It is an impressive emerald found in Brazil with the approximate size of a watermelon and it is about 12 inches long, weighs approximately 11.5 kilos and is greater than 57,000 carats. Its name means «gift of God», referring to the extraordinary of this finding. The current owner of the jewel Regan Reaney comments that the jewel has traveled a lot, because its discovery was in Brazil, it was carved in India and later moved to Canada to be auctioned.
Theodora has several candidates competing to be the largest in the world, starting with one located in Colombia, which is 22,000 carats and weighs 2.2 kilos; this piece is exhibited as it was found, it has never been polished and its owners have already stated that they will not subject it to this process under any circumstances.
There are also other large emeralds that compete with Theodora and could even overshadow its majesty, one is located in Hong Kong, weighs 536 kilograms and was found in Madagascar. The other emerald that competes to be the largest in the world is displayed in Los Angeles, United States, under the name of “Bay Emerald” and weighs 314 kilos, its owner remains unknown because there is a legal dispute around the jewel. However, none of these precious stones have been separated from the granite in which they are embedded or have been carved, so until now Theodora is the largest carved emerald found in the world.
In January 2013, the stunning jewel was auctioned off by its owner at the time, Mike Odenbach in Kelowna, Canada; and the auction was directed by the Canadian house Western Star. The initial price was one million dollars, being sold under the large sum of 1.15 million dollars to Regan Reaney.
The former owner of the jewel explains that in this world of collectors, it is normal for jewelery to end up having a value that is much higher than that stipulated, since in the specific case of Theodora, any collector wants to have the largest emerald in the world and thus revalue not only the piece but its entire collection. Remember also that emeralds have always been an expensive object due to the complexity of finding them extremely and if it is such a magnificent piece it is normal that its cost increases constantly.
Theodora is nothing more than the confirmation of how splendid and generous nature can be with us, also ensuring that this gem is always impressive no matter who owns it. So far Theodora stands out above any precious stone found, but not for this we can sing victory and close the cycle, because we do not know what nature can surprise us with in the future. So for now, we can only enjoy the majesty of this piece and dream of all the jewelry we could wear from Theodora.