Gemfields Unveils 7,525-Carat Gem-Quality Emerald From Zambia's Kagem Mine

Gemfields just unveiled the largest emerald ever discovered at its Kagem mine in Zambia. Named “Chipembele,” which means "rhino" in the local indigenous dialect of Bemba, the 7,525-carat hexagonal crystal displays a rich, golden green hue and "gemmy" nature suitable for cutting and polishing.

The crystal was unearthed in July by geologist Manas Banerjee and veteran miner Richard Kapeta, who were also responsible for finding the 5,655-carat "Inkalamu" (meaning “lion”) at the Kagem mine in 2018.

According to Gemfields, when Kapeta encountered the crystal, he shouted in joy, “Look at this rhino horn!” And hence, the gemstone got its name.

“Chipembele" unseated the 6,225-carat "Insofu" as the largest emerald ever found at the mine. Meaning “elephant,” "Insofu" had been discovered in 2010.

All three massive emerald crystals were within relatively close proximity at Kagem, the world’s largest and most productive emerald mine. Kagem is 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% owned by the Government of the Republic of Zambia.

“Chipembele" is due to be sold at the next Gemfields emerald auction, with 10% of the proceeds supporting the North Luangwa Conservation Program in Zambia to aid critical black rhinoceros conservation efforts.

“A key Gemfields tenet is that Africa’s gemstone wealth must contribute meaningfully not only to host-country economies, but also to conservation efforts, host communities and the next generation by way of education, healthcare and livelihoods projects,” noted Jackson Mtonga, Kagem Sort House Assistant Manager, in a press release.

The winning bidder for "Chipembele" will be given the option of a unique DNA nano-tag identity, developed by Gübelin, ensuring that the cut and polished gems that it yields can be identified and certified as having originated from this extraordinary gemstone.

Gübelin's "provenance proof" service embeds within the gemstone nanoparticles coded with information about the gemstone’s origin.

Credits: Images courtesy of Gemfields.

Birthstone of the Month: This Fiery Red Gem Is a Super-Rare Variety of Imperial Topaz

A stunning member of the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection for the past three years, the impossibly rare "Whitney Flame Topaz" is one of the world's most extraordinary examples of November's official birthstone.

The vibrant red gem weighs 48.86 carats and exhibits an exaggerated pear-shape that resembles a flame. At the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals in Washington, DC, the gem is mounted vertically and lit from behind to emphasize its fiery color.

Red topaz represents an extremely tiny subset of gem-quality Imperial Topaz, which is highly coveted and most often seen in golden-orange to orange-red hues. Shades of pink, purple, and red are even more rare. The red color is the result of trace amounts of chromium in the gemstone’s chemical composition.

The Whitney Flame was sourced more than 50 years ago at the famed Capao Mine mine of Ouro Preto, Brazil.

“Of all the topaz found in that locality, only about a percent or two is gem quality,” Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection, told Smithsonian.com in 2018. “And, of those one to two percent, maybe one percent of those have a deep enough red color that they could be marketed as red topaz.”

The flame-shaped red topaz was held privately for many decades, before emerging at the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in 2017. Post and Smithsonian benefactor Coralyn Wright Whitney were moved to tears when they viewed the stone for the first time.

“When we saw it, we all collectively started weeping a little bit,” Post said. “The color and beauty of this gemstone is astounding. You have to see it to believe it.”

Whitney acquired the stone and gifted it to the Smithsonian, along with a $5 million endowment.

In September of 2018, the Smithsonian welcomed the red gem as a permanent resident of the National Museum of Natural History and honored the philanthropist by naming it the "Whitney Flame Topaz."

Brazil is the largest producer of quality topaz, but the stone is also mined in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Russia, Australia, Nigeria, Germany, Mexico and the U.S (specifically California, Utah and New Hampshire). Topaz rates an 8 on the Mohs hardness scale, making it a durable and wearable gem.

Credits: Whitney Flame Topaz image by Greg Polley / Smithsonian and digitally enhanced by SquareMoose.

Sapphire Jewelry Linked to Russian Royal Family Hits Auction Block at Sotheby's

Sapphire-and-diamond jewelry linked to the Imperial Romanov family and smuggled to Great Britain at the onset of the 1917 Russian Revolution will be offered for sale at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Nobel Jewels auction in Geneva on November 10.

