Stones of Barenziah

The Stones of Barenziah are an initially-scattered collection of twenty-four gemstones found across Skyrim. Prior to appraisal, each Stone of Barenziah is labeled as an "Unusual Gem". Once the first stone is found, there will be a miscellaneous objective that activates and indicates that the next step is appraisal. The city of Riften has two people capable of handling this task: Maul, an associate of Maven Black-Briar, and Vex, a member of the Thieves Guild.

After the appraisal, it is learned that a total of twenty-four Stones of Barenziah exist, which activates the quest "No Stone Unturned". The stones are quest items of 0.5 weight and worth 200 , and they cannot be removed from the inventory until the entire set is obtained. Many of these stones can be found while completing small jobs for Vex and Delvin of the Thieves Guild.

No Stone Unturned

TESV Crown of Barenziah Complete — The Crown of Barenziah

Main article: No Stone Unturned (Skyrim)

After handing in all twenty-four Stones of Barenziah, the Dragonborn is asked to recover the Crown of Barenziah from Tolvald's Cave.

Vex reveals that the Crown of Barenziah is an item that enhances a thief's ability. With the stones and crown in her possession, Vex says she can restore the paragon to its full strength.

Reward

Upon completion of the quest "No Stone Unturned" (by turning in all twenty-four stones and recovering the crown), Vex rewards the Dragonborn with the active effect and ability, Prowler's Profit which greatly increases the chance of finding multiple precious gems in chests, burial urns, corpses etc. Furthermore, the fully-restored Crown of Barenziah sits on a special stand in the cistern portion of the Thieves Guild.

Locations

#	Hold	Location	Description
1	Eastmarch	Ansilvund - Ansilvund Burial Chambers	Enter Ansilvund Excavation and complete objective in the cave and it will be on the table in the back of the final room. Near the Ghostblade and Fjori's ghost.
2	Eastmarch	Stony Creek Cave	Going off the main corridor, follow a path on the right (Before entering the large pool of water with one Bandit), inside the bandit wizard's cavern, on a table.
3	Eastmarch	Windhelm - House of Clan Shatter-Shield	Upstairs and in the first bedroom on the left, on the bookshelf.
4	Eastmarch	Windhelm - Palace of the Kings	When entering the palace take the first door to the left (upstairs) and follow the hall to the end, it sits on a table in Wuunferth the Unliving's quarters at the end of the hall.
5	Falkreath	Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary	On the dresser in Astrid's room during the quest "With Friends Like These..." or "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!"
6	Falkreath	Pinewatch - Bandit's Sanctuary	In a room containing a single bandit and several empty Draugr sarcophagi, there is another small room (to the right, behind a locked door). The stone is found on a shelf immediately on your right.
7	Falkreath	Sunderstone Gorge	On the altar in front of the Word Wall. Note that, because of its placement on the altar, the Stone can be difficult to spot if you aren't facing the Word Wall from the opposite side of the table.
8	Haafingar	Dainty Sload	Take the stairs to the bottom level, take the stairs up (opposite the ones you have just come down.) at the end of the room you will find the stone on the table.
9	Haafingar	Reeking Cave	In the alcove with the dead conjurer near the road entrance.
10	Haafingar	Solitude - Blue Palace	On the bedside table in Jarl Elisif's quarters.
11	Haafingar	Solitude - Proudspire Manor	Sitting on a chest of drawers on the lefthand side of the upstairs master bedroom. (Must own Proudspire Manor to get this Stone. Become Thane and pay 25,000 to own the home, or pickpocket the key from the steward.)
12	Hjaalmarch	Rannveig's Fast	On a table just to the right of the cage's exit gate, to the right of the Alchemy Lab. The prison is entered via a trapdoor in front of the chest at the Word Wall, or long way through tunnels.
13	The Reach	Dead Crone Rock	On a makeshift altar in front of the Word Wall at the top of the final tower.
14	The Reach	Markarth - Treasury House	Next to the bed in the master bedroom.
15	The Reach	Understone Keep - Dwemer Museum	Behind a locked gate on left of the museum on a table in the right hand corner.
16	The Rift	Black-Briar Lodge	On the left end table in the upstairs master bedroom.
17	The Rift	Mistveil Keep - Jarl's Chambers	In the Jarl's chambers, on the end table to the left of the bed in the master bedroom.
18	Whiterun	Dragonsreach Jarl's Quarters	In the Jarl's chambers, on the end table to the right of the bed.
19	Whiterun	Fellglow Keep	On a counter in the workshop at the top of the front foyer - between the arcane enchanter and the alchemy lab.
20	Whiterun	Jorrvaskr Living Quarters	In Kodlak Whitemane's bedroom.
21	Whiterun	Whiterun Hall of the Dead - Whiterun Catacombs	Found in a crypt. From the entrance make the first left, then right, down the ramp. From here it's on the immediate left.
22	Winterhold	College of Winterhold - Arch-Mage's Quarters	On a shelf in the Arch-Mage's Quarters. To the left of the bed, under a wolf's head mounted on the wall. Becomes accessible during Under Saarthal.
23	Winterhold	Hob's Fall Cave	Just after crossing the bridge, before an area with a sacrificial table and an Arcane Enchanter, take the path to the left and down into an area with an alchemy bench. The stone is on a shelf.
24	Winterhold	Yngvild - Yngvild Throne Room	Found on the desk in the last room, next to the final journal of Arondil.

