Sriram “Ram” Natarajan is now GIA’s senior vice president of laboratory operations and is based out of the lab’s headquarters in Carlsbad.
Record sale lands famous ruby back in Graff hands
The “Graff ruby,” a stone weighing 8.62 carats that possesses the vivid, desirable hue known as pigeon’s blood, was purchased for a record-breaking $8.6 million at Sotheby’s on Wednesday.

In addition, the sale also raised the price-per-carat record for a ruby to $997,727.
Sotheby’s Nov. 12 “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels” sale brought together a group of exceptional jewels and gems from the collection of Greek financier and gem collector Dimitri Mavrommatis, as well as a number of pieces with a noble provenance. The ruby was one of the pieces that belonged to Mavrommatis, having bought it from Graff after it was purchased at auction eight years ago.
The sale totaled $95.3 million and was 90 percent sold by lot and 92 percent sold by value.
In addition to the Graff ruby, another lot in the sale also set a record--a 27.54-carat Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring set a world auction record for a Kashmir sapphire when it was purchased by a private Asian buyer for $6 million.
Other top lots in the sale included a pair of oval-shaped, D color, Type IIa diamonds that sold for $7.1 million, a natural pearl and diamond necklace with a royal provenance that nearly tripled its estimate when it garnered $3.4 million, and a rare fancy intense blue diamond ring of 3.16 carats that also was purchased by Laurence Graff for $3.2 million.
Rounding out the top 10 lots from the Sotheby’s sale are a marquise-shaped, D color diamond ring weighing 16.37 carats that sold for $2.4 million; a step-cut diamond ring weighing 13.27 carats that went for $2.2 million; and a pair of brilliant-cut diamond stud earrings that are both D color and internally flawless that garnered $2.1 million, among others.
The full results of the sale can be found on the Sotheby’s website.
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