Atocha Star Emerald

The Atocha was the largest Spanish treasure galleon in a fleet of twenty-eight ships bound for Spain which sank along with seven others in a hurricane on September 6, 1622.

[2][5] Mel and Deo Fisher searched for the Atocha for 16 years and in 1985 found the mother lode worth more than $400 million US (approximately 1/2 of the treasure listed on the manifest).

[6][7] The "Atocha Star" emerald was graded as 1AA with an uncut weight of 25.87 carats.

[2][8] Generally, artifacts of this kind are not altered because of their historical significance; however, as a gift for Deo Fisher, in 1992 the emerald was cut down to 12.72 carats, making it one of the largest and the only named cut emerald from the Atocha.

[9][10][11] On May 30, 2016, the Golden Eagle on which the Atocha Star Emerald is mounted, was stolen from its owner Ron Shore, in Vancouver, British Columbia.