Star of Atocha

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The star of the Atocha is a deep dark green emerald mined in Colombia 400 years ago with an original weight of 25.87 carats (about 5.2 grams), which has been 12.72 carats (about 2.5 g) since it was cut . Its value has been estimated in the past at $ 3.2 million to $ 5 million . It was part of the cargo of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha . The Atocha was the largest of 28 galleons en route to Spain to be caught in a hurricane on September 5, 1622 . The Atocha and four other galleons were driven onto the reefs at the Dry Tortugas the following day , leaking and sank not far from the islands.

The US treasure hunters Mel and Dolores "Deo" Fisher searched for the Atocha for 16 years. On July 20, 1985, two of their divers found the wreck, from which about half of the cargo recorded on the cargo list could be recovered. The emeralds mined in Muzo , Colombia, accounted for a large part of the value of approximately 400 million US dollars . They were only found a few dozen meters away from the wreck in 1986 in an area on the seabed that the divers then named Emerald City (German: Smaragdstadt ). Of these Atocha emeralds , totaling around 13,500 carats, the Atocha star is the largest and most valuable.

The star of Atocha is an emerald of the highest quality grade 1AA with an original weight of 25.87 carats . Because of its size, purity and brilliance , Mel Fisher chose it as a gift for his wife deodorant. In principle, no changes are made to such gemstones due to their historical significance. Fisher defied this and had the stone cut in 1992. After that it was still 12.72 carats with a size of about 15 × 12.4 × 9.2 mm. This makes it the largest of the Atocha emeralds and the only stone with a name.

The star of Atocha was framed between the claws of the statuette The Golden Eagle , a representation of a bald eagle made of 8.2 kilograms of solid gold and studded with diamonds in the head area .

According to the owner at the time , The Golden Eagle was lost in a street robbery on the evening of May 30, 2016 after a public exhibition lasting several days. The statuette was originally given a value of 4 to 6 million US dollars. In 2018, the value was stated to be around $ 710,000 in a legal battle between the owner and several insurance companies. The statuette with the star of Atocha is still missing.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The Atocha Star Emerald , The World's Greatest Treasure Hunt website , accessed October 27, 2018.
  2. ^ A b Gordon Smith: Gem cutter romances the stone , The San Diego Union-Tribune, September 7, 1992, p. 4, accessed October 27, 2018.
  3. ↑ The Treasure - The Golden Eagle , website of The World's Greatest Treasure Hunt , accessed October 27, 2018.
  4. ↑ Laura Kane: Stolen golden eagle in BC worth $ 930,450, not $ 7M, owner claims in lawsuit , The Canadian Press, June 14, 2018, accessed October 27, 2018.