Huge emerald found in North Carolina

Huge emerald found in North Carolina

By Emery P. Dalesio

of The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — An emerald so large it's being compared with the crown jewels of Russian empress Catherine the Great was pulled from a pit near corn rows at a North Carolina farm.

The nearly 65-carat emerald its finders are marketing by the name Carolina Emperor was pulled from a farm once so well-known among treasure hunters the owners charged $3 a day to shovel for small samples of the green stones. After the gem was cut and re-cut, the finished product was about one-fifth the weight of the original find, making it slightly larger than a U.S. quarter and about as heavy as a AA battery.

The emerald compares in size and quality to one surrounded by diamonds in a brooch once owned by Catherine the Great, who was empress in the 18th century, that Christie's auction house in New York sold in April for $1.65 million, said C.R. “Cap” Beesley, a New York gemologist who examined the stone.

While big, uncut crystals and even notable gem-quality emeralds have come from the community 50 miles northwest of Charlotte called Hiddenite, there has never been one so big it's worthy of an imperial treasury, Beesley said.

To read more details on the find and to see a video, visit the following link:
< ABC NEWS >

Note - the owner of this faceted piece is someone that is known to the owner of
All That Gltters. He mines Amethyst and is known for Chromium bearing Hiddentite from N.C. also!