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GeneralHuge emerald found in Zambia

31st Oct 2018 19:32 UTCWilfred Hemme

Dear all,

Just read an article about a new find of a huge emerald. A picture of this emerald is within the link below article:

An emerald of 1.1 kilograms has been found in Zambia. The company Gemfields, which has its headquarters in London, has announced this.

Geologists discovered the clear green gemstone of 5,655 carats in the Kagem mine in the Copperbelt province. The stone is also called the Lion emerald. Uncut emeralds rarely get a name. That only happens when they are very special.

The emerald will be auctioned in November in Singapore. The company does not want to give a price indication.

Gemfield has announced that 10 percent of the proceeds from the emerald goes to two Zambian animal protection organizations, with which the operator of the mine cooperates.

According to Gemfields, 24 comparable emeralds worldwide are known, most of them weighing less than 1,000 carats.

The Kagem mine is the largest emerald mine in the world, according to Gemfield. About 25 percent of all emeralds come from this mine.

Emeralds are extremely rare because they can only be formed under unique geological conditions.

https://www.ad.nl/buitenland/megasmaragd-van-ruim-een-kilo-gevonden-in-zambia~a6a7c97f/

Kind regards Wilfred hemme

31st Oct 2018 20:10 UTCAndrew Debnam 🌟

Amazing story Wilfred, Emerald is my birth stone. Unfortunately the closing bid I would imagine is outside of the family budget. Thanks for posting

31st Oct 2018 20:34 UTCWilfred Hemme

Always welcome Andrew. Yes, it's also far outside my budget so the only thing we can do is to enjoy the pictures ;)

31st Oct 2018 21:51 UTCJohn R. Montgomery 🌟 Expert

I'm waiting for someone to call "fake" :)

31st Oct 2018 22:25 UTCNick Gilly

I saw this story today as well and I meant to post about it too. This is the article I read, with another picture of this amazing specimen:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/stunning-5655-carat-emerald-found-in-zambian-mine-worth-up-to-%c2%a32m/ar-BBP7Ble

1st Nov 2018 10:53 UTCChris Rayburn

And the tragedy is that they're going to hack that beautiful crystal to pieces....

1st Nov 2018 17:48 UTCDon Swenson

And the tragedy is that they're going to hack that beautiful crystal to pieces....

I have often pondered how to describe the distinction, for me, between a miner and a person who focuses on self-collecting and treasuring important mineral specimens. Over 20 years ago I unearthed what most experts have deemed the finest uraninite crystal (even though I didn't know it at the time). After learning of its significance my reaction was to savor the specimen and to wait more than 20 years before selling it. And I only sold it after my daughter decided it had no significance for her.

I realize the value of my find is dwarfed by that of this emerald, but 20+ years of owning the world's finest of anything remains priceless to me.

30th Nov 2018 15:04 UTCKeith Wood

Don,

I completely understand that. I have never unearthed such a highly acclaimed specimen as your uraninite, but I have found some significant ones and treasure them.

This emerald will probably be cut up. But if there was a market in which people would pay the gem value for specimens it might be preserved. However it is a little on the yellowy side, and might not have all the saturation one would hope for in a high quality emerald. It might be one of the biggest gem emeralds, but not necessarily the best. I saw the Carolina Queen emerald from Hiddenite, NC and it was that deep rich green with a little blue that you think of with the best emeralds. They had it on display in a jewelry store in Statesville, NC in around 2000. It was amazing. Photos on the internet don't do it justice.

30th Nov 2018 16:04 UTCReiner Mielke Expert

It may be big but not very attractive. I'm all for cutting it up and leaving the smaller better developed and more attractive crystals as is.

2nd Dec 2018 14:07 UTCKeith Wood

It shows some nice crystal forms, but the faces are rough and the crystal is incomplete. I'm not really for cutting it up - I'd definitely rather have it on my shelf - but a piece like that obviously could not hope to draw specimen collector money in excess of the gem value.

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