The sales that made history: the most extraordinary things that have passed through the rooms of Sotheby's

The most expensive diamond in the world

In 2017, in Hong Kong, a pink diamond weighing 59.60 carats known as the CTF Pink Star became the most expensive gem ever auctioned: 71.2 million dollars. A record that still stands today.

The jewels of Marie Antoinette — hidden for 200 years

In 2018, Sotheby's Geneva presented something the world hadn't seen in two centuries: the jewels that Queen Marie Antoinette hid in a trunk before being arrested during the French Revolution. Her pearl and diamond pendant — estimated at just two million — sold for 36.2 million, a world record for a natural pearl. The complete collection reached 53.1 million, with one hundred percent of the lots sold.

The most expensive ruby in history

A 25.59-carat Burmese ruby set in a Cartier ring — that intense red that jewelers call "pigeon blood" — sold at Sotheby's Geneva in 2015 for 30.3 million dollars. Its name, the Sunrise Ruby, comes from a 13th-century poem by the Persian poet Rumi. A world record for a ruby, and a record for a Cartier jewel.

The Scream by Munch — and the silence of the room

In 2012, in New York, The Scream by Edvard Munch sold for 119.9 million dollars — at that moment, the highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction. The room erupted in applause.

Klimt: the most expensive modern art in history

In November 2025, Sotheby's opened its new global headquarters in New York with a night that no one will forget. The Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer by Gustav Klimt — a painting that survived Nazi looting and hung for decades in a collector's private dining room — sold for 236.4 million dollars, becoming the most expensive modern artwork ever auctioned and the second most expensive in the entire history of art.

What connects a pink diamond, a queen's pearl, and a Klimt

Distinct objects, different eras, different figures. But they all have something in common: they are unique, they have history, and they found at Sotheby's the place where that value was recognized before the world. That same ability to identify the extraordinary is what Sotheby's has also applied to the luxury real estate market since 1976.

Almost three centuries identifying what the world cannot ignore. That is not improvised.