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Eshed-Gemstar on the Painstaking Process of Cutting ‘The Legacy Emerald’
The gemstone supplier and manufacturer acquired the remarkable 104-gram Zambian emerald at Gemfields’ auction in May.
Mined in Zambia by Gemfields, “The Legacy Emerald” boasts a rare combination of size, high clarity and transparency, beautiful crystallization, and a saturated green color, Eshed-Gemstar said.
Ramat Gan, Israel—Eshed-Gemstar, a family-led gemstone and diamond supplier based in Israel, is transforming a 104-gram (520-carat) rough emerald it acquired at Gemfields’ high-quality emerald auction in May.
The stone was recovered from the Kagem mine in Zambia, and its new owners have named it “The Legacy Emerald.”
The purchase price was not disclosed, but Eshed-Gemstar said the price paid represented a “record-breaking” value per gram for a Zambian emerald rough weighing more than 100 grams.
“The value reflects its extremely rare combination of size, exceptionally high clarity for a rough of this scale, crystallization, saturated green color, and potential to produce important investment-grade emeralds,” said Liran Eshed, general manager of Eshed North America.
Following a period of careful evaluation and planning—a critical part of the stone’s transformation, Liran noted—the cutting process began.
Gemstar has been documenting it on Instagram.
The stone was recovered from the Kagem mine in Zambia, and its new owners have named it “The Legacy Emerald.”
The purchase price was not disclosed, but Eshed-Gemstar said the price paid represented a “record-breaking” value per gram for a Zambian emerald rough weighing more than 100 grams.
“The value reflects its extremely rare combination of size, exceptionally high clarity for a rough of this scale, crystallization, saturated green color, and potential to produce important investment-grade emeralds,” said Liran Eshed, general manager of Eshed North America.
Following a period of careful evaluation and planning—a critical part of the stone’s transformation, Liran noted—the cutting process began.
Gemstar has been documenting it on Instagram.
“The strategy has been to respect the natural crystal while unlocking the best possible combination of size, clarity, color, beauty, and long-term value,” Liran said.
They are not going for speed, or even the highest possible yield, he said.
“Our goal is to produce a group of exceptional, investment-grade emeralds with strong color, high clarity, important sizes, and transparent provenance.”
At the auction, it was clear to Eshed right away that “The Legacy Emerald,” with its rare combination of size, clarity, crystallization, and color, was essentially the holy grail.
“Large emerald rough of this scale normally comes with significant compromises, particularly in clarity and internal structure,” Liran said.
“This rough was immediately different. It allowed us to see deeply into the crystal and recognize clean, gem-quality areas with the potential to produce important no-oil emeralds.”
Gemfields had graded the rough as 6B, which Gemstar called an “exceptional” grade for rough of that size, as stones of that quality are generally much smaller.
“In our experience, a combination like this may appear only once every 30 years,” Liran said.
Eshed-Gemstar is led by second-generation diamond expert Avraham Eshed, together with his sons Lior and Liran.
The company said it has decades of experience and deep expertise in sourcing, evaluating, cutting, and manufacturing exceptional stones.
In addition to “The Legacy Emerald,” Eshed-Gemstar owns the 7,525-carat “Chipembele” emerald, which it acquired a few years, also from the Kagem mine.
The Chipembele holds the Guinness World Record for largest uncut emerald.
“In our experience, a combination like this may appear only once every 30 years,” Liran said.
Eshed-Gemstar is led by second-generation diamond expert Avraham Eshed, together with his sons Lior and Liran.
The company said it has decades of experience and deep expertise in sourcing, evaluating, cutting, and manufacturing exceptional stones.
In addition to “The Legacy Emerald,” Eshed-Gemstar owns the 7,525-carat “Chipembele” emerald, which it acquired a few years, also from the Kagem mine.
The Chipembele holds the Guinness World Record for largest uncut emerald.
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