A Blessed Misfortune

A BLESSED MISFORTUNE

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                                                    By S. Pastrana

 In the dim light of dawn, the disturbing sound of her mobile phone on the bedside table woke Sophie up. A cacophony of unexpected notifications began to arrive. The phone buzzed incessantly, and each vibration was a harbinger of what would be one complication after another.

First, a message from a fellow student, assistant to Sophie’s Professor of Ancient Art History, notified that the deadline to submit an important project for her Master Degree of Fine Arts, would be much sooner than she was expecting, a task that would require Sophie’s immediate attention. Then, a text message from her mechanic announced that the repair of Sophie’s old, beat-up English Ford Fiesta, would not be finished that morning as he had promised five days earlier. Another urgent email from the maintenance director of the museum where Sophie worked part-time, demanded that she report to work as soon as possible that morning, whether or not it was her day off. Several members of the morning maintenance team were out sick, which inevitably required Sophie's presence immediately at the museum. Not having the car available was indeed a nuisance, but Sophie could walk to her prestigious place of work, as the museum was just a short distance away from her place of residence. However, as if by a cruel twist of fate, the London skies had been overturned that morning by inclement and copious downpours accompanied by a strong, cold blizzard that penetrated to the bone. To further complicate the situation, Sophie had forgotten her umbrella in the classroom the night before. 

The prestigious Historical Artifacts Museum stood in the heart of London, home to countless treasures from around the world. Among them was the museum's crown jewel, known as “the gemstone of the two names”: “the Heart of the Jungle” and the “Emerald of Royalty”, a gemstone so rare that it was said to be priceless.

According to most acceptable tales regarding this gemstone, one day in the early 16th century, while exploring alone the dense jungles of Colombia’s department of Cundinamarca, a young explorer named Esteban Madero stumbled upon what would become one of the most astonishing discoveries of his time. As Esteban traversed a small remote valley surrounded by dense vegetation, he found a rocky clearing that caught his attention, his eyes riveted on an unusual glow that came from among the rocks. Driven by curiosity and the allure of adventure, the young man carefully excavated the area, soon uncovering a colossal dark green emerald the size of a large ostrich egg. The facets of this marvelous gemstone shone with a brilliance that reflected on the lush foliage that surrounded it, and its size was unlike any gemstone Esteban, or his contemporaries, had ever seen.

News of the discovery spread like wildfire around the world, attracting the attention of nobles, merchants, and even monarchies in several European countries. Esteban's life changed forever and became known, not only as an explorer, but as the man who discovered the "Heart of the Jungle", a gem that symbolized both the beauty and the mystery of the New World. That is how the first name of the gemstone came about.

The emerald soon became the most desire centerpiece by many of the most important royal houses of the time; the envy of wealthy collectors and the subject of countless legends, weaving Esteban's name into the tapestry of history as the discoverer of one of the world's rarest treasures. The journey of the coveted gemstone through history is a story of intrigue and enchantment, far more fascinating than that of the most famous gemstones ever known.

During colonial times, Colombian emeralds were exported to Spain and other parts of Europe, and the emerald trade was controlled and tightly regulated by the Spanish. For that reason, another version of this famous emerald’s story claims that it was once part of the treasury of the Spanish Monarchy, and albeit there is no evidence to that effect, that it had been, inexplicably, stolen from the Crown’s coffers. Hence, the gemstone’s other name: “the Emerald of Royalty.” The legend adds that the curious thing about the alleged case was that the Spanish Monarchy never officially reported or investigated the aforementioned theft.

If mystery surrounded the disappearance of the valuable jewel from the treasure of the Spanish Monarchy, more mysterious was the way in which the museum obtained it. About fifty years ago, the museum received a package in the mail without the sender's name or address. At first, no one gave importance to that detail and the package remained unopened for a while along with the rest of the correspondence. The next day, when the secretary of the museum administrator took care of the pending correspondence, after unwrapping the package, found a hermetically sealed wooden box with a handwritten note taped to one of its sides with the following message:

“The contents of this box are so valuable and dazzling that no person deserves the satisfaction of possessing it, depriving others of the pleasure of admiring it. Its two names are known to all, and it will not be difficult for the museum to corroborate its origin. From now on, your institution will have the privilege, but also the responsibility of its eternal custody."

