gems, pyroxene, spodumene, green, Afghanistan

Spodumene (LiAlSi₂O₆), a lithium-rich clinopyroxene, derives its name from the Greek spodumenos (“burnt to ash”) in reference to the gray, non-gem material historically mined as a lithium ore. Gem-quality spodumene occurs in various colors: pink to lilac (kunzite), pale greenish yellow (triphane), pale violet-blue, pale green, and colorless. A distinctive chromium-bearing, emerald-green variety known as hiddenite is most famously sourced from Hiddenite, North Carolina. In late 2006, gem dealers Dudley Blauwet and Herb Obodda reported a new occurrence of distinctly green spodumene in Afghanistan. Blauwet first encountered the material in June 2006 during a buying trip to Peshawar, Pakistan, where its identity was then unknown to local traders. The material typically appeared as small cleavage fragments, unlike the large, well-formed spodumene crystals traditionally sought from Afghanistan. In June 2007, Farooq Hashmi observed a 30 kg parcel of mixed-quality green spodumene and a separate 2 kg lot of higher-quality material in Peshawar, mostly pale in color but with some “emerald” green pieces that appeared pink under a Chelsea filter. The main supplier reported that the stones came from Waigal, a locality a few hours’ walk from the village of Wadigram in Nuristan, where a single pegmatite—surrounded by others mined for blue tourmaline and kunzite—had produced the find.

gems, corundum, inclusions.5, beryl, emerald, synthetic beryl, emerald, pezzottaite, spinel

Nail-head spicules are inclusions that have traditionally been associated with hydrothermal synthetic quartz and emerald. They are caused primarily by rapid growth conditions and disturbances during crystallization of their host. However, these or similar-looking inclusions have also been found in natural gems. The authors examined a natural emerald and blue sapphire showing true nail-head spicules, and a yellow sapphire, spinel, diamond, and rock crystal quartz with inclusions that strongly resembled them. Nail-head spicules remain a notable feature of rapid and disturbed growth, but they do not confirm a stone’s natural or synthetic origin without further examination.

gems, FTIR, spectroscopy, talc, geology, Cameroon, Africa

Two talc schist occurrences were discovered in the Boumnyebel area, embedded in the Pan-African mica schist, at the junction between Archean, Eburnean and Neoproterozoic formations in Cameroon. They have been analysed by different techniques such as chemical analyses, XRD, DRIFTS, DTA and TG. The talc schist of the northern deposit contains talc (up to 95 wt%) with chlorite, goethite and lepidocrocite as minor minerals. The talc schist of the southern deposit has up to 88% of talc and is speckled with dark green phenoblasts of amphiboles (coexisting prismatic tremolite and magnesio-riebeckite). Due to its high talc content, the amphibole-free talc schist is economically attractive. Chemical analyses show that most of the rocks consist of SiO2, MgO and Fe2O3, except the sample from the southern deposit that displays some amounts of Al2O3 and CaO. Among trace elements, Ni, Co and Cr are as high as in serpentinized peridotites, and suggest a protolith of ultrabasic nature. Chromium concentration in tremolite reaches 6178 ppm; most of the trace elements (Cd, Cr, Dy, Er, Eu, Ga, Gd, Ho, Lu, Nd, Pr, Sm, Sn, Sr, Tb, Tm, Y, Yb, Zr) are compatible with a tremolite lattice. The regional metamorphism yielded garnet micaschist nappes and thus belongs to the upper greenschist facies.

gems, beryl, emerald, Kazakhstan, Delbegetey, inclusions, gemology, provenance, origin determination, fluid inclusions, oxygen isotopes

The aim of this study is to provide the first detailed mineralogical and fluid-inclusion description of emeralds from the Delbegetey deposit (Kazakhstan). The characteristic features of Delbegetey emeralds are established: they show dissolution figures on crystal faces, a bluish colour with distinct colour zoning; their refractive indices are ω = 1.566–1.570 and ε = 1.558–1.562, while the specific gravity is 2.65 ± 0.005—relatively low for natural emeralds; they contain only trace amounts of common impurities (Fe, Mg, Na, etc.) and are coloured by Cr and V. Fluid inclusions of all types are strongly vapour-rich, and primary inclusions homogenize to liquid at 395–420 °C. The lattice oxygen-isotope composition (δ¹⁸O SMOW = 11.3 ‰) places the deposit within the range typical of other granite-related emerald occurrences. Emerald crystallization occurred in a low-density (0.40–0.55 g cm⁻³) aqueous fluid composed of (mol %) 75.6–97.4 H₂O, 0.0–18.4 CO₂, 0.0–0.9 CH₄, with a salinity of 4.06–9.65 wt % NaCl equiv. Isochore calculations indicate formation pressures of 570–1240 bar.

gems, beryl, emerald, Colombia, Muzo, Chivor, Cosquez, Zambia, Afghanistan, Panjshir

