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World's largest emerald up for auction in kelowna

Jewelry Discussion
#21

This raises the issue of value added by location and carving-cutting.
The stone located in Brazil had a much smaller value. The cutters in
India added some value. Market location can add value too although
Kelowna is not such a large city. A am surprised it did not end up in
New York… or maybe Dallas.

But I will say that when it comes to carving it is the artistic
merit of the work and the reputation of the carver which brings the
greatest value added. Here in BC, Bill Reid, the Haida carver can
for example take a block of argillite which was once a lump of dirt
stomped under the feet of dinosaurs and carve it into a totem or
jewelry box lid worth thousands. As an aside, on the mechatronic art
thread, also consider this. A talented artist does not have to carve
the stone directly. It could be carved in clay first, then scanned
and cut into the stone by robot.

#22

Agree…Have done the same with large quartz xtals.

Cheers from Don in SOFL

#23 
Or perhaps one of the native carvers of Alaska or the pacific
northwest doing something with it, as they already often do with a
varied range of materials from soapstone to jade.

How would a Native carver like Stoteleq whom I spoke with yesterday
deal with all the holes, pits, cracks, mini-geodes, faults,
inclusions, small pockets of alien mineralization etc. which could
destroy hundreds of hours of work in progress on a complex carving,
let us say Pieta II at Torart?

#24

I was told the emerald was mined in Carnaiba, Bahia, Brazil. Nobody
knows the price, but it was sold in Campo Formoso, Bahia, to an
indian merchant… went to India and then to Canada.

#25 
How would a Native carver like Stoteleq whom I spoke with
yesterday deal with all the holes, pits, cracks, mini-geodes,
faults, inclusions, small pockets of alien mineralization etc.
which could destroy hundreds of hours of work in progress on a
complex carving, let us say Pieta II at Torart?

If your carver is only used to carving soft materials like
soapstone/steatite, or ivory, etc, then likely he or she won’t be
equipped to handle harder materials anyway, so it’s a moot point. But
if your carver handles harder materials such as jade, then I suspect
you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how well such a carver will handle
even an unfamiliar material. People experienced in carving stone get
a pretty good feel for their materials, and any stone they work
with, even soapstone, will have variations, flaws, foreign mineral
inclusions, and the like, to deal with. In this case, no doubt the
carver would want to experiment a little bit with tools and methods
in some minor out of the way spot on the rough to get a feel for
handling it before digging in to the main meat of the carving. With
this particular material, the relative transparency of the material
makes it at least fairly possible to see defects slightly under the
surface before you cut into them, which would also help them avoid
trouble.

But no carver, no matter how experienced, will totally avoid all
problems and surprises. Even Michelangelo had some pieces of marble
"go south" on him… Accidents happen. Then you pick up, redesign
your sculpture to take advantage of the new altered shape, hide or
fix the damage, and move on as best you can.

Peter Rowe

#26

A similar weight of green jade should be more valuable…unless the
green beryl can be transformed into something more beautiful.

Alastair

#27 
But no carver, no matter how experienced, will totally avoid all
problems and surprises.  you pick up, redesign
your sculpture to take advantage of the new altered shape, hide or
fix the damage, and move on as best you can.

what peter says below is right on the money, [], but be it jade,
wood, granite, amethyst, inclusions, knots, wavy grain, fissures,
abnormal color and color changes in a piece, burls in wood, etc,
all are highly prized by a carver and add an element of earthly
drama into a piece, besides the thrill that the carver gets by
seeing, feeling, hearing, and smelling the piece while they are
working it, i have 30 years doing it in many materials, and you
will see the same if you try, but wax is beautiful too, there you
have practically anything goes, whatever your hand can do even with a
little rinky dink dull pairing knife, david

#28

Well it appears that the seller has been busted for fraud as
reported in the National Post today. And the seller has confessed
that the world’s largest emerald is dyed green Beryl. Regan Reaney,
the owner and seller of the rock was taken away today for questioning
in Kelowna BC for fraud charges laid in Ontario. The emerald went to
auction yesterday but didn’t get any bids

#29 
the seller has confessed that the world's largest emerald is dyed
green Beryl.

What is the difference between Beryl and Emerald?

