The 400 Million Dollar Rock

It has a complicated and unfathomable history – will the authorities ever find an owner for the Bahia Emerald – or will it prove just too powerful to shift? Find out in The 400 Million Dollar Rock, and explore the gemstone’s colorful history and analyze the different claims over it. The unearthing of what may be the world’s largest emerald in Brazil is a truly remarkable story, but the staggering eight-way battle for its ownership is almost too astonishing to believe. Found in a Bahia mine in 2001, the remarkable stone, valued at $400 million, has since endured a bizarre odyssey, from an abandoned petrol station in San Jose to a submerged vault in Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. With the gemstone trade a world of mystery and intrigue, the 840lb (381Kg) specimen has already changed hands in a Sao Paulo car park, been used as collateral in a diamond deal.