The sapphire-and-diamond brooch and matching ear clips were originally owned by Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, the aunt of Czar Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia.

Pavlovna was known as the "grandest of the grand duchesses" because of her attractiveness and sense of style. Her fabulous collection of jewelry included at least 242 items.

Fearing that her valuable jewels might be pillaged during the revolution, she entrusted British dignitary Albert Stopford to ferry her jewels to the safety of England. The hundreds of items were folded into old newspaper and stuffed into two shabby leather bags. The perilous 10-day voyage by steamer across the heavily mined North Sea was a success.

Stopford put the jewels in a safety deposit box in a bank in London, where they remained for more than two years — the time it took Pavlovna to finally flee Russia and reach Western Europe. She never made it to London to collect her jewels. She died in Paris in 1920.

The jewelry was bequeathed to her daughter, Princess Elena of Greece and Denmark. Sotheby's reported that Pavlovna's sapphire ensemble was put up for auction by a European princely family, who purchased the items at auction in 2009.

Designed circa 1900, the brooch is centered by an oval sapphire weighing 26.80 carats and bordered with cushion-cut and rose-cut diamonds. The ear clips are set with step-cut sapphires weighing 6.69 and 9.36 carats respectively, within a border of cushion-cut and rose-cut diamonds. The presale estimate for Lot 279 is $306,000 to $525,000.

In addition to the imperial jewelry, Sotheby's is showcasing a number of head turning items. They include the following:

Lot 292. Set with a cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant-cut fancy orangey-pink diamond weighing 25.62 carats, this 18-karat gold ring is accented with shield-shaped diamonds weighing 1.06 and 1.18 carats respectively. The colored diamond has a clarity of VS2 and the side diamonds are internally flawless. The presale estimate is $3.9 million to $5.9 million.

Lot 287. The perfectly matched pair of diamond earrings are literally perfectly matched. Each 18-karat gold earring is set with a square-cut diamond weighing exactly 25.88 carats, along with a suspended brilliant-cut diamond weighing 1.04 carats. Sotheby's expects the pair to sell in the range of $4.5 million to $5.5 million.

Lot 297. Designed by Mouawad, this 18-karat gold bracelet features a pear-shaped modified brilliant-cut diamond weighing 59 carats. The lavish piece is set with step-cut, oval and square diamonds weighing an additional 76 carats. The main stone boasts a D color and VVS1 clarity, while the rest of the diamonds range in color from E to G and VVS to SI in clarity. The presale estimated price range for the piece is $4 million to $4.6 million.

Lot 241. A pear-shaped fancy intense pink diamond weighing 4.53 carats is at the center of this 18-karat gold ring adorned with pink and near-colorless brilliant-cut diamonds. The featured diamond is graded VS1 in clarity and the piece is signed by Chopard. The presale estimate is $2.8 million to $4.2 million.

Credits: Jewelry images courtesy of Sotheby's. Maria Pavlovna photo by Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bauble Bought at a Car Boot Sale Turns Out to Be a 34-Carat Diamond Worth $2MM

An elderly British woman who brought her "costume" jewelry to a local auctioneer to be evaluated was stunned to learn that a huge "faux" stone in the collection was actually a 34-carat diamond valued at more than $2 million.

The woman — described as a lovely, elderly lady in her 70s who wished to remain anonymous — had amassed much of her collection at car boot sales over many years. Car boot sales differ from flea markets because they are generally populated not by professional sellers, but by ordinary folks who sell their unwanted household items out of the back of their cars.

Mark Lane, the owner of Featonby's Auctioneers, said that the box of jewelry contained a number of low-value costume jewelry items, as well as the retiree's wedding band and the unusually large clear stone.

At first, Lane believed the round brilliant-cut stone was likely a cubic zirconia. The stone sat on his desk for two or three days until a friend of the company made a passing comment that he should test the stone.

The friend's hunch was right. Lane held his diamond tester to the stone and it registered as genuine.

The HRD Diamond Grading Laboratory in Antwerp confirmed that the elderly lady's gem was, in fact, a 34.19-carat round, brilliant-cut diamond boasting H color, VS1 clarity and a triple excellent cut grade. Lane described the gem as larger than a British pound coin, which is equivalent to about an inch wide.

"The color, the clarity, the size… to find a 34-carat diamond is off the scale," Lane told the BBC.

Lane explained that the woman had nearly tossed the gem into the trash, believing it was valueless.