Trivia

In recent patches the stones were made static: they can no longer be knocked off somewhere inaccessible when using explosive magic or walking over them. They cannot even be moved while pressing the interaction button.
- It is also possible to get the gem via the console command tcl.
There is a way to get multiple gems from only one. Tap the interact button as fast as possible while targeting the stone. If done correctly, multiple stones may be picked up instead of one. Slow Time is a sure way to make use of the exploit. Any stones left over after finishing the quest will still be in their original locations. If picked up and dropped, they will hover in mid air, immobile. They may be picked up again, and can be stored or sold.
Until the stones are appraised by Vex, they stack. After the quest begins, each new stone will take a new inventory line.
The Stones have a marked value of 200 but stealing one while on a Bedlam job for a hold it is located in will complete the quest.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to Stones of Barenziah. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:

Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template 360 / XB1 , PS3 / PS4 , PC / MAC , NX / PS5 , XS , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on.
Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.

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If the Stone of Barenziah in Reeking Cave cannot be found beside the dead mage after applying Patch 1.4, a glitch will need to be utilized to reenter the Thalmor Embassy and pick it up from its original location. This bug has been found in all versions of the game. PC Using the console command to unlock the front door to the Embassy will work to get back in. The gem may not appear on the counter where it is supposed to sit in Fellglow Keep. The stone in Wuunferth the Unliving's quarters may not be there after the quest Blood on the Ice. PC 360 PS3 Periodically, some stones may respawn at their initial place, such as the one in Jarl Elisif the Fair's quarters. PC If these stones are collected, they will not longer count as quest items and can be dropped or sold. 360 In Calixto's House of Curiosities, it may be possible to obtain a stone at Calixto's museum on one of the shelves if every other location has been exhausted without obtaining all twenty-four. Entering the Dwemer Museum after having completed Hard Answers will initiate that quest again. PC To move the stone to the Dragonborn's location without entering the museum, use the console command prid 7F909 followed by moveto player. Alternatively, complete the Hard Answers quest again to get another Nightingale Blade. Subsequent Thieves Guild quests will not start again. Darkness Returns cannot be finished if Hard Answers is completed twice before it has. PC 360 PS3 Maul's dialogue may not show up, but the quest can still be started with Vex. 360 PS3 If all the gemstones are collected prior to their appraisal, the entire collection may be stuck in the inventory while a bug bars the quest from being completed. Occasionally, Stones of Barenziah (and other miscellaneous items) may not stack properly. This results in multiple stacks being formed of the same item. Sometimes when a Stone of Barenziah is taken, it is counted as stealing even though it is labeled take. If Vex is spoken to before Maul, then Maul is talked to after the quest has started, a miscellaneous objective to become a full member of the thieves guild appears. Because the Dragonborn had to be a full member to get it appraised they can't complete the objective. If the player chose the "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!" quest it may not let the player go back in after it has been completed.

Appearances

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim