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Sheriff holds 180,000-carat emerald
upi ^ | Dec. 27, 2008 | staff

Posted on 12/28/2008 11:06:17 AM PST by xcamel

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says it is holding an emerald estimated to be worth as much as $370 million while the stone's owner is determined.

A department spokesman said the 850-pound gem will be in safekeeping until a federal judge determines who rightfully owns it.

The "Bahia Emerald" was reported stolen in September from a secured vault in South El Monte, Calif.

CNN reported the emerald has been at the center of a dispute between a California man who claimed ownership, a company with which he contracted to sell it and a potential buyer.

It is alleged the gemstone's owner tried to go around the broker, who received a $19 million offer, and sell the emerald to the same buyer for $75 million.

The Brazilian stone was located in a Las Vegas warehouse, where the person in possession claimed to be the rightful owner, Los Angeles Sheriff's Lt. Thomas Grubb said.

A federal judge ordered the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to hold the 180,000-carat emerald until he can sort out the legal issues, Grubb said.

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TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gems; gemstoneultrabling
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1 posted on 12/28/2008 11:06:17 AM PST by xcamel
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To: xcamel
850-pound gem

That is one BIG emerald!

2 posted on 12/28/2008 11:10:03 AM PST by PugetSoundSoldier (Indignation over the sting of truth is the defense of the indefensible)
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To: xcamel

Might be worth more ground up and made into an acre of sandpaper.


3 posted on 12/28/2008 11:10:51 AM PST by RightWhale (We were so young two years ago and the DJIA was 12,000)
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To: xcamel

http://fortressaustralia.blogspot.com/2007/09/gem-of-story.html


4 posted on 12/28/2008 11:14:13 AM PST by org.whodat (Conservatives don't vote for Bailouts for Super-Rich Bankers! Republicans do!)
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To: PugetSoundSoldier
I had an ex that was gaga over emeralds. I'm just glad this came to public attention AFTER we parted ways.

/johnny

5 posted on 12/28/2008 11:15:11 AM PST by JRandomFreeper (God Bless us all, each, and every one.)
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To: xcamel

OK! They had an offer of nineteen million, tried to sell it for seventy-five million but it’s worth three hundred and seventy million? I guess I’m not up on gem marketing.


6 posted on 12/28/2008 11:16:13 AM PST by FreePaul
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To: org.whodat

Thank you - pictures of that stone are very hard to come by....


7 posted on 12/28/2008 11:17:02 AM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: xcamel

Holy Moses!


8 posted on 12/28/2008 11:17:02 AM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: xcamel

180 000 carats = 79.3664144 pounds


9 posted on 12/28/2008 11:17:49 AM PST by WorkerbeeCitizen (The only time I want a Republican reaching across the aisle is to smack a liberal.)
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To: xcamel; Larry Lucido; Cap'n Crunch; TEXASPROUD

Ice melts in evidence rooms all the time !


10 posted on 12/28/2008 11:18:50 AM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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To: PugetSoundSoldier

The bozo reporter or cop who went to a california school
can’t get it straight. Gem is about 79.37 pounds.
1 carat = .0070548 oz.


11 posted on 12/28/2008 11:18:54 AM PST by TaMoDee
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To: xcamel

Believe it or not but a millennium ago emeralds were ground up as a paint pigment.


12 posted on 12/28/2008 11:19:49 AM PST by Eye of Unk (How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! SA)
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To: TaMoDee

Yeah, the total weight of the substrate and crystals is 850 lbs.

The reporter is a moron.


13 posted on 12/28/2008 11:20:20 AM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: FreePaul

I bet there is a tax angle here also....I am sure sales or whatever tax that applies to gems was never paid...


14 posted on 12/28/2008 11:21:49 AM PST by BurbankKarl
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To: org.whodat
Excellent picture at your link. Comment from the link which seemed appropriate:

"I agree with the poster who found this story implausible. There are good quality roads, etc. in Bahia. As for the estimate of 180,000 carats. B***shit. It appears that much of the 850 lbs is just matrix holding the emeralds together - not uncommon. By result of their chemical composition and ultimate formation, "flawless" (as often related to daimonds) is impossible in emeralds.
Until the matrix is washed off and every single crystal examined and graded, there is no way to estimate the value. Like all commodoties, emeralds are subject to market forces of supply and demand. That is one reason that deBeers tries so hard to stop the sales of so-called synthetic diamonds (produced in the lab - are just as real as those in nature).
As soon as diamonds (or emeralds) were to become 'pedestrian', the cartels that control production would not longer be able to control pricing. Same is true of oil...anything else one wants to consider. all in all, this story is just that...a big story filled with media savvy embellishment."

15 posted on 12/28/2008 11:21:51 AM PST by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: FreePaul

—sounds about like media estimates of numbers of people at left-wing marches in Washington, DC—


16 posted on 12/28/2008 11:22:11 AM PST by rellimpank (--don't believe anything the MSM tells you about firearms or explosives--NRA Benefactor)
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To: JRandomFreeper
I don't know why...they are one of the group of gems you have to do something to, to make them decent. You have to inject oils into emeralds. They cloud up, ...maybe it's a green thing...$ounds like it from what you $aid, too. ;-)
17 posted on 12/28/2008 11:22:20 AM PST by NordP (CONSERVATIVE AGAIN IN 2010 ..... Now, is it 2012 yet ???)
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To: xcamel

Los Angeles County Sheriff?

OK, the owner had better show up quick or the gem will be lost for good.


18 posted on 12/28/2008 11:23:26 AM PST by Ben Reyes (Palin 2012)
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To: xcamel

Wow


19 posted on 12/28/2008 11:30:41 AM PST by ScreamingFist (Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
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To: FreePaul
OK! They had an offer of nineteen million, tried to sell it for seventy-five million but it’s worth three hundred and seventy million? I guess I’m not up on gem marketing.

Definitely something fishy. Either this story is all screwed up, and the reporter is a moron, or there's something fishy. Maybe someone stole it. Maybe someone smuggled it into the country and was trying to sell it without declaring it or paying taxes. Maybe the intermediary was a professional fence. You might settle for a quarter of the value or less if you had to work under the table.

20 posted on 12/28/2008 11:38:43 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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