"She told us she'd been having a 'clearout' and that it nearly went in the bin before her neighbor suggested bringing her items to us to get valued," Lane said.

Featonby's Auctioneers is promoting the diamond as “The Secret Stone," and will be offering it for sale during a single-lot auction on November 30 at the auction house's Newcastle location. Featonby's estimates the diamond will sell in the range of £1.6 million ($2.1 million) to £2 million ($2.7 million).

Credits: Images courtesy of Featonbys.

Music Friday: Luke Combs Ruminates About Diamond Rings and Other Things

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, country music star Luke Combs has diamond rings on his mind as he confronts the cruel fact that everything he loves will ultimately break his heart.

Included on his long list of things that have "torn him apart" are his job, his truck, his dog, his favorite football team and a couple of girlfriends. The only thing he can count on is his favorite frosty libation.

In his 2019 hit "Beer Never Broke My Heart," Combs sings, "Longneck iced cold beer never broke my heart / Like diamond rings and football teams have torn this boy apart / Like a neon dream it just don't know me, the bars and this guitar / And longneck iced cold beer never broke my heart."

Written by Combs in collaboration with Randy Montana and Jonathan Singleton, "Beer Never Broke My Heart" became a fan favorite when Combs and his band began playing it on tour in January of 2018. A studio version appeared on Combs' second studio album, What You See Is What You Get, and was released as a single on May 8, 2019.

The song ascended to #2 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and #1 on the Canada Country chart. The album earned 2X platinum status in the US and topped the album charts in the US, Canada, UK and Australia.

Combs and his band got to perform the song live on both The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in May 2019 and on Saturday Night Live in February 2020.

Luke Albert Combs was born on March 2, 1990, in Huntersville, NC. He demonstrated a love for music at a young age and performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall while attending high school. At Appalachian State University, he worked as a bouncer at a honky-tonk bar and eventually earned stage time to hone his talents.

Just a month before he was set to graduate from college, he dropped out to pursue his dream of becoming a country music star. He released his first EP in 2014, and by 2016 he had been recognized by Sounds Like Nashville as an "artist to watch."

Please check out the video of Combs' Saturday Night Live performance of "Beer Never Broke My Heart." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

"Beer Never Broke My Heart"
Written by Luke Combs, Randy Montana and Jonathan Singleton. Performed by Luke Combs.

I've had a largemouth bass bust my line
A couple of beautiful girls tell me goodbye
Trucks break down, dogs run off
Politicians lie, been fired by the boss

It takes one hand to count the things I can count on
No, there ain't much man that ain't ever let me down

Longneck iced cold beer never broke my heart
Like diamond rings and football teams have torn this boy apart
Like a neon dream it just don't know me, the bars and this guitar
And longneck iced cold beer never broke my heart

She was a Carolina blue jean baby
Fire in her eyes that drove me crazy
It was red tail lights when she left town
If I didn't know then, I sure do now

That longneck iced cold beer never broke my heart
Like diamond rings and football teams have torn this boy apart
Like a neon dream it just don't know me, the bars and this guitar
A longneck iced cold beer never broke my heart

Now I got one hand to count the things I can count on
But I got one man drippin' down on a cold one

'Cause longneck iced cold beer never broke my heart
Like diamond rings and football teams have torn this boy apart
Like a neon dream it just don't know me, the bars and this guitar
A longneck iced cold beer never broke my heart
It never broke my heart.

Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com/Saturday Night Live.

Rapper Travis Scott Gifts Matching Rings to Kylie Jenner and 3-Year-Old Daughter, Stormi

Beauty mogul Kylie Jenner revealed to her 279 million Instagram followers on Tuesday the matching “Toi et Moi” diamond rings gifted to her and three-year-old daughter, Stormi, by rapper boyfriend Travis Scott.

"Daddy got us matching rings," the 24-year-old wrote. The pic shows the mommy-daughter duo touching hands while wearing their new rings, which feature a pear-cut diamond nestled next to an emerald-cut diamond in a bypass setting. She punctuated the post with two emojis: a grey heart and a lightning cloud.

A design concept originally conceived by Napoleon in 1796, “Toi et Moi” is a bypass ring set with two unlike stones of similar size. Symbolically, they represent two souls becoming one. The ring that Napoleon presented to Josephine on the occasion of their marriage included two pear-shaped stones, one sapphire and one diamond. (The French phrase "toi et moi" means "you and me" in English.)