From Gems & Gemology, Spring 2008: The Emerald Book was created to provide insight into the world of emeralds and the emerald industry, and to highlight Jaipur as a trading center. As a promotional book published in conjunction with the 2006 Jaipur Jewellery Show, it has a polished, professional look: The layout is attractive, and it is lavishly illustrated and printed on high-quality glossy paper. However, the text is organized in a way that makes it difficult, at first glance, to grasp the general content. There is no table of contents, and the book starts immediately with the chapter “Romance and Rhapsody,” describing the earliest sources of emerald and showing historic pieces of emerald jewelry. It reviews the discovery of Colombian emeralds and their effect on the world market, especially on Indian royalty. Also shown are examples of emerald carvings throughout history, and important emeralds and impressive pieces of jewelry (some with Indian designs), many of which are now owned by royal European families or held in museums throughout the world. Two brief sections cover beliefs in the magical power of emerald, especially within ancient Indian philosophies. The next section describes thehistory and evolution of the emerald trade in Jaipur. It gives the reader a good understanding of how Jaipur built its position as an emerald center, and how its sources of supply changed over the years, with Zambia now the only important one. A very concise overview of the most important commercial emerald mines reveals some interesting facts about the current mining situation. However, a section about “The Great Jewellers” seems a bit out of place. Although much attention is paid to their general impact on the jewelry trade, only one example is given of how a jeweler was inspired to use emeralds in a piece of jewelry. In my opinion, more in-depth information about this jeweler’s thought process would have made this section more interesting and appropriate. There is little geology or gemology in this book. As a result, a discussion about the term red emerald seems sudden and out of place, since the reader must have a thorough understanding of beryl gemology to be able to follow it. For all those who love emeralds and jewelry, though, this book gives an interesting and honest insider’s look into the emerald trade. The authors express great pride in the profession and in Jaipur’s status within the industry, but they also mention smuggling, robberies, violence at emerald sources, and concerns about the many museum pieces that are meant to be shown to the public, but all too often remain locked away in vaults. HANCO ZWAAN, Netherlands Gemmological Laboratory National Museum of Natural History Naturalis Leiden, The Netherlands

gems, beryl, emerald, antique emerald necklace, Roman, Egyptian, Egypt

The present study refers to the characterization of an emerald and gold necklace, dating from the first century AD, found in Oplontis (Torre Annunziata, Naples, Italy), using non-destructive methodologies such as EPMA and microFTIR. Reference samples, from mines known to be active in the Roman Imperial period, were collected and analyzed using the same techniques. Experimental data were also statistically treated in order to classify the emeralds' mines. The comparison of archaeological and reference data allowed to hypothesize, with high probability, an Egyptian origin for the Oplontis emeralds – even if the Habachtal mine cannot be definitively excluded.

beryl, emerald, alexandrite, phlogopite, beryl, chrysoberyl, phenakite, plagioclase, margarite, tremolite, gems, Urals, Russia

gems, bery, beryl, emerald, Afghanistan, Panjshir

As part of U.S. Geological Survey assistance in the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Geological Survey is working with the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Industries and the Afghan Geological Survey in conducting a mineral resource assessment of Afghanistan. In the early stage of this assessment, we are evaluating Afghanistan’s gemstone deposits. Afghanistan is rich in gemstone deposits including emeralds, rubies, lapis lazuli, and pegmatite-hosted semiprecious gems. This report presents a preliminary assessment of the geologic setting and origin of emerald deposits in the Panjsher Valley in the Hindu Kush Mountains of northeastern Afghanistan. Existing geologic maps and reports published by Soviet and Afghan geologists in the mid-1970s have been translated and are discussed. These maps and reports are used in conjunction with our new field and petrographic data to allow us to critically evaluate the Soviet geologic and tectonic interpretations for the northeastern part of the country. We also discuss the character of the emerald deposits and present a working hypothesis on the origin of the emeralds.

gems, ancient jewelry, Pontic, Black Sea, necklace, garnet, beryl, emerald, glass, gold

I. Introduction. North Pontic polychrome necklaces of the 1st century AD. Analysis of the structure and decorative motifs of necklaces with pendants in the shape of butterflies makes it possible to single out their characteristic features: (1) the main part of the necklace consisted of a chain intricately plaited like a braid, known as a ‘fox-tail’; (2) the central part of the necklace consisted of cabochon inlays, usually in oval settings or cells. Apart from one such necklace, which originated from the island of Ithaka, all necklaces with butterfly-pendants for which the find-spots are known come from the North Pontic region, mainly from Olbia and its environs, but also from Chersonesos and the Ust’-Alma necropolis in the western Crimea (I shall be discussing at this point in time 15 such finds and have also prepared a comprehensive study of these objects complete with a catalogue, so here I shall be confining myself to the conclusions drawn on the basis of this research). There is also a variant from the north-western part of the Pontic region (Porogi) of jewellery reflecting strong barbarian influence, made up from flat and ribbed spacer-beads, pendants in the form of small circles, and a central pendant in the form of a highly stylized butterfly, the head of which consists of a round cell, while the wings and abdomen are represented by drop-shaped cells. The pendant of the necklace from the Burachkov collection found at Kerch is a still more stylized depiction of a butterfly—the cells have been arranged on a rhomboid plate: a round one and others which are drop-shaped and heart-shaped representing the head, wings, and body of the butterfly. Finally, there is a necklace from a Sarmatian burial near the village of Petriki with a crescent-shaped pendant, which—considering its specific structural features—had originally also been a pendant in the form of a butterfly, not a crescent-shaped pendant, but from the start a butterfly-shaped pendant, and the necklace with the crescent-shaped pendant had probably originally had a pendant in the shape of a butterfly.

gems, ruby, sapphire, emerald, Pakistan, locality, species, lapis lazuli, peridot

For millennia, minerals and gemstones have been gathered and traded from the countries surrounding present-day Pakistan. While the Karakoram Mountains hosted portions of the Silk Road and other routes over which gems and minerals were traded, Pakistan's magnificent gem deposits were for the most part left undiscovered until the 20th century. Since then, a few daring miners, collectors and dealers have challenged the extreme climate, daunting terrain and rocky political landscape to bring the world some of its finest mineral treasures. No. 6 in the popular extraLapis English mineralogical monograph series, Pakistan - Minerals, Mountains & Majesty is packed with unmatched locality information, detailed maps, stories behind the finds and of course unforgettable photographs.