The Curse of the Bahia Emerald

Wow, they were right when they claimed it wasn't very attractive in the article.

A more flattering image: http://bhcourier.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/bahia-emeral...

I am not an expert, but I have bought a couple of small emeralds (in Bahia, Brazil) as a tourist. Part of the spiel that the seller had regarding why emeralds were special was that it is tricky to cut the gem without causing unwanted breaks. See https://naturalemerald.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/durability-i... for some info.

Also, like many other gems, the price of a gem varies wildly with its clarity, etc.

So the worst case scenario,I suppose, is that it could be that the stone is only worth its weight as rock dust. But generally I agree with you that it seems unlikely, and it's probably just hyperbole.

During import it was intentionally undervalued to avoid customs. This provided the journalistic license to provide the massive price discrepancy.

"On the packing slip he wrote “rocha: rochedo—rock” and listed the value at $100."

Man, I sure loved _Heavy_Metal_ when I was a teenager. Sex, drugs, rock and roll, fed all my nerdy escapist fantasies. And you know that first scene, when the scientist comes out of the space shuttle in a corvette and flys down to the ground? That's what I wanted to be when I grew up.