Elder Scrolls
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Elder Scrolls

The Stones of Barenziah are a widely-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.

Quests

Bring the Unusual Gem to an appraiser

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 revealed that a total of 24 Stones of Barenziah exist, which activates the quest "No Stone Unturned." The stones are quest items of 0.5 weight and worth 200 Gold, 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

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 Visual
1 Eastmarch

AnsilvundAnsilvund Burial Chambers

Enter Ansilvund Excavation and complete the objective in the Ansilvund Burial Chambers, and it will be on the table in the back of the final room. Near the Ghostblade and Fjori's ghost.
01 Stone of Barenziah
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.
02 Stone of Barenziah
3 Eastmarch WindhelmHouse of Clan Shatter-Shield Upstairs and in the first bedroom on the left, on the bookshelf.
03 Stone of Barenziah
4 Eastmarch WindhelmPalace 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.
04 Stone of Barenziah
5 Falkreath

Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary

On the dresser in Astrid's room during the quest "With Friends Like These..." or "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!"
05 Stone of Barenziah
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.

06 Stone of Barenziah
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 are not facing the Word Wall from the opposite side of the table.
07 Stone of Barenziah
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.

08 Stone of Barenziah
9 Haafingar Reeking Cave

In the alcove with the dead conjurer near the road entrance.

09 Stone of Barenziah
10 Haafingar SolitudeBlue Palace On the bedside table in Jarl Elisif's quarters.
10 Stone of Barenziah
11 Haafingar SolitudeProudspire Manor

Sitting on a chest of drawers on the left-hand side of the upstairs master bedroom. (Must own Proudspire Manor to get this Stone. Requires becoming Thane of Haafingar and paying 25,000 Gold to own the home.)

11 Stone of Barenziah
12 Hjaalmarch Rannveig's Fast

On a table just to the right of the prison's exit gate. The prison is entered via a trapdoor in front of the chest at the Word Wall, or long way through tunnels.

18 Stone of Barenziah
13 The Reach Dead Crone Rock On a makeshift altar in front of the Word Wall at the top of the final tower.
12 Stone of Barenziah
14 The Reach MarkarthTreasury House Next to the bed in the master bedroom.
13 Stone of Barenziah
15 The Reach Understone Keep – Dwemer Museum Behind a locked gate on left of the museum on a table in the right hand corner.
14 Stone of Barenziah
16 The Rift Black-Briar Lodge On the left end table in the upstairs master bedroom.
15 Stone of Barenziah
17 The Rift Mistveil Keep – Jarl's Quarters In the Jarl's chambers, on the end table to the left of the bed in the master bedroom.
16 Stone of Barenziah
18 Whiterun Dragonsreach Jarl's Quarters In the Jarl's chambers, on the end table to the right of the bed.
17 Stone of Barenziah
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.
19 Stone of Barenziah
20 Whiterun Jorrvaskr Living Quarters In Kodlak Whitemane's bedroom.
20 Stone of Barenziah
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 is on the immediate left.
21 Stone of Barenziah
22 Winterhold College of WinterholdArch-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" when Tolfdir tells the Dragonborn to speak to the Arch-mage.
22 Stone of Barenziah
23 Winterhold Hob's Fall Cave Just after crossing the bridge, before an area with a few impaled corpses 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.
23 Stone of Barenziah
24 Winterhold Yngvild – Yngvild Throne Room Found on the desk in the last room, next to the final journal of Arondil.
24 Stone of Barenziah

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 Gold, but stealing one while on a Bedlam job for a hold in which it is located will satisfy the conditions of the Bedlam quest. i.e. It will count as being worth 500 Gold or more.

Bugs

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

  1. Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
Click to show
  •  PC   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 (Fix)   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.
  •  PC   Entering the Dwemer Museum after having completed Hard Answers will initiate that quest again.
    •  PC (Fix)   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.
  •  PC   Occasionally, Stones of Barenziah 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 cannot complete the objective.
  • If the Dragonborn chose the quest "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!," they may not be allowed to go back in after it has been completed.

See also

Appearances

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