The million dollar door-stop emerald that AIN’T

Coincidentally was reading in one of my professional journals tonite and came across an article that referenced this very piece featured in the article directly below this post. And I quote “… these opaque emeralds may note even technically be emerald material since they are heavily treated, possibly dyed and epoxy filled. In our research, we found many of these large emeralds available for just pennies per carat. The 57,500 carat “emerald” I wrote about was appraised at $1.15 million but a little research found this same stone offered previously on eBay for $10,000 (17.4 cents per carat) and it did not sell. Our colleague purchased a similar quality emerald in Tucson for 10 cents per carat.” Evidently the seller was arrested for fraud and the emerald failed to sell. In my opinion, they need to arrest the appraiser, too — Jeff Nechka, of Premier Gems in Calgary. Where did he get his comps for the valuation? How did he come to a value? Guess and by gosh?