gems, beryl, emerald, Egypt

A popular survey of the earth’s mineral and metallic resources, including a substantial chapter on emerald and beryl. The emerald section opens with ancient traditions concerning the gem, including Marbodus, Pliny, and the legendary griffins and Arimaspians, before discussing evidence that true emerald was known in antiquity. Particular attention is given to the Egyptian emerald mines between the Nile and Red Sea and Cailliaud’s exploration of the ancient workings at Mount Zaharah, including his descent into the mines and discovery of emerald crystals in mica-bearing rocks. The authors then discuss the physical properties, varieties, value, cutting, and notable specimens of emerald, together with ancient accounts of its supposed beneficial effect on eyesight and Nero’s reputed use of an emerald to view gladiatorial contests. Colombian (“Peruvian”) emeralds from near Santa Fé de Bogotá are described as the most highly regarded contemporary material, with additional occurrences noted in the Urals, Salzburg, and Ceylon. The chapter concludes with a discussion of beryl and its relationship to emerald, including aquamarine and blue, greenish-yellow, yellow, and colorless varieties, their properties, sources, historical uses, and notable specimens.

gems, early gem trade, Armenia, history

The book written on behalf of the Imperial Academy of Sciences contains a brief historical introduction dedicated to ancient medieval and oriental collections of lapidary stones a translation of three fragments of works on gems found by the author in the manuscript of the famous Armenian historian of the seventeenth century Arakel Tavrizhetsi (1590–1670) as well as the Armenian text of these fragments. Patkanov examines Armenian knowledge and terminology concerning precious stones in the seventeenth century, drawing upon Armenian manuscripts and lapidary traditions. He discusses the Armenian names of numerous gemstones and minerals, their supposed physical characteristics, colors, sources, varieties, values, and methods of identification, together with the medicinal, magical, and talismanic properties traditionally attributed to them. The study compares and explains terminology and preserves information derived from earlier Near Eastern and Armenian traditions concerning diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, pearls, turquoise, and other precious and ornamental materials. The work is an important source for the history of Armenian gemology and lapidary literature and for tracing the transmission of mineralogical and gemstone knowledge through the medieval and early modern Near East.

corundum, Sri Lanka.12, gems

Emanuel presents a practical and historical survey of diamonds and other precious stones, intended particularly for jewelers, merchants, collectors, and general readers. He discusses the physical properties, colors, qualities, sources, cutting, polishing, valuation, and commercial classification of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, pearls, opals, turquoise, garnets, and numerous other gem materials. Considerable attention is given to famous diamonds and other celebrated jewels, historic gem-producing localities, methods of distinguishing genuine stones from imitations, and contemporary practices in the gem and jewelry trade. The work provides a useful nineteenth-century account of gemstones from the perspective of the commercial jeweler, combining contemporary gemological knowledge with historical anecdotes and practical information on identification and value.

gems, glyptic, engraved gems, agate, cameo, intaglio, shell, ancient gems, Rome, Greece, ancient jewelry, rings

