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‘Americus Australis’ opal sells for nearly $144K at Alaska auction

JUNEAU, Alaska — A brick-like gem billed as one of the largest opals ever found was sold for $143,750 during an auction in Alaska on Sunday.

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The “Americus Australis,” which weighs 11,855.28 carats, had a final gavel price of $125,000 at the Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals sale. It rose to its final amount after a buyer’s premium was applied, according to the auction house website.

The gem was kept in a linen closet in a home in Big Lake, north of Anchorage, by Fred von Brandt, according to The Associated Press. The gem is broken into two pieces, von Brandt said, calling it a practice used decades ago to prove the quality of the gem.

According to the gem’s listing on the Alaska Premier Auctions website, the opal was found in August 1956 in the Eight Mile opal field of Coober Pedy in Australia. It was bought by Rudi Cherny & John Altmann, along with the world’s largest known gem-quality opal, the 17,000-carat Olympic Australis.

The von Brandt family bought the gem in 1957, and it was displayed by Guy “Noah” von Brandt, Fred von Brandt’s father, at more than 400 gem and minerals shows until 1981. The gem was then returned to the family vault, where it has remained for more than 40 years.

Fred von Brandt told the AP that his father decided it had been “locked up long enough, that it’s time to put it back out in the world and see what interest it can generate.”