A beautiful 1.61 carat pear shape Muzo emerald from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha. 

This historic gem is believed to be the finest quality pear shape emerald cut from a rough emerald recovered from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha shipwreck. Her name “Lágrima,” meaning “tear,” is an expression for the pear shape style of faceting in the Spanish language. The Lágrima is another remarkable example of emerald material unearthed four hundred years ago in the Banco Tequendama section of the Muzo mine in Colombia. These emeralds were transported to Cartagena over torturous mountain jungle trails, down uncharted rivers and past hostile tribes, and in the fury of two hurricanes they were deposited, among the Atocha’s lost treasures, in the Florida Keys. It is because of this accident of fate that the next owner of the Lagrima de Atocha will be someone other than the intended King Phillip IV of Spain.

 

Weighing well over the one carat mark that is considered a large size for conventional fine quality emeralds, this 1.61 carat top level specimen was cut from an original 4.41 carat rough specimen and meets the highest level of the definition of fineness in emeralds. Pictures do no justice to her color, saturation and fire. Like all the cut from rough Atocha emeralds in the Marcial de Gomar Collection, the Lágrima has extensive documentation maintaining the provenance of the cutting process with recertification by Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvors, Inc. of the final result.

 

Accompanied by GIA report 2185154026 of February 17, 2017 and Mel Fisher’s Treasures LLC Certificate of Authenticity.

Note: Due to the inability of current technology capturing the blue green hues and light dispersion in emeralds accurately, digital and particularly print images, do no justice to the true beauty, color and fire of Colombian emeralds. These magnificent specimens truly need to be seen with the naked eye to be appreciated to their full extent.