How an 836-pound ‘cursed’ emerald traveled the Americas, ruining lives and bankrupting men

Los Angeles Times ^ | Dec. 13, 2024 3 AM PT | Clara Harter

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It was an ordinary day at his Los Angeles law office when John Nadolenco opened a letter from Brazil enlisting his help in a mission to retrieve a stolen, and quite possibly cursed, 836-pound emerald.

The year was 2014, the heyday of the Nigerian prince email scam, and the up-and-coming attorney was no fool. “I immediately thought it was just completely fake, a total hoax,” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m not falling for this one. I’m smarter than this.’”

He tossed the letter in the trash.

But Nadolenco’s boss asked if, as a favor, he could look into the Indiana Jones-esque request to reclaim the Bahia Emerald. So Nadolenco skeptically reached out to a colleague in his firm’s Brazil office.

He was flabbergasted to learn that not only was the Bahia Emerald real, but the Brazilian government was genuinely interested in using his legal skills to retrieve the gem, which was being held in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s custody amid lawsuits over its ownership.

The emerald had been plucked from a mine in the Carnaíba mountain range, located in the Bahia region of northeastern Brazil.

“Bahia Emerald” is a misnomer because it is not one gem but nine dazzling crystals encased in a rough black rock 30 inches wide and 33 inches high. Each crystal is as thick as a Coke bottle, and one is believed to be the largest single emerald ever found.

But how did the stone, which weighs about as much as a full-grown bison, end up in L.A. County? And how could Brazil get it back? It was Nadolenco’s mission to find out.

The stone, he learned, was smuggled to the U.S. in 2005, and a series of lamentable tales — some fact, some fiction — have followed...

[gundog]

Hell, lots of 1 carat diamonds wreak that kind of havoc.

[lee martell]

Atty Nadolenco almost took the existence of that giant emerald
for granite!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Hell, lots of 1 carat diamonds wreak that kind of havoc.

They are a girl's best friend.

[BenLurkin]

His boss goes through his trash?

[BenLurkin]

[Pelham]

Gem smuggling ping

[ViLaLuz]

That is a very beautiful formation.

[Hot Tabasco]

Wow, article looks interesting but can't read it because of the paywall.

[Retain Mike]

It is interesting to speculate about how much of its value comes from legal fees.

[sauropod]

bkmk

[SunkenCiv]

[Zhang Fei]

Proved to be El Dorado for all the lawyers involved.

[Openurmind]

“That is a very beautiful formation.”

It is, But it is deceiving to claim it is “a” 836-pound emerald. It is 836 pounds “of Emeralds” WITH the matrix. There is probably only about maybe 50 pounds of emeralds there and they are not “one” emerald. But the cluster and matrix does have a unique value of it’s own as a unique cluster of Emeralds of those sizes.

[Fledermaus]

Kryptonite?

[Larry Lucido]

This story opens up like a Philip Marlow novel.

[BobL]

“That is a very beautiful formation.”

Only a mom could see beauty in THAT formation.

[missthethunder]

“His boss goes through his trash?”

Yeah, I caught that too.

[Axenolith]

That’s not gneiss, it’s a schisty way of looking at it...

[Axenolith]

Mother EARTH! :-)