World's Most Expensive Earrings Fetch $57 Million at Sotheby's

(Bloomberg) -- Sotheby’s set the record auction price for a pair of earrings, selling a duo of blue and pink diamond jewels for $57 million in Geneva.

The earrings, known as the “Apollo Blue” and the “Artemis Pink,” were bought by the same buyer, who wants to remain anonymous, Sotheby’s said Wednesday. Named after ancient Greek gods, the pear-shaped earrings were estimated at $50 million to $68 million combined.

The buyer renamed the 14.54-carat blue diamond “The Memory of Autumn Leaves” and the 16-carat pink diamond “The Dream of Autumn Leaves.” The previous record price for earrings was set by the “Miroir de l’Amour,” two pear-shaped white diamond earrings that Christie’s sold for $17.7 million in November.

Colored diamonds have been setting records recently. Christie’s sold the 14.62-carat ‘‘Oppenheimer Blue’’ for $58 million last year, while Sotheby’s adjudicated the 59.6-carat ‘‘Pink Star’’ for $71 million last month, a record auction price for any gem.

Sotheby’s raised $151 million in the auction Tuesday, beating the total estimate of $100 million. Two-thirds of the lots sold beat their high estimate, including a purplish-pink Piaget diamond that sold for $13 million.

To contact the reporter on this story: Corinne Gretler in Zurich at cgretler1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, Thomas Mulier, Paul Jarvis