SOLD
VLT-13-EDD26L
Aquamarine (Floater Gem Crystal)
Medina Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Large Cabinet, 23.5 x 4.0 x 4.0 cm (9.25 inches tall)
Ex. Dr. Ed David
SOLD
WEIGHT= 650 grams This is one of only a dozen or so great pieces to be preserved from this most famous Aqua find of modern era! All went into major collections, and this is one of the few of those that may ever be available again. And, you know I normally don't get excited about big single gem crystals. this thing GLOWS and has the juiciest deepest richest blue color chacteristic from the famous Medina pocket of 1997. Most folks consider this the most important find of gem quality aquamarine in a single pocket, since the 1940s find of the style of the "Pioneer Aqua" there. This piece doesn't COST six figures, but it is borderline: by which I mean that I could easily see a few other dealers putting a 100k tag on it, and not bat an eye. I just do not happen to NEED that price, in the amortization as I priced this collection. It is the kind of piece that, looking down the road, I can easily see as an investment in that it will be six-figs quite reasonably before too many years, when another collector enters the market and wants one of these baseball-bat-styled gem crystals for a major collection. In fact, I have seen a similarly-sized piece in the mid-six figure range this year from one other source - a slightly fatter, but shorter specimen from the same group of the original find. There just isn't anywhere else to go to get one, and they are "crown jewels" of any highest-tier gem collection, so the price and value can only go up with time. I would not say this for any big aqua, but the Medinas have a special internal vibrance and color to them and are recognized universally as being a quality and rarity above the normal big aqua single. Despite the size, one wonders if there are compromises being made to obtain such a large Medina aqua here: the answer is NO. The quality is every bit as good as what you can ever hope to get from the find; they remain uniquely recognizable in the beryl world as being from a unique and special pocket; the history and pedigree are good; and the piece is just plain impactful. The strength (and the problem) with the material from this find is that it is all gemmy and thus intrinsic gem rough value is very high: so the good part is that makes them beautiful. The flip side is that this makes them "cutters" of obvious and easily realized value to the miners. Most specimens WERE cut at the time of discovery, in fact.. Thus, Wayne Thompson, when he bought the specimens from the pocket in Brazil, had to pay gem rough prices for them by carat weight (5 carats per gram). What Wayne bought is what was saved from destruction and use in the gem trade. They cut big, beautiful stones. Few survived for our market, and a certain percentage of those have even been cut since for the large rough in them. This one was one of two pieces sold to Ed David the year they came out. I just cannot say in words how much this gemmy monster DOMINATES a showcase with color and intensity. Especially when lit from above, it glows like a fiber-optic cable. The price, by the way, translates into the low $20's per carat, and for this quality of cutting or carving rough, this is not a bad intrinsic valuation at all. I nfact, it is a very high percentage of the specimen value compared to most gem crystals in cutting vs. specimen valuations. Comes with custom engraved lucite base, for easy display.