5565-carat 'Lion' emerald sells

The 5565-carat 'Inkalamu' emerald, discovered at Zambia's Kagem mine last month, has sold Inkalamu exceeds the size of most of the company's named emeralds, as the majority have weighed less than 1000 carats "We are experiencing strikingly increased demand for high-quality Zambian emeralds from the major brands, particularly in Europe," said Elena Basaglia, gemmologist for Gemfields.

At the company's Singapore auction, which ended November 17, the emerald sold to Rajkumar and Rishabh Tongya of Dia-Color for an undisclosed price Gemfields has indicated 10 per cent of Inkalamu's auction proceeds will be divided between two philanthropic partners: the Zambian Carnivore Programme and the Niassa Carnivore Project in Mozambique "We expect a number of large, fine-quality cut emeralds to be born of the Inkalamu crystal.

These important pieces are what return value to the buyers and there might be hundreds of offcuts that are fashioned into smaller gems, cabochons, and beads, but the key lies in recovering the fine-quality pieces," said Adrian Banks, Gemfields' managing director for product and sales, upon the stone's discovery "The results of what was our first Singapore emerald auction in more than three years clearly reflect the emerging recovery among our trade customers after a protracted period of difficulty," said Banks. . Source