World's Largest Emerald
A 57,000-carat emerald, which is considered as the world’s largest cut emerald, is scheduled for auction on January 28, 2012 at Western Star Auctions in British Columbia, Canada.
The emerald weighs 11.5 kilograms and is the size of a watermelon. The emerald value was considered immeasurable, however, it was appraised at $1.15 million. Western Star Auctions owner Mike Odenbach believes it could fetch far more. The emerald is named “Teodora,” which means “God’s gift.”
“It’s not unusual for gemstones to sell a lot higher than their appraised value, just depending on who wants to possess the largest emerald in the world. Really the sky is the limit,” Odenbach reportedly said.
The emerald is owned by Regan Reany, a gem dealer in Calgary. The bidding is set to begin January 28th at 1pm. Western Star Auctions hosts a small website and has been known to sell everything from antiques to sporting goods, old storage boxes and boxes of clothes. But as far as Western Star is concerned, the media attention has already made them a star.
Described as a “watermelon” to JCK Online, the emerald has a long – but ambiguous history, where it’s been traced everywhere from Brazil to India. It was mined in Brazil and cut in India.
Its international appeal hasn’t stopped since landing in Western Star Auction’s Kelowna property, as interest has aroused patrons all the way from Texas to Dubai.