No monument of any art could approach in high and holy interest to the one asserted to be preserved in the Treasury of the Vatican, were it possible to give credence to the statement accompanying its pretended copy. This statement, attached to a copperplate engraving, or to a photograph from the same, now commonly to be seen in the London print-shops, runs thus:—“The only true likeness of Our Saviour, taken from one cut on an emerald by command of Tiberius Cæsar, and was given from the treasury of Constantinople by the Emperor of the Turks to Pope Innocent VIII., for the redemption of his brother, taken a captive of the Christians.” But in this instance the claims of both prototype (supposing there really to be one) and of copy may be dismissed at once, a single circumstance sufficing amply to disprove them. Any eye slightly practised in art will immediately detect that the character of the design in this head is neither antique, Roman, nor even Byzantine, but bears the unmistakable stamp of the naturalism of the Italian Revival. In fact, if compared with the head of the Saviour in Raphael’s Miraculous Draught of Fishes (so well known to everybody by its perpetual republication in various forms), it cannot fail to be discovered an exact transcript from that celebrated work. Nevertheless it is probable enough that a real engraved gem (an emerald, too, considering the importance of the object to which the material was devoted) may have served for original to the print, and have impudently usurped the honours of a lost predecessor of the same kind. An Italian gem-engraver, working at any period subsequent to the “divine” painter, would of necessity have adopted his conception of the sacred countenance as the most authoritative model he could take for his art. Commissions for religious subjects were commonly given to the greatest glyptic artists of the Cinquecento and subsequent schools by their ecclesiastic patrons—witness the elaborate crystal plaques and medallions done to the order of Clement VII. and the Cardinal Farnese by Valerio Vicentino and Castel Bolognese, of which Vasari has left full particulars in his Lives of those artists. And what is yet more cognate to the present subject, the masterpiece of Carlo Costanzi (and which cost him two and a half years of incessant labour) executed for Benedict XIV., was an immense table emerald, two inches in diameter, having for obverse the head of St. Peter in relief, for reverse the portrait of the Pontiff himself. It was intended to adorn the morse or clasp fastening the sumptuous cope worn only at the grand festivals of the Church.

corundum, inclusions.5, ruby, sapphire, spinel, aquamarine, beryl, emerald, gems

Sorby and Butler investigate the internal structure of rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and other minerals by microscopic examination, using inclusions and growth features to interpret the conditions under which the crystals formed. They describe minute cavities, enclosed crystals, and structural irregularities visible within transparent specimens and compare their character and distribution in different minerals. Particular attention is given to rubies and sapphires, whose internal features provide evidence of successive stages of crystal growth, and to diamonds, in which inclusions and structural characteristics are likewise examined. The authors argue that microscopic features preserved within crystals can provide important evidence concerning their origin and formation. The paper is an important early contribution to the systematic microscopy of gemstones and helped establish the study of inclusions and internal growth structures as a means of investigating mineral genesis.

gems, gemology, history of gemology, early lapidaries, glyptic, engraved gems, ruby, diamond, emerald, agate, topaz, sapphire, spinel, cameos, intaglios, rings

The anonymous author surveys precious stones from historical, mineralogical, commercial, and social perspectives, arguing that much of their exceptional monetary value and prestige derives from fashion, rarity, and human convention rather than intrinsic usefulness. The article discusses diamonds and the principal colored gemstones, their celebrated historical examples, sources, physical properties, cutting, valuation, and use in personal ornament, while examining changing preferences for particular gems in different periods and societies. Considerable attention is given to famous jewels and royal collections and to the influence of new discoveries and changing supplies upon prices. The author contrasts the enormous sums paid for certain stones with their limited practical utility and emphasizes the roles of taste, scarcity, fashion, and social display in creating demand. The article provides a broad mid-nineteenth-century view of the gem trade and of contemporary attitudes toward the economic and cultural value of precious stones.

gems, general

De Barrera presents a popular but wide-ranging survey of gemstones and jewelry, combining their history, geographical sources, physical and chemical properties, valuation, cutting, trade, and use in personal ornament. Individual sections treat the principal gems—including diamond, ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz, garnet, amethyst, turquoise, opal, pearl, and other ornamental materials—with accounts of famous specimens, historical traditions, mining localities, and contemporary commercial practices. The book also discusses methods of distinguishing gems, their hardness, specific gravity, color, and composition, together with imitation stones and aspects of lapidary work and jewelry manufacture. Drawing extensively on earlier mineralogical, historical, and travel literature, the volume provides a useful picture of popular and commercial gemological knowledge in Britain around the middle of the nineteenth century, before gemology emerged as a distinct scientific discipline.

gems, beryl, emerald

Lewy reports chemical and geological investigations of emeralds from the Muzo deposits of New Granada (Colombia). From analyses of several emerald specimens, he found silica, alumina, glucina (beryllia), and small quantities of other constituents, but was unable to detect sufficient chromium to account for their green color. Instead, he identified a small amount of organic matter whose abundance appeared to vary with the intensity of the green coloration and proposed that this organic substance, rather than chromium oxide, was responsible for the color. Drawing on observations of the Muzo occurrence, where emeralds occur in association with fossiliferous limestone, Lewy further argued that the crystals had formed by a “wet” process, through deposition from aqueous solutions. His conclusions concerning both emerald coloration and formation were controversial and were subsequently challenged, particularly his rejection of chromium as the principal cause of color. A more extensive version of the study appeared in Annales de Chimie et de Physique in 1858.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