We expect that many fashion-forward jewelry lovers are going to be influenced by the Kylie/Stormi fashion statement. Kylie Jenner has more Instagram followers than anybody in the world, except for soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, who claims 362 million.

Jewelry-industry experts estimated that the diamonds in Kylie's ring weigh about 5 or 6 carats apiece and are valued at $325,000. Stormi's petite version is set with diamonds weighing approximately 1.5 carats each and carry a price tag of about $120,000.

Kylie did not reveal whether the gifts celebrated a particular occasion or milestone, but we do know that the reality star announced in early September that she is expecting her second child with the 29-year-old rapper and that Stormi is excited to become a big sister.

Credits: Images via Instagram.com/kyliejenner.

Set With 423 Diamonds and 1,739 Sapphires, This Necklace Could Sell for 25MM Zlotys

"Julia," an elaborate fractal-inspired necklace set with 423 diamonds and 1,739 sapphires, is expected to sell for 25 million zlotys or more at DESA Unicum's private sale in Poland.

(The zloty is the official currency of Poland. Twenty-five million zlotys is equivalent to about $6.2 million.)

Designed in 2009 by Aussie Marc Newson for the French luxury brand Boucheron, the 18-karat white gold necklace includes more than 125 carats of gemstones and required more than 1,500 hours to complete. The 2.5 carat, E-color, VVS2 diamond at the center of the piece appears to be floating.

Billed as the most expensive piece of jewelry ever offered at auction in Poland, the design's fractal spirals feature a diamond-intensive center that transitions to light blue sapphires and then to dark blue sapphires as the gems radiate outward from the center.

A fractal is a complex geometric pattern that when viewed at any scale repeats elements of the overall pattern. Fractals can be seen in sea shells, fern leaves, sunspots, spiral galaxies and the structure of human lungs.

According to the Warsaw-based auction house, "Julia" is one of the most expensive jewelry pieces ever sold by Boucheron. It even caught the eye of Karl Lagerfeld, who featured it at one of his haute couture shows in Paris.

"Julia" honors French mathematician Gaston Julia, whose work described how fractals are formed.

The necklace had been on public exhibition from October 22 to 26 in a guarded case at the auction house's gallery. The sale of "Julia" will take place under a private sale tender. After the necklace has been inspected by people interested in purchasing it, confidential tenders will be accepted. The last day to make an offer is November 5.

Credits: Images courtesy of DESA Unicum.

Single Bidder Captures All 41 Lots of Blue and Violet Diamonds From Final Argyle Tender

All 41 lots of carefully curated blue and violet diamonds from the recently shuttered Argyle mine were purchased by a single bidder at Rio Tinto's "Once in a Blue Moon" tender.

Hong Kong fancy-colored diamond specialist Kunming Diamonds scooped up the complete collection, which represents the very last blue and violet diamonds to emerge from the Argyle mine.

Rio Tinto stated that Kunming Diamonds’ history-making global bid for the 24.88 carats of final “beyond rare” blue jewels from the East Kimberley region of Western Australia is a significant moment in the history of the Argyle mine and the colored-diamond industry.

"We are delighted to be part of Argyle's legacy in this historical moment, acquiring the Once in a Blue Moon collection," noted Harsh Maheshwari, Executive Director of Kunming Diamonds. "We cherish becoming the custodians of the final Australian treasures from this iconic and industry-defining mine, and look forward to unearthing the incredible possibilities in the years to come."

Throughout its 37-year history, the Argyle mine sporadically produced small blue and violet diamonds in a beautiful array of shades. With the closure of Argyle on November 3, 2020, it is extremely unlikely that there will ever be another collective offering of iconic gems in this color spectrum from a single mine.

Even though Argyle mine is closed, Rio Tinto will maintain and manage the Argyle Pink Diamonds™ brand through secondary market platforms, certification processes and creative collaborations with its trusted partners.

In addition to owning the Argyle Pink Diamonds™ brand, Rio Tinto is the majority owner and operator of the Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada and has signed an exploration joint venture agreement with Endiama, the national diamond mining company of Angola, to evaluate the Chiri kimberlite in that country's Lunda Sul Province.

Credits: Images courtesy of Rio Tinto.

