The Legendary Dom Pedro Aquamarine

The Dom Pedro Aquamarine at the Smithsonian. Photo by Greyloch, CC2.0.   This is the legendary Dom Pedro Aquamarine, an astonishing sculpted crystal which weighs 10,363 carats (some reports say 10,395). Sculpted by the equally legendary Bernd Munsteiner, the Dom Pedro remains the world's largest cut aquamarine. Visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of History have the opportunity to view the legend in person.  

History of the Dom Pedro Aquamarine

The legend begins deep in the earth, beneath the region known as Minas Gerais in Brazil. Over time, the tectonic forces of Mother Earth conspired to bring a giant aquamarine crystal into the light of day. This crystal, weighing almost 100 pounds and measuring nearly 3 feet in length, was discovered by prospectors in the 1980s. Alas, as the miners carried the stone to the surface, they inadvertently dropped it. The stone broke into three pieces, two of which were sold to jewelers. The final largest piece of sea-blue crystal, named Dom Pedro after the first and last emperors of Brazil, found its way to Idar-Oberstein, Germany. There, it stood in the workshop of gem sculptor Bernd Munsteiner, creator of the sculptural Fantasy Cut. During the 1990s, Bernd Munsteiner conceived of a new way to harness light in gemstones. By carving negative facets into the back side of a crystal, Munsteiner unleashed an astonishing array of light effects never before seen.  

Cutting the Dom Pedro

For four months in 1992, Munsteiner studied the aquamarine crystal, making hundreds of sketches. Eventually, he sketched a design he called Ondas Maritimas (“Waves of the Sea”). He drew out every cut before cutting the stone with his diamond-coated cutting wheel. For six months he carved away at the crystal, until the final obelisk emerged. In its final form, the sculpted crystal measures 14 inches tall and 4 inches wide. In 1999, Americans Jeffrey Bland and Jane Mitchell added the Dom Pedro aquamarine to their collection. For the next 10 years, Bland and Mitchell kept the crystal out of the public eye. In 2011, in order to protect it from those who might cut it down for jewelry, the collectors donated it to the National Museum of History.  

At the Smithsonian

Housed in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, the Dom Pedro aquamarine stands a mere 30 feet from the legendary Hope Diamond. A host of halogen bulbs set to radiate the exact spectrum of the sunshine upon the obelisk from above. As the light penetrates the crystal, the negative facets throw it back and forth throughout every precise groove Munsteiner cut into the stone. As one writer commented, "the object itself almost disappears, like a green bottle dropping into the sea, leaving behind...light." (source)