After opening the box, museum staff were perplexed to see such a majestic emerald. Considering its size and color, the gemstone experts who were immediately contacted to inquire about its value and provenance, had no doubt that it was the famous emerald of the two names, as no other emerald with the characteristics of that one had ever been discovered. The museum's Board of Directors then took all available measures to determine whether there was an official claim by any government, institution or individual about the ownership of the beautiful jewel. Surprisingly, it did not exist. A required legal process was immediately completed to declare the Museum of Historical Artifacts of London as the official custodian in perpetuity of the Heart of the Jungle or the Emerald of Royalty. From the first day of its exhibition, the emerald of the two names became the pride and the most valuable "artifact" of the respectable museum.

In the middle of the morning of that day, so unusual for Sophie, the young woman finally managed to get to the museum, although a little late and very soaked. After putting on the uniform that identified her as an official employee of the institution, a sleepy and distracted Sophie was assigned the task of cleaning the windows of the main room, where the most recognized and valuable pieces were exhibited, including the famous emerald. Armed with her cleaning supplies, she approached her task with the utmost care, mindful of the precious objects around her.

As fate would have it, a sleeve of Sophie's blouse caught on the edge of the pedestal that contained the “precious stone of the two names.” In a heart-stopping moment, the pedestal wobbled, and before anyone could react, the emerald plummeted to the ground, shattering into a million sparkling pieces. The silence that followed was deafening. Sophie's face turned as white as a ghost, and the expression of the museum’s curator, who was passing by at that very moment, was one of pure disbelief. The most valuable artifact, the pride of the museum, was now a pile of bits and glistening dust. Sophie faced a whirlwind of emotions and a barrage of questions from museum staff, many of whom questioned her appalling carelessness.

Incredulous and very angry about what had happened, Sophie's boss reprimanded her for the apparent carelessness. Nervous and taking short steps around the tearful and heartbroken young woman, the maintenance manager assured Sophie that charges would be filed for gross negligence in the performance of her job responsibilities. He then ordered Sophie to prepare a written report of the incident for the board of directors and to leave the museum until she was called to discuss the fateful event with board members. Sophie was sure that her carelessness would cost her job and, given the importance and wide coverage that would be given to the sad incident, her chances of finding a new job throughout England related to her future field of expertise would be very limited, once she gets her Master Degree of Fine Arts within a month.

Immediately, the incident shocked the entire city of London, and major media outlets around the world covered the incredible news as a breaking event. However, in the midst of the chaos, an unexpected turn of events began to unfold. Experts who came to assess the damage, discovered that the so-called “Heart of the Jungle” and “The Emerald of Royalty” was, in fact, an elaborate forgery. The questions that immediately arose were logical: could such a forgery be a hidden secret that lasted for centuries, and the museum was deceived from the first day it received the jewel due to an oversight by the experts who originally evaluated it? Would the museum receive the real jewel, and someone, inexplicably, managed to exchange it for the fake one without anyone noticing? To this day, those questions remain unanswered.  

The fact was that Sophie's mishap revealed the truth and gave rise to a scandal that shook the art and jewelry world. And, although she feared for her job, the members of the museum's board of directors unanimously decided to keep her, grateful for the inadvertent discovery that changed, in some way, their understanding of history. Not only was Sophie retained by the museum, but she also received an unexpected promotion. She became a member of the research team tasked with investigating the origins of other valuable artifacts on display in the museum to ensure their authenticity and avoid calling into question the reputation of the institution. Her mishap turned into a blessing in disguise. She went on to have a successful career at the museum and was well known for her keen eye for detail and for such an incredible story, which inspired a more transparent approach to historic preservation.

From that fateful day, Sophie was known as the intern who broke the fake emerald, the famous gemstone of the two names, a story that would be told for generations to come.

Story by S. Pastrana