This substantially revised edition of William Phillips’s classic mineralogical textbook presents a systematic introduction to mineralogy based principally on crystallographic form, physical properties, chemical composition, and geological occurrence. Revised and enlarged by Henry James Brooke and William Hallowes Miller, it incorporates the major advances in crystallography and mineral chemistry made since Phillips’s earlier editions, with Miller’s crystallographic expertise giving the work particular scientific importance. Individual mineral species are described with their characteristic crystal forms, cleavage, hardness, specific gravity, lustre, colour, composition, localities, and varieties, including numerous minerals of gemological interest such as diamond, corundum (ruby and sapphire), spinel, beryl (emerald), topaz, tourmaline, garnet, quartz, zircon, and feldspar. The volume provides a useful mid-nineteenth-century record of mineral classification and nomenclature at a period when crystallography and chemical analysis were becoming firmly established as the foundations of systematic mineralogy.

gems, turquoise, Iran, Persia, Persian turquoise

In the Bazar, at Bushehr, and at every large town in Persia, a multiplicity of small turquoises, and sometimes garnets, rubies, and other coloured stones, might be purchased, set in silver as rings; the Mahommedans, at least the men, not wearing such ornaments set in gold. The turquoise is an universal favourite, called firuzeh, or more properly firuzelj by the Persians, who believe that to look on it, when first awake in the morning, ensures prosperity, and highly strengthens and preserves the sight during the whole day. To look on the emerald also, is considered by the Persians as good for the eyes. It appears from Theophrastus, that the ancient Greeks entertained this opinion; ἡ σμάραγδος πρὸς τὰ ὄμματα, ὑγιεινή [Greek badly garbled in the original scan; rendered here as a best-effort reconstruction]. In the Classical Journal, No. I. p. 65, March 1810, some observations on the emerald may be found, which I derived chiefly from the Juaher Namah, a Persian manuscript in my own collection, and below more fully quoted. These observations, from motives of secrecy which no longer exist, I communicated under a borrowed character, and the signature of Philosmaragdos. The efficacy of the turquoise, however, in this respect, does not altogether depend on magnitude; and, to the lower classes, a firuzeh, not so large as a grain of wheat, (but seldom perfect), is sold with the silver setting for about one shilling. Such rings are daily seen on the coarse fingers of the muleteers, grooms, and tent-pitchers; but when large, of a fine uniform colour, and free from blemish, their price is considerable, and I found at Cazvin that it was no longer possible to purchase for half a crown, like Olearius when there in 1637, turquoises equal in bigness to pease or beans. This ingenious traveller, and after him Chardin, Tavernier and others, mention Nishapur and Firuzkuh, as yielding turquoises most abundantly; but I could not learn whilst at Firuzkuh in 1812, that it was then remarkable for such a production. The Firuzehs of Nishapur were more excellent than any others, as all accounts agree in stating. A manuscript treatise on precious stones, entitled the Juaher Namah, enumerates three places besides, which furnish mines of turquoises. Hamdallah Cazwini says, that the Firuzeh, when he lived, (between four and five hundred years ago), was chiefly worn by women, and considered (as it is now) inferior in value to the zumrad or emerald. Sehem-ad-Dín, an author of the eleventh century, tells us that, “Piruzeh,” (for so he writes it according to the original Persian orthography), “being a stone without brilliancy, was not reckoned fit for the decoration of kings; but, on account of the name, (which signifies Victories or Fortunate), it was regarded as auspicious and lucky.” Eastern mineralogists always rank the turquoise among stones; late experiments have cast some doubt on the propriety of such a classification. —Sir William Gore Ouseley's Travels, vol. i. p. 210