Harry Winston Kashmir Sapphire & Diamond Ring

Six years in the Himalaya

Gemologists have treated Kashmir as the benchmark for blue sapphire for nearly 150 years. A reading list from the Gemological Institute of America explains why: stones from a remote stretch of the Himalaya along the India-Pakistan conflict border combine saturated color, a velvety luster and a slightly hazy look that is considered the most beautiful in corundum.

The mines sit at about 4,600 meters, roughly 15,000 feet, near Soomjam in the Pádar district of Jammu and Kashmir. They were discovered in about 1881, apparently after a landslide exposed the host rock. They were worked only until about 1887, when operations declined, and in that short window they produced what is generally considered the finest sapphire ever found. In the decades since, the area has rarely been visited and mining has been intermittent.

The remoteness is not a figure of speech. One writer who reached the mines in the late summer of 1944 described walking nearly 160 miles through rough terrain from the nearest small town, and the same distance back.

The King of Diamonds

Harry Winston was born Harry Weinstein in New York City on March 1, 1896, the son of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who ran a small jewelry business. As a boy working in his father's shop, he is said to have spotted a two-carat emerald in a pawn shop, bought it for 25 cents and sold it two days later for $800.

He started his own business in 1920, the year he changed his name, and built it on the purchase of estate jewels such as Arabella Huntington's collection in 1926, which he reset in contemporary designs. He founded Harry Winston, Inc. and opened his first store in New York in 1932. He was widely called the 'King of Diamonds.' He bought the Hope Diamond in 1949 and donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958, sending it by registered first-class mail.

Winston also pioneered lending jewels to film stars. In 1944 he began lending jewels to actresses for the Academy Awards, starting with Jennifer Jones, and in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend' includes the line 'Talk to me, Harry Winston, tell me all about it!' He died in New York on December 8, 1978, seven years after this ring was made. Swatch Group bought the company in 2013 for $1 billion.

A cabochon in a cluster of diamonds

The ring is built around a single oval cabochon sapphire of 12.59 carats. A cabochon is polished into a smooth dome rather than cut with facets. Pear- and marquise-shaped diamonds frame it. The ring is unsigned.

Its setting follows the house's best-known idea. The 2025 sale catalog explains that Winston believed the stones, not the metal, should define a jewel. Seeing a holly wreath one Christmas, he noticed how the leaves formed the shape with little visible support and wondered whether gemstones could do the same. The result was the Winston cluster, in which stones are arranged so the mounting all but disappears. The catalog compared a framed gemstone to a framed painting: the setting should enhance without overshadowing.

The ring arrived at sale unmounted. The catalog noted that the lot was currently unmounted and would be remounted for the buyer on request.

The paper behind the stone

What sets this ring apart is that its story can be checked. It came with a copy of the original Harry Winston invoice dated November 10, 1971, and a copy of an affidavit from Harry Winston dated April 28, 2025, stating that Harry Winston, Inc. made the ring in the United States in 1971.

The stone was examined just before the sale. A laboratory report dated May 19, 2025, stated that the sapphire is of Kashmir origin with no indications of heating.

The published description gives no color grade, clarity grade or cutter for the sapphire. Anyone comparing it with other Kashmir stones should rely on the weight, the cabochon cut, the 1971 date and the laboratory and maker documents, not on assumptions about color.

Fifty-four years later

Who first bought the ring in 1971 is not recorded in the published sale materials. It surfaced in New York on June 13, 2025, as lot 110 in a group called 'A Distinguished Collection of Harry Winston Jewels,' 18 pieces from one collector that also included unheated cabochon sapphires, Colombian emeralds, ruby cluster earclips and a diamond wreath brooch that alluded to the holly wreath.

The ring was estimated at $100,000 to $200,000 and sold for $571,500, the top lot of the group. The 18 Harry Winston jewels together brought $2.6 million against a combined estimate of $985,000 to $1.5 million.

They were part of a larger various-owner sale that totaled $31.4 million with 95 percent of lots sold. At the same sale a 7.50-carat Kashmir sapphire from the 1930s, step-cut rather than cabochon, sold for $1.4 million.

The numbers

Carat weight

12.59 carats (sapphire)

Cut

Oval cabochon, framed by pear- and marquise-shaped diamonds

Color / clarity

Not published; laboratory report notes no indications of heating

Origin

Kashmir (per laboratory report, May 19, 2025)

Cutter / maker

Cutter not recorded; ring made by Harry Winston, Inc., United States, 1971

Ring size

6¼

Timeline

1. 1881

   Sapphire is discovered near Soomjam in the Pádar district of Kashmir, apparently after a landslide.

2. 1887

   Mining declines after the short period that produced the finest Kashmir sapphires.

3. Mar 1, 1896

   Harry Weinstein, later Harry Winston, is born in New York City.

4. 1920

   Winston starts his business and changes his name.

5. 1932

   Winston founds Harry Winston, Inc. and opens his first store in New York.

6. 1944

   Winston begins lending jewels to actresses for the Academy Awards.

7. 1958

   Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution.

8. 1971

   Harry Winston, Inc. makes the ring in the United States.

9. Nov 10, 1971

   Harry Winston invoices the ring.

10. Dec 8, 1978

    Harry Winston dies in New York at 82.

11. Mar 26, 2013

    Swatch Group buys Harry Winston, Inc. for $1 billion.

12. Apr 28, 2025

    Harry Winston issues an affidavit confirming it made the ring in 1971.

13. May 19, 2025

    A laboratory report states the 12.59-carat sapphire is from Kashmir with no indications of heating.

14. Jun 13, 2025

    The ring sells at auction in New York for $571,500, top lot of an 18-piece Harry Winston collection.

The world in 1971

• Feb 5, 1971

  Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.

• Mar 30, 1971

  Starbucks is founded in Washington state.

• Jun 13, 1971

  The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers.

• Aug 1, 1971

  Forty thousand people attend the Concert for Bangladesh in New York City.

• Aug 15, 1971

  Richard Nixon ends the conversion of dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system.

• Oct 1, 1971

  Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.

• Nov 15, 1971

  Intel releases the first microprocessor, the 4004, five days after this ring was invoiced.

• Dec 16, 1971

  The Bangladesh Liberation War ends with the surrender of the Pakistan Army in the east.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Harry Winston Kashmir Sapphire & Diamond Ring is number 36 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (34 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Kashmir sapphire mines produced their famous stones for only about six years, from around 1881 to 1887.
• The mines sit at about 15,000 feet, and a 1944 visitor walked nearly 160 miles each way to reach them.
• Harry Winston mailed the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian by registered first-class mail.
• Winston's cluster settings were inspired by a holly wreath whose leaves held their shape with almost no visible support.
• The sapphire was sold unmounted, with the stone to be reset in its frame for the buyer on request.
• The ring sold for nearly three times its high estimate of $200,000.