Evidence of Ancient Life Found Trapped Inside Greenland Ruby, Say Researchers

Graphite fragments preserved within a Greenland ruby could be evidence of ancient microbial life dating back 2.5 billion years, according to a new study.

The research team, led by Chris Yakymchuk, professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, set out to study the geology of rubies to better understand the conditions necessary for ruby formation.

During this research in the North Atlantic Craton of southern Greenland — which contains the oldest known deposits of rubies in the world — the team found a ruby sample that contained graphite, a mineral made of pure carbon. Analysis of this carbon indicated that it is a remnant of early life.

"The graphite inside this ruby is really unique," Yakymchuk said in a statement. "It's the first time we've seen evidence of ancient life in ruby-bearing rocks."

He said that the graphite within the ruby was likely composed of dead microorganisms, such as cyanobacteria.

As reported by Livescience.com, cyanobacteria are thought to be some of the first life on Earth. Scientists believe that over billions of years of converting sunlight into chemical energy, cyanobacteria gradually produced the oxygen necessary for complex life to eventually evolve.

The graphite found in the ruby formed during a time on the planet when oxygen was not abundant in the atmosphere, and life existed only in microorganisms and algae films, Yakymchuk explained.

During this study, Yakymchuk’s team discovered that this graphite not only links the gemstone to ancient life but was also likely necessary for this ruby to exist at all. The graphite changed the chemistry of the surrounding rocks to create favorable conditions for ruby growth. Without it, the team’s models showed that it would not have been possible to form rubies in this location.

"For me personally, it's quite humbling to think about all the things that are encapsulated in this ruby as a reminder of our small part in the long history of planet Earth," Yakymchuk told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Titled "Corundum (ruby) growth during the final assembly of the Archean North Atlantic Craton, southern West Greenland," the study was recently published in Ore Geology Reviews. A companion study, "The corundum conundrum: Constraining the compositions of fluids involved in ruby formation in metamorphic melanges of ultramafic and aluminous rocks," was published in the journal Chemical Geology in June.

Credit: Image courtesy of University of Waterloo.

Music Friday: Tom Petty Wants Her More Than Diamonds or Gold in 1991's 'Built to Last'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we feature Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performing “Built to Last” from their 1991 2X platinum-selling album, Into the Great Wide Open.

In this song about a couple whose love has endured both the good and bad times, frontman Petty sings, “I want her more than diamonds / I want her more than gold / I want her more than anything anyone could hold.”

In the next verse, he adds, “We were built to last / On until forever / The world is changing fast / But our love was built to last.”

Although the song was never released as a single, it was a favorite of concert-goers. In a rare clip (below) from a 1991 performance in Oakland, CA, enthusiastic fans can be heard singing along with Petty and his bandmates.

“Built to Last” was co-written by Petty and Jeff Lynne, the frontman for Electric Light Orchestra. It was the 12th track on Into the Great Wide Open, an album that sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide and rose to #13 on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart. A Rolling Stone critic wrote at the time that the album features Petty’s best lyrics. The album spawned two #1 hits, “Learning to Fly” and “Out in the Cold.”

Established in 1976 in Gainesville, Fla., Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were still rocking' in 2017 when Petty died of an accidental overdose one week after the end of the Heartbreakers' 40th Anniversary Tour. The singer had been taking medications to alleviate pain from a serious hip injury.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have sold more than 80 million records worldwide, putting them high in the ranks of the world’s best-selling bands. Petty was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 91st on its list of the Greatest Artists of All Time.

We welcome you to check out the rare clip of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ live performance of “Built to Last.” The video actually features two songs, “Built to Last” and “Makin’ Some Noise.” Our featured song leads off the double bill. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

“Built to Last”
Written by Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. Performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Somewhere out my doorway
Somewhere down my block
I can hear her heartbeat
In rhythm with my clock
I want her more than diamonds
I want her more than gold
I want her more than anything anyone could hold

We were built to last
On until forever
The world is changing fast
But our love was built to last

She has followed me down
Along those empty streets
She has followed me where the rain would fall in sheets
And I know I been changing
Changing like the wind
I was feeling burned out
I got tired of it

We were built to last
On until forever
The world is changing fast
But our love was built to last

So come to me my darlin’
Hold me while I sleep
I know you feel lost
But you’re not in too deep

We were built to last
On until forever
The world is changing fast
But our love was built to last

Credit: Image by By musicisentropy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.