Sinking in 1677: Emerald salvaged from shipwreck auctioned off

This emerald, later set in a gold ring, lay at the bottom of the sea for centuries

Photo: AP/ Florida Keys News Bureau

An emerald recovered from a shipwreck has been sold at auction in New York for around $1.2 million.

Sotheby's auction house said 18 bidders competed for the stone.

Originally, Sotheby's only expected around $70,000 for the gemstone.

It was not initially announced who was awarded the contract.

According to the auction house, the emerald was discovered around 40 years ago off the coast of Florida in the ship »Nuestra Señora de Atocha« that sank in 1622.

It was put up for auction by the author Mitzi Perdue, who once got it as an engagement gift from her husband Frank Perdue, who died in 2005, and had it on a ring.

Perdue wants to donate the proceeds to humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

Even more expensive was a yellow diamond nicknamed the "Golden Canary," discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1980s, fetching around $12.4 million.

Only two other yellow diamonds have fetched more money at auction so far, it said.

sak/dpa