The saga of an 840-pound emerald – believed to be the world’s largest – continued in Los Angeles County Superior Court where Morgan Hill resident Anthony Thomas’ claim to the valuable rock was shut down this week, according to authorities.
Judge Michael Johnson ruled Wednesday Thomas’ claim – which asserted he rightfully purchased the gem known as the “Bahia emerald” from the pair of Brazilian miners who dug it up – was not credible, according to national news reports and an employee of the L.A. County Superior Court’s public information office.
The emerald, the value of which has been estimated at more than $300 million, has a long and storied past that is unlikely to end any time soon. At least two other parties claim the rock is theirs, with claims pending in court, according to news reports from the San Jose Mercury News and the New York Daily News.
Thomas has said he paid $60,000 for the Bahia emerald in 2001, when it was unearthed from a mine in Brazil. He said a friend of his – a San Jose man who has managed various mining interests around the world – facilitated the purchase, but that friend later said the emerald was stolen as it was being shipped out of Brazil, according to authorities.
Thomas didn’t see the emerald again until he saw it on CNN in 2008, shortly after it was seized by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office as stolen property, Thomas’ attorney Jeffrey Baruh said in 2011.
The Bahia emerald has seen its share of stories. It was submerged under water, in an underground vault, for about a year in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina flooded vast portions of that city in 2005, according to various media reports over the years. Since it was retrieved from New Orleans by another party who claims ownership of the rock, the emerald has been to El Monte, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas and Los Angeles in a series of sales by parties whose claim to the gem’s ownership was dubious.
The Bahia emerald was finally recovered by authorities and locked up at the L.A. County Major Crimes Task Force in 2008 until its ownership can be determined, according to authorities.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge John Kronstadt made a ruling similar to Judge Johnson’s in 2011, finding Thomas’ claim not credible. But Kronstadt was promoted to a federal court before the ruling became final, and Johnson re-heard Thomas’ claim last year, according to authorities and media reports.
