World’s largest blue topaz unveiled 30 years after ‘British Indiana Jones’ escaped Nazis and piranha to get it
THE WORLD'S biggest chunk of cut blue topaz gemstone has been unveiled 30 years after it was discovered by a swashbuckling British adventurer likened to Indiana Jones.
Max Ostro escaped death at the hands of the Nazis, braved malaria, and avoided piranha fish in his quest to find beautiful gems.
The stunning 9,381 carat stone will soon be on show in the National History Museum, so experts are unable to give an idea of its value because of insurance reasons.
However specialists have said the 2kg gem, about the size of a rugby ball, is certainly "worth millions" and is "essentially priceless".
Ostro discovered the flawless blue stone in its natural form deep in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil in the mid 1980s.
The sparkling gem has been locked away in the Ostro family's vaults ever since.
When Max passed away six years ago, his entrepreneur and philanthropist son Maurice Ostro OBE decided to use the family business to help in his charitable work.
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He also wanted to promote the artistic potential of gemstones in honour of his father.
The dazzling stone is to go on permanent show at the Natural History Museum’s minerals gallery from October 19.
Maurice said: “My father led a truly extraordinary life and was a man of great grit and determination.
"We believe sharing his legacy for others to enjoy and be inspired by will be a fitting tribute to his indomitable spirit of adventure and hopefully will create fresh interest in how gemstones can be used in art.”
Complete with his fedora hat, Max Ostro has been compared to Hollywood hero Indiana Jones for his incredible adventures in search of precious gemstones.
Born in Poland, Max, his brothers and his parents were rounded up by the Nazis in 1943 to be sent to the death camp at Treblinka.
Aware of the fate that awaited them, Max’s parents told him and his brother Chanina Aharon to jump from the speeding train at night to avoid the Nazi sharpshooters.
His brother was killed but Max survived despite suffering a head injury and typhoid fever.
He cheated death again when he was later caught and spent 18 months in a slave labour camp before escaping just as he was about to be sent to Auschwitz.
A friend of the family helped him find refuge but after he was nearly captured in an SS raid, he was made to hide in a grave where he remained for weeks in the brutal winter of 1944.
He had just a small hole for air and some potatoes to live on.
When the war ended Max returned to the family home only to find it was occupied by another family.
With just a few possessions he went into business and eventually enjoyed tremendous financial success.
However more misfortune lay ahead.
He tried to escape Poland’s new communist control only to have all his newly created wealth confiscated when caught.
Believing Europe had no future for him, Max emigrated to South America and so began a highly successful career in business in which he travelled the world searching for gemstones.
Maurice said: “Exploring the central regions of Brazil and the Amazon rainforest was fraught with dangers.
"If you were mining near the Amazon river and accidentally breached the bank, water would flood in very quickly.
"The biggest danger was not the water but the piranhas that could strip a person bare in minutes.
"My father and anyone working in those mines had to be fleet of foot when that happened.
“There were no roads to where they were operating and they literally had to carve a path through the jungle, using logs to make make-shift bridges to cross ravines.
"In fact the area was so dangerous and remote – our mine manager got malaria five times – that we no longer operate there.
“My father carried on until he was in his eighties.
"He was quite unstoppable.
"Eventually we got him an office in London but even that did not stop him from wanting to travel or from trying to invest in sometimes risky ventures."
Max, whose company was named Ostro Minerals, died unexpectedly in 2010 aged 84.
His son Maurice is a successful entrepreneur in his own right and initially had no interest in running a gemstone business.
However having sold many of his companies he decided to step in and take Ostro Minerals in a new direction by linking up with his charitable interests.
These include supporting the arts, interfaith, and economic development projects.
One new project is working in Burma with its new Nobel prize winning leader Aung San Suu Kyi to help the disadvantaged have opportunities to achieve economic self-reliance.
Maurice Ostro fought off interest from other major museums around the world to ensure the Ostro topaz stone remains in Britain.
He said: “Although my father travelled the world, he had a great affinity for Britain and it is where I was born.
"The Ostro stone has been in our UK vaults for many years and it is only fitting it should go on display here.
“Collecting beautiful coloured gems was my father’s passion; my mission is to leverage his remarkable legacy in a way that would make him proud.
"We are delighted that the finest of his gemstones will now be part of the collection at the Natural History Museum who share our passion for exceptional stones.”
Mike Rumsey, Senior Curator of the Minerals Collection at the Natural History Museum said: "This stone is an excellent example of how as humans, we have crafted beautiful and desirable objects from the natural mineral specimens we find around us, like those that we preserve in the collections at Museum.
"It will be on display alongside some of our world leading collection of minerals and gems, which is studied by scientists here to find new sources of minerals, gemstones and metals."
Sir Michael Dixon, Director of the Natural History Museum says: “We are delighted to be able to display this exquisite blue topaz stone alongside some of nature’s finest mineral examples in this gallery. Our thanks go to Maurice Ostro for the opportunity to showcase this wonderful stone to millions of people.”
The blue topaz will officially welcomed to the museum at a private evening launch in its famous Hintze Hall on Thursday, October 6.