So I have an Unusual Gem to be appraised, but I'm stuck in the middle of the quest that allows you to join the Thieves' Guild (will be forever because I've already spoken to Brynjolf, but refuse to complete it) and Maul won't speak to me until I talk to Brynjolf. Any other appraisers? The Calixto guy in Windhelm maybe?

no. the unusual gem quest or stone of barenziah ties in with the theives guild anyway. You have to join them to complete the quest. Vex won't talk to you otherwise. And thats a big gun in your display picture

Vex is the only one that I know of

This is known as a "gotcha". I never pick up one of the gems any more since the first toon - when I figured out several things: if you take one, you have to:

1. Mess with the TG.
2. If you actually choose to mess with the TG, find 23 more of the stupid things.
3. Since there's no option to "off" the TG, you're stuck with sleeping with them.

Nope. Not going there.

4. Ignore the quest.

Not only do you have to find 24 gems total, you also have to find the crown they go in. After all that work, the reward is finding more (and I mean LOTS MORE) random gems in loot, but by the time you've managed to collect all the gems and the crown (the crown is in one hell of a dungeon, BTW--Tolvald's Cave is worth checking out even if you're not doing the quest), you can already fill a swimming pool with septims, so...

Oh, sure.... you can do that too. Instead of that though, I just never pick one up any more. Works for me. (Not to mention that they're totally useless for anything else, AND you can't get it OUT of your inventory, whether it weighs anything or not [it doesn't].)


QFT.

Sure you can-- player.removeitem 9dfbb x (where x is how many you have).

Step I: Find a "Unusual Gem", it truly is unusual.

Step II: Go to Riften, the cozy little non-violent/non-criminal town.

Step III: Join the Thieves Guild, they love you for long time, no?

Step IV: Speak to Vex, she is a very nice person, will be quite generous to you.

Step V: Find 23 more of these treasures, what a hunt all the world!

Step VI: Bring treasures back to were Vex says to go, after all she loves that you cared to go find them oh so much!

Step VII: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Prowler%27s_Profit Read at your own risk, no?

Um. Muggy, dunno what you did there, but it didn't work.

That's a good thing for others to know, Ver, but I don't ever pick them up any more - and I "retired" that toon.... so no problems!

And once you get them appraised, they stop stacking in your inventory, and are listed separately. SUPER ANNOYING scrolling through 23 unusual gems to gt to the bottom of the inventory list. And dont think you can collect them all and THEN get them appraised, if you have all 24, she wont appraise them, you have to use the console to force the quest on.

The crown does look cool when its complete though.

And you do get a ridiculous amount more treasure as a result. I have a room full of flawless gems now. Its my Gem Room.

OK, thanks y'all. ...yeah, I wish we could abandon quests in this game...just bugs me seeing them in my log whether they're detrimental or not. ...and, I too get irritated by worthless things in my inventory whether they weigh something or not. XD

Just another messup in the code. Caused quite a seasure in the rest.

I bet!