So the agency awarded the Israeli Eshed-Gemstar the coveted certificate in April. The company bought the stone from Gemfields last December for an undisclosed sum. Gemfields discovered the emerald a month earlier at the Kagem mine in Zambia. It claims it is the biggest discovery in the history of the deposit. It surpasses the 5,655-carat and 6,225-carat emeralds found there in 2010 and 2018, respectively.
Eshed-Gemstar is now ready to accelerate the next phase for Chipembele. In the local Zambian dialect, Bemba means rhino.
“We want to do something special with this stone,” said Eshed-Gemstar founder Avraham Eshed. The statement was made during an exclusive presentation of the stone last week to Rapaport News. “There is an opportunity to use it to educate the next generation. Because a generation so focused on high technology has no knowledge of diamonds and gemstones.”.
The company has included the emerald in Gübelin Gem Lab's traceability program, Provenance Proof. The platform captures the DNA of the stone, and ensures that all cut and processed stones from the rough piece remain identifiable. So if 500 treated stones come out of Chipembele, each one can be identified wherever it ends up, Eshed explained.
Eshed-Gemstar is looking for a buyer, preferring to sell the raw piece whole. In this way it will be able to work with the buyer for cutting and polishing. ’But we are in no hurry as we want to find a suitable home for the stone,“ he said. ”But we believe we have a strong story to tell, given the size, beauty and provenance of Chipembele.“