#30

Hi All

The saga of the big “emerald” ended thus:

On the day before the auction the owner was arrested by the police
for outstanding fraud warrants in Hamilton, Ontario—the auction
went ahead with a demand for an opening bid of $500,000—guess what
—nobody bid – maybe the rock will be used as collateral for bail
provided the bail is not too high (maybe $1000 or less.) I had an
opportunity to view a bar of soap size one dropped off by the same
person at a jewelry store in this area —I live 30 minutes from the
auction house Viewed with a strong light and a Chelsea filter —no
emerald appearance (pink to red) I am glad this charade is over—it
gives those of us who try to educate the buying public about the
whys and wherefores of gemstones a bigger job to do

David Barclay --Accredited Gemologist C.I.G.)

#31 
Even Michelangelo had some pieces of marble "go south" on him...
Accidents happen.

Did the Kelomna stone speculators have a piece “go south” before it
could be carved into the world’s most expensive garden gnome or what?

Check out /wiki/Beryl

If the Kelowna stone is green beryl with a little V and Cr thrown
in, what is the problem?

#32

Actually, elsewhere in the article it was stated that it was a dyed
white beryl. Emerald is beryl as I understand it but what makes it
green and therefore an emerald that’s for the gemologists to answer.
What I find interesting is this guy seemingly came out of nowhere and
purchased the rock from a dealer, he says. The rock itself sprang out
of nowhere. The real deal would have come out of the ground with an
almost immediate fanfare and news cameras. If you had the world’s
largest emerald you would want the whole gem buying universe to know
wouldn’t you, in the interest of getting the best price possible?
Dumb

#33 
What is the difference between Beryl and Emerald?

Beryl is the mineral, Emerald is the variety of Beryl that’s green
in color, specifically due to the presence of chromium as an
impurity, that gives it the green color. Green beryl owing it’s color
to other impurities is simply called green beryl. Green beryl owing
it’s color to dye, is called dyed beryl, fake emerald, or just plain
fraud, unless clearly labeled and sold as dyed material. It’s
possible to have a combination. You can have pale green emerald,
colored by the required chromium, but in minute enough quantities as
to be only a pale green, which then is “enhanced” by dying. This is
unfortunately quite common. Emerald is very often quite heavily
included, often with fractures and inclusions with voids that reach
the surface. These are often treated by filling these surface
reaching flaws with oil or resin, to make them less visible. Unless
disclosed, this is also fraudulent, and even if disclosed, can be
quite questionable, as the oiling (but less so, resin treatments) are
often not as permanent as one would like. When emeralds are oiled,
it’s also common for the oil itself to be dyed green, to both improve
the apparent clarity and the color both at the same time… Clearly
fraudulent, though it’s so prevalent in the market that for many
jewelers, it may simply be assumed that any lower priced emerald is
treated this way, even if not disclosed, and if costly stones are
claimed to be free of such treatment, again it pays to verify this
claim.

It’s almost enough of a quagmire to make any sane jeweler stick to
Tsavorite garnet… More durable (in part because it’s usually much
better clarity), brighter, in some ways prettier in it’s finest
qualities… And usually less costly too.

cheers
Peter Rowe

#34 
What is the difference between Beryl and Emerald?

Light passes through an emerald.

#35 
the seller has confessed that the world's largest emerald is dyed
green Beryl.

He’s also up on fraud charges. CIA

#36 
What is the difference between Beryl and Emerald?

Beryl is beryllium aluminum silicate. It comes in a variety of
colors; emerald is the green one. Emerald’s special value comes from
its rarity, especially the rarity of the gemmy ones.

Margaret

#37 
Beryl is beryllium aluminum silicate. It comes in a variety of
colors; emerald is the green one. Emerald's special value comes
from its rarity, especially the rarity of the gemmy ones.

Beryl and Emerald are chemically the same are they not?

Rarity is another matter - what makes one beryl-emerald stone rarer
than another seems to be the key issue.

#38 
the seller has confessed that the world's largest emerald is dyed
green Beryl.

Dyed green beryl is dyed green emerald is it not? False disclosure
may then be the fraud aspect of this. But I read that the fraud
charge was from his past in Ontario.

#39 
.......dyed beryl, fake emerald, or just plain fraud, unless
clearly labeled and sold as dyed material.

I agree with your point on false labelling but we still do not have
a definition of emerald except beryl which passes a popularity
contest.

#40 
Light passes through an emerald.

Methinks we resolved that about a year ago (refer to Orchid
archives). The conclusion was that light passes through all minerals.