Stones of Barenziah

Stones of Barenziah are a widely scattered collection of twenty-four gemstones in that are found across Skyrim. Prior to appraisal, each Stone of Barenziah is labeled as an "Unusual Gem." Once any one of the stones are 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 , 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. Since the stones are quest items, they do not take up weight in the inventory.
===No Stone Unturned===
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 passive 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 	Ansilvund – Ansilvund 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. 	
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). It is inside the bandit wizard's cavern, on a table near an alchemy lab. 	
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 are not 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 – Thalmor Embassy 	In the alcove with the dead conjurer near the road entrance. During the quest "Diplomatic Immunity," the stone can be found inside one of the bedrooms of the second building on the embassy property. If it is not collected there, it will be available in the cave again after leaving the embassy.	
10	Haafingar 	Solitude – Blue Palace 	On the bedside table in Jarl Elisif's quarters. Her room is at the end of the hallway forward and to the right-hand side, facing away from the throne. 	
11	Haafingar 	Solitude – Proudspire 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 paying 25,000 after completing "The Man Who Cried Wolf" and "Elisif's Tribute" to own.) 	
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. 	
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. It is 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 is 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" when Tolfdir tells the Dragonborn to speak to the Arch-mage. 	
23	Winterhold	Hob's Fall Cave 	After crossing the bridge, just 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. 	
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.
*Until the stones are appraised by Vex or Maul, 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 "The 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 or more.
*The Stones and the Crown of Barenziah are a reference to Barenziah, former lover of Tiber Septim and queen of Mournhold.
==Bugs==
Click to show
* 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.
** 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."
* Periodically, some stones may respawn at their initial place, such as the one in Jarl Elisif the Fair's quarters.
** If these stones are collected, they will not longer count as quest items and can be dropped or sold.
* 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.
** 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.
* Maul's dialogue may not show up, but the quest can still be started with Vex.
* 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 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".
*Occasionally, if the Dragonborn is seen taking a Stone of Barenziah, this will be considered as theft, and a bounty will be gained.
*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 to destroy the Dark Brotherhood, they may not be allowed to go back into the sanctuary after it has been completed.
* In certain places, such as the Jarl's bedrooms, the player will see a message that they are stealing a stone, since it is situated within somebody else's house. However, when the stone is picked up, it does not accrue a bounty.
*Sometimes it is possible 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. This can cause the quest to be finished with only 8 gems.
==See also==
*Crown of Barenziah
*No Stone Unturned (Skyrim)
==Appearances==
*
da:Sten af Barenziah
de:Steine von Barenziah
es:Piedra de Barenziah
fr:Pierres de Barenziah
it:Pietre di Barenziah
pl:Kamienie Barenziah
ru:Камень Барензии