stone is plain mounted on a four-pronged 18k gold ring size 7.

Only one in 10 million pink diamonds get graded as ‘fancy vivid’ so this piece was sure to create a lot of excitement when it came up for auction.

The sale was handled by Christie’s Hong Kong, due to the fact that coloured diamonds often achieve higher prices in Asian markets. The sale lasted just six minutes with the hammer coming down at £11.1 million.

17. The Sky Blue Diamond Ring – £11 million

As the name suggests, the Sky Blue Diamond Ring has a beautiful brilliance and the elegant appearance of the summer sky. In addition, the color represents reliability, trust, honesty, and responsibility.

Years after its discovery, Cartier mounted the diamond on its ring base to complete the design.

The 8-carat ring is an elegant clear celestial blue with a distinct square emerald cut. The £11 million prize was impressive but left some people disappointed.

For example, the ring should have gone for up to £20.7 million, based on estimates from Thomas Erickson jewelers. Nonetheless, another worthy entry on our top list of most expensive diamonds in the world ever sold as of 2023

18. The Vivid Yellow Diamond Ring- £10.5 million

The vivid yellow diamond ring, a 100-carat ring, was auctioned for £10.5 million dollars at Sotheby’s in May 2014. The auction had attendees from more than 30 countries, with the price tag being the highest ever for a yellow diamond.

This baby yellow diamond ring is one of the largest yellow diamonds in history. The design is flexible, as the stone is encased on the ring but is removable. The owner can remove and place it on different jewelry, like a pendant or brooch.

19. Bulgari Two-Stone coloured diamond ring – £10.2 million

Why buy one diamond when you can have two? This exquisite ring created by Bulgari in 1972 contains two giant diamonds. One is an ultra-rare fancy vivid Blue diamond weighing 10.95-carats and the other is a triangular cut almost flawless clear diamond weighing 9.87 carats.

The diamonds are mounted on an 18k gold band set with five baguette-cut clear diamonds in a half-hoop. Despite the ring containing seven diamonds in total, much of its expensive investment value can be attributed to the blue diamond. One of only a handful of blue diamonds to be rated as fancy vivid blue, it is considered to be one of the finest blue diamonds in existence.

The Bulgari Two-Stone came up for auction at Christie’s New York on May 19th, 2010. There was a three-way battle for the ring right up until the hammer came down. The final price for this unusual and beautiful ring was £10.2 million. The buyer was listed as a private Asian Collector.

Image credit: pinterest.com

20. Exceptional Coloured Diamond, Moussaieff – £8.6 Million

If you are looking for the most expensive diamond ring in the world in 2023, then the Exceptional Coloured Diamond by The House of Moussaieff is a great candidate.

The 7.03-carat deep blue coloured diamond mounted on a platinum 6¼ size band is a contender for the most expensive ring ever. The ring was the top lot at Christie’s Geneva Magnificent Jewels sale in November 2019, and the final price of the ring and case was 11,625,000 CHF.

This price comes in just below the most expensive engagement ring in the world, bought for Mariah Carey for USD 10 million (£7.4 million) in 2016.

As a quick sum up of some of the most expensive diamond rings in the world, you can also watch our video below:

Conclusion

As you can see, the most expensive diamond ring pieces of jewellery in the world as of 2023 contain large coloured diamonds. To achieve a high price the diamond must be chemically pure, have few (if any) imperfections and be cut in a way that emphasises the fire, sparkle and brilliance of the colour. The actual setting of the ring piece has little effect on its investment value.

The second most important aspect when valuing fine jewellery as rings for investment purposes continues to be provenance. Any ring piece which was has proven historical significance will add greatly to its investment value.

If you can combine both you are sure to have a very expensive diamond ring indeed (maybe not the most expensive diamond in the world in 2023, but, hey…you never know). The Wittelsbach-Graff diamond is a good example.

If you have a piece of fine jewellery and would like to know how much it’s worth, get in touch with our jewellery appraisal team today. Our specialists have a combined 60 years of experience appraising some of the rarest and most valuable jewellery collections in the UK.

To learn more about our loans on fine art you can visit our diamonds or fine jewelry dedicated webpages. Some of the many loans we offer are against various types of fine jewellery: diamond earrings, diamond necklaces, diamond rings, and fine brands of diamond jewelery such as Graff, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bulgari, Harry Winston , Tiffany and Cartier to name just a few.