it was a rock

Interesting, but I don't think Thrain was senile (I assume your post was in jest, shorty, but I'm going to say something on Nimphelos anyway). [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] For a start the Dwarves wouldn't have lost the Nimphelos if they were in secure possession of it, and at any rate would certainly not get it confused with an entirely other stone. A different stone.

Yes, my post was a joke. Can't really imagine a senile dwarf. Also, please refrain from calling me shorty. I dont mind TGWBS though.
There is now no chance the Nimphelos was the Arkenstone. I have no evidence other than that already stated, but do not believe it was a Silmaril.

The Nimphelos and the Arkenstone could definitely not be the same because one was a pearl and the other was a diamond. Even for a senile Dwarf, there is absolutely no chance of confusing a pearl with a diamond. It's just impossible. Even an uncut diamond looks nothing like a pearl, and wouldn't the other Dwarves have thought it strange that a huge pearl turned up in the middle of a mountain? Some of them, knowing old legends, would have probably recognized it, and written it down. I think that when it was hidden, it was lost. There is nothing more to say.