Babylon
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- Feb 5, 2009
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Police consider fraud probe as £11million ruby 'Gem Of Tanzania' is found to be a crystal worth just £100
Last updated at 7:23 PM on 01st October 2009
It was said to be an enormous ruby worth up to £15m - and was claimed to be so valuable it was used to support the finances of a large building firm.
The mysterious 10,000 carat Gem of Tanzania was found listed in the books of the otherwise humdrum Shropshire company Wrekin Construction when accountants began analysing the failed business's worth.
It seemed too astonishing to be true - and today it emerged that it was. In fact, it is likely to be useful only as a colourful paperweight.
Worthless: The 15cm Gem of Tanzania was once used to buy a construction firm
For this fabled jewel is in fact worth as little as £100.
Instead of being a 4.5lb ruby, the Gem of Tanzania is believed to be a lump of anyolite, a type of brightly-coloured crystal fairly common in east Africa.
And this jewel once used to prop up a firm that employed 500 people, and said to be worth between £11m and £15m, is of so little value that leading London auction houses refused to put it on sale.
Instead, Ernst and Young accountants, administrators for failed Wrekin Construction, are to advertise the barely precious stone in Rock 'n' Gem magazine, a publication read largely by mineral collectors and lovers of 'New Age' crystals.
A flawless gemstone can be worth millions
Hatton Garden gem dealer Marcus McCallum said yesterday: 'The Gem of Tanzania may not be worth the cost of the advertisement.
'A two-kilogram lump of anyolite is probably worth about £100. A valuation of £11m would be utterly bonkers.'
Police, meanwhile, are considering beginning a fraud inquiry, as it has emerged that two valuation documents used to back up claims of the ruby's worth were unconvincing forgeries.
The existence of the gem first became public in May when Wrekin Construction - which built carparks and roundabouts - collapsed, and the firm's bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, called in accountants.
They found that the firm's owner David Unwin, from Uttoxeter, Derbyshire, had entered the Gem of Tanzania in the company accounts, claiming it was worth up to £15m.
He had exchanged the gem for 11m shares in the firm, describing it as a 'ruby gem stone known as the Gem of Tanzania'.
It then emerged that he had acquired the jewel in a 2006 land deal.
Before it passed into his hands, it had been sold in Tanzania for £13,000 in 2002.
By the time it reached Mr Unwin, however, it had with it the forged valuation documents suggesting it was a pure ruby worth a king's ransom.
Mr Unwin has insisted he has done nothing wrong, while his supporters say he is the biggest victim of all.
Anyolite is a variety of corundum, an extremely hard substance second only to diamonds, often used for abrasion on grinding wheels in flour and rice mills.
Brightly colour anyolite crystals can be used in low-price jewellery, but it is believed the Gem of Tanzania is too fragile to be cut into smaller pieces for polishing.
In a report produced for Ernst and Young by the Gem Testing Laboratory of Great Britain, expert Stephen Kennedy says simply that the gem is 'an interesting mineral specimen.'
The most expensive genuine ruby in history fetched £2.5m at auction
Last updated at 7:23 PM on 01st October 2009
It was said to be an enormous ruby worth up to £15m - and was claimed to be so valuable it was used to support the finances of a large building firm.
The mysterious 10,000 carat Gem of Tanzania was found listed in the books of the otherwise humdrum Shropshire company Wrekin Construction when accountants began analysing the failed business's worth.
It seemed too astonishing to be true - and today it emerged that it was. In fact, it is likely to be useful only as a colourful paperweight.
For this fabled jewel is in fact worth as little as £100.
Instead of being a 4.5lb ruby, the Gem of Tanzania is believed to be a lump of anyolite, a type of brightly-coloured crystal fairly common in east Africa.
And this jewel once used to prop up a firm that employed 500 people, and said to be worth between £11m and £15m, is of so little value that leading London auction houses refused to put it on sale.
Instead, Ernst and Young accountants, administrators for failed Wrekin Construction, are to advertise the barely precious stone in Rock 'n' Gem magazine, a publication read largely by mineral collectors and lovers of 'New Age' crystals.
Hatton Garden gem dealer Marcus McCallum said yesterday: 'The Gem of Tanzania may not be worth the cost of the advertisement.
'A two-kilogram lump of anyolite is probably worth about £100. A valuation of £11m would be utterly bonkers.'
Police, meanwhile, are considering beginning a fraud inquiry, as it has emerged that two valuation documents used to back up claims of the ruby's worth were unconvincing forgeries.
The existence of the gem first became public in May when Wrekin Construction - which built carparks and roundabouts - collapsed, and the firm's bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, called in accountants.
They found that the firm's owner David Unwin, from Uttoxeter, Derbyshire, had entered the Gem of Tanzania in the company accounts, claiming it was worth up to £15m.
He had exchanged the gem for 11m shares in the firm, describing it as a 'ruby gem stone known as the Gem of Tanzania'.
It then emerged that he had acquired the jewel in a 2006 land deal.
Before it passed into his hands, it had been sold in Tanzania for £13,000 in 2002.
By the time it reached Mr Unwin, however, it had with it the forged valuation documents suggesting it was a pure ruby worth a king's ransom.
Mr Unwin has insisted he has done nothing wrong, while his supporters say he is the biggest victim of all.
Anyolite is a variety of corundum, an extremely hard substance second only to diamonds, often used for abrasion on grinding wheels in flour and rice mills.
Brightly colour anyolite crystals can be used in low-price jewellery, but it is believed the Gem of Tanzania is too fragile to be cut into smaller pieces for polishing.
In a report produced for Ernst and Young by the Gem Testing Laboratory of Great Britain, expert Stephen Kennedy says simply that the gem is 'an interesting mineral specimen.'
The most expensive genuine ruby in history fetched £2.5m at auction
