Recent emerald sales have set new record prices for fine emeralds, for both cut stones and specimens. The old record for a fine cut emerald $40,000 per carat. In late 2010, Muzo International, Inc. sold a 9 carat emerald cut stone for almost $90,000 per carat – more than doubling the previous best price.
Recognition of the Rarity of Fine Emeralds
This 9.27 carat emerald sold in 2010 for over $800,000.
This record-setting sale demonstrates a new recognition of the rarity and value of a very fine emerald with a spectacular combination of color and transparency. It also reveals a new class of buyers. Big money has discovered the undervalued and collectible attraction of fine gems, mainly because the stock market and real estate no longer offer the returns they once did. Fine world class mineral specimens have also become attractions for the wealthy collector. New money and money displaced from traditional investments is coming into the gem and mineral world, affecting prices from top to bottom, ushering in a new era of stratospheric emerald prices.
Mineral Specimens Have Also Broken Barriers
The fabulous “Yamile” emerald specimen has sold three times in the last ten years. In 1984 it was sold by the mine owner for $80,000. The collector who bought it held it until 2007, and sold it for over $250,000 (that’s a tidy little profit of $170,000). This collector sold it again in 2010 for $500,000, doubling his money in 3 years.
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These 2 photos of the Yamile emerald were taken 26 years apart. The photo on the left was taken in 1984, the one on the right in 2010.
