25 January 2012

The world's largest carved emerald

The emerald, discovered at Carnaiba, in the emerald-producing province of Bahia, Brazil, in August, 1974, made its way to Palo Alto via a local gem trader with whom we had worked and partnered for many years. He took it to Hong Kong for carving, where a team of four carvers was commissioned to sculpt the design of Tao Heaven...

The original weight of the emerald was 62 pounds, or over 140,000 carats. Its dimensions then were approximately 16 1/2" high, 14" wide, and 7" deep... the final weight after carving is 86,000 carats, or 38 pounds. The excess material ended up as dust on the studio floor...
From the owner's website, via the newsletter of the Madison Gem and Mineral Club.

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 31, 2012 at 3:41 PM

    interesting that you posted this because I recently read this article and it has gotten me off on a tangent of mined stones and gems.

    http://www.therichtimes.com/worlds-largest-opal-matrix-found-in-australia/

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 31, 2012 at 3:49 PM

    ^...that you already posted ;D

    ReplyDelete
  3. MinnesotastanJanuary 31, 2012 at 5:28 PM

    :.)

    ReplyDelete