The world's largest cut gem and largest transparent gemstone sculpture, the `Bahia' took seven and one-half years of highly skilled artistry, lapidary expertise, and engineering to create. Named for the state in Brazil where it was found in 1987, this awe-inspiring rock crystal quartz with thread-like golden rutile inclusions was sculpted by noted gemstone carvers Glenn Lehrer and Lawrence Stoller. The original stone weighed 800 pounds and the two carvers dreamed of cutting the crystal as one gigantic gemstone. However, the discovery of two distinct rhombohedral cleavage planes meant that it had to be cut into three pieces. To maintain their original concept of a one-piece gemstone, Lehrer and Stoller carved the three forms into one sculpture, joined together by an internally-lighted gold-plated steel frame and suspended by wires. The finished weights of the huge gemstones are 320 lbs, 98 lbs and 25 lbs. Bahia has been displayed many times at the GIA's world headquarters in California since it opened in 1997. Now that the stone is up for sale, the organization is mounting a campaign to buy it, thus preserving it as a symbol of the GIA's mission.


http://www.gia.edu
Contact for information and donations:
[email protected]
(please credit europastar.com)

Source: Couture International Jeweler
August - September 03 issue