A VERY GEMMY 15 x 8 x 8 mm emerald , perched nicely in matrix! This is a SUPER HIGH QUALITY emerald for the price range, and I can also assure you its legit and not "placed" into fake matrix. Youi can see even in our pics how gemmy and clean the crystal is!? In person, it is even brighter, more gemmy, and more beautiful. There is a large stone in there of at LEAST 2 carats when cut. It is the best quality matrix emerald I have ever been able to offer in this price range.

This is quite simply the best matrix Brazil emerald known, and has been featured on the back cover of Le Regne Minerale in 1998 and in a photo in the Min Record as well. It GLOWS with color. Steve has owned this since the 90s. The pocket was found in 1997 and it was sold to noted french collector Gilles Emmringer. He had one of the best collections of fine quality brazilian gem crystals at the time. Shortly thereafter it was exchanged to Steve Smale. Since its deaccession to Smale, Steve has owned it as one of his marquis gem beryl specimens, well-known from being shown at Tucson and at his home You simply cannot find an equivalent emerald from Colombia or Nigeria , as this rich matrix look remains unique as well. In person, the color is a very glassy and rich hue of green that gem people tell me has a "hint of blue" in it. the result is a very intense color that stands out in brightness form the rather more common , and still expensive, Colombian material. There is simply not another matrix emerald like this, to our knowledge, anywhere on the planet. The piece is large, at 7 x 4.5 x 4 cm overall. The crystal is also of good size at 3.5 cm tall, 2 cm wide, and 1.5 cm thick. It is , again, extremely glassy and bright. the extra color pizzazz contributed by all the small crystals on the side of the central quartz contributes a lot of visual impact and helps to "centre" the eye on the middle. EVEN IF THIS WERE COLOMBIAN , it would fetch a very high price for the aesthetics and color brilliance of the large emerald. The fact that it comes from Brazil, from a mmuch rarer and smaller discovery that seems to have been a on-time occurrence, makes this far more significant than any comparably sized Colombian piece could be, however. I consider myself fortunate that we were able to make an exchange with which we both feel happy (he still has one of the best Colombian matrix emeralds!), to acquire this specimen. It was not for sale, only for trade, in other words. Comes with custom lucite base for easy display.

This huge, pristine, complete-all-around GEM crystal is 690 grams of pure choice heliodor cutting rough! These were mined from an anomolous pod in this old mine, in the 1980s, and are nowe classics hard to find. Large specimens, such as this one, are most often radiated over to aquamarine and cut for the gem value. I am told that, even wholesale, this is worth $20-25k for cutting rough alone. These heliodors, when of this size, simply glow with brilliant and juicy color. This is one of the better large ones out there, to my knowledge, and certainly I have not seen better on the market in some time. Comes with custom lucite display base

MORE GEMMY in person, please note! This large crystal weighs in at over 300 carats and is complete all around, terminated and with GLASSY lustre on ALL faces. The color is intense! VERY FEW Colombian emeralds reach sizes of this magnitude, and of those a vanishingly small percentage survive "geology" itself in the form of crystals we would want as collectors after millions of years in the ground. Then, they have to survive mining, extraction, and those ruthless jewelers and faceters who break up lovely crystals for a sliver of rough inside. Can you imagine the value on the lapidary market, particularly in Asia and in the auction houses, of a huge emerald bird or buddha carved from this thing?! I have seen lapidary carvings from previous gem crystals sell for fortunes, more than we would ever pay as a specimen. Thankfully, this crystal has a kinder fate. This is a phenomenal crystal that is obviously somethng significant...and fine, as well. There IS a difference, and the line is not fuzzy at all with this specimen. I bought and SOLD THIS IN MID-2006 and just obtained it back recently, still feeling it is one of the biggest and most impressive such crystals I can obtain today as well. (65 grams or approx. 325 carats)