25 lb Emerald Fraud???

I like how Susan Lazaruk of The Province puts it: "The giant “emerald” had so many red flags, it might as well have been a ruby."

There were absolutely no bids on this apparently largest cut emerald that went up for auction in Kelowna over the weekend. Tsk. Tsk. Seems like the man promoting it was arrested for fraud in Ontario. But he still insists the gem is genuine as does the gemologist who appraised it; though the latter did admit he had been coloured - it's still an actual emerald. Makes me wonder what the fraud charges were for.

Read more here and here.

The Ultimate Prison Escape

One of my favorite mysteries from Almanac of the Infamous happened in 1815 Prussia when an imprisoned convict literally de-materialized in front of his fellow inmates. The only thing he left behind was the clanking sound of his empty shackles and handcuffs as they hit the floor.

The disappearing prisoner was a man named Diderici. He was a servant to Army Captain Fritz Alswanger. When the Captain died of apoplexy Diderici began impersonating him and living the high life. The dead man's paychecks were cashed instead of canceled and the servant courted many high society ladies before he was caught out and incarcerated.

While serving time in Weichselmunde prison, with it's twenty foot high walls, Diderici was occasionally let out into the yard to walk in circles with the other prisoners for exercise. All of the inmates were manacled together, chains dragging while they trudged around.

One day, in the middle of a line of men, Diderici began to fade away. He became more and more ghostly until he had completely vanished. The empty cuffs clanked to the ground.

Gigantic Emerald Weighs 25 lbs

Could be yours - if you have a few million dollars sitting around in petty cash. The soon-to-be world famous gemstone, Teodora (Gift of God), goes to auction later this January in Kelowna, BC. It's the fifth largest emerald in the world but the largest cut emerald.

In occult history the emerald (not the Teodora, it's too large) can cure eye diseases when placed over the organ - sapphires also work. From the mid 1300s comes a recipe for a remedy against the Black Plague using one sixth of a drachm of each pearls, jargoons, emeralds and coral. Emeralds are recommended for amulets to be used by children to prevent epilepsy, by women to drive off fears and evil spirits.

This beautiful green gem also is credited with strengthening the memory, giving knowledge of the future, revealing adultery and increasing wealth.

And my favorite emerald of all; The Emerald Tablet of Hermes - which very simplified says AS ABOVE SO BELOW

But back to Teodora - Read more about this fascinating gemstone here where I stole the picture from.