The Apollo and Artemis diamonds stand among the rarest gemstones ever discovered—extraordinary not only for their individual beauty, but for the near-impossible fact that they exist as a perfectly matched pair. When they appeared at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels & Noble Jewels auction in Geneva in May 2017, they instantly rewrote auction history, becoming the most expensive pair of diamond earrings ever sold.
Introduced by Sotheby’s as “the most important pair of diamond earrings ever brought to market”, the description was no exaggeration. These two fancy-coloured diamonds—one vivid blue, the other intense pink—represent a convergence of rarity, science, and artistry that may never be repeated.
A Once-in-a-Lifetime Matched Pair of Fancy-Coloured Diamonds
Matched pairs of diamonds are rare. Matched pairs of large fancy-coloured diamonds, cut to mirror one another in size, shape, and visual balance, are virtually unheard of.
The Apollo and Artemis diamonds were presented as pear-shaped earrings, deliberately contrasting in colour yet perfectly balanced in form. Although offered as separate lots, they were conceived as twins—cut with harmony in mind rather than individual dominance.
Both diamonds made their first-ever public appearance at the 2017 Geneva auction. Industry experts believe the stones were fashioned by the same master cutters, who recognised early on that the rough diamonds had the potential to yield near-perfect counterparts. At this level of diamond cutting, prioritising symmetry between two stones rather than maximising the yield of a single gem is almost unprecedented.
The Apollo Blue Diamond: A Record-Breaking Fancy Vivid Blue
The undisputed centrepiece of the pair is the Apollo Blue Diamond, a 14.54-carat Fancy Vivid Blue diamond of exceptional pedigree. Discovered at South Africa’s legendary Cullinan Mine, Apollo belongs to the rarest category of natural diamonds.
Graded Internally Flawless and classified as Type IIb, the Apollo Blue contains no nitrogen and trace amounts of boron—the element responsible for its extraordinary blue colour. According to the GIA, fewer than one percent of diamonds are Type IIb, and only a tiny fraction of those achieve a Fancy Vivid colour grade.
At auction, the Apollo Blue sold for just over USD $42 million, becoming the largest internally flawless Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ever offered publicly. Even without its counterpart, Apollo would have been a headline-making stone.
The Artemis Pink Diamond: Scientific Purity and Rare Colour
Its counterpart, the Artemis Pink Diamond, weighs an exact 16.00 carats and is graded Fancy Intense Pink. Artemis is classified as a Type IIa diamond, the most chemically pure diamond type, containing no measurable nitrogen or boron impurities.
Natural pink diamonds are among the rarest of all fancy colours. The GIA reports that fewer than three percent of diamonds qualify as coloured diamonds, and less than five percent of those are predominantly pink. Achieving intense saturation in a diamond of this size is exceptionally uncommon.
The Artemis Pink achieved a hammer price of more than USD $15 million, confirming its status as both a collector’s gem and a scientific rarity.
Mythology Behind the Names: Apollo and Artemis
Named after the twin gods of Greek mythology, the diamonds reflect a powerful symbolic duality. Apollo, god of the sun, light, and order, mirrors the clarity and brilliance of the blue diamond. Artemis, goddess of the moon and the natural world, embodies independence, intuition, and quiet strength—qualities echoed in the pink diamond’s softer yet commanding presence.
Like their mythological namesakes, the diamonds are complete on their own, yet unmistakably connected.
How the Apollo and Artemis Diamonds Made Auction History
Although offered as separate lots, Sotheby’s later confirmed that both diamonds were acquired by the same anonymous buyer, ensuring the pair would remain together. Combined, the Apollo and Artemis diamonds achieved more than USD $57 million, setting a world record for diamond earrings sold at auction.
David Bennett, then Worldwide Chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewellery Division, expressed particular satisfaction that the stones would not be separated, noting that they were conceived as twins from the very beginning.
Following the sale, the buyer renamed the diamonds “The Memory of Autumn Leaves” and “The Dream of Autumn Leaves”, adding a personal narrative while preserving their shared identity.
A Benchmark in Diamond History
The Apollo and Artemis diamonds remain a defining moment in the history of natural fancy-coloured diamonds, setting benchmarks for rarity, value, and gemmological excellence. For laboratories, collectors, and connoisseurs alike, they represent the outer limits of what nature—and human craftsmanship—can achieve.
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