corundum, USA.12, North Carolina.12, Montana.12, gems, synthetic corundum.7, Thailand.12, Burma.12, x-rays

Kunz surveys developments in precious stones during 1896, beginning with notable discoveries and events of the year and then treating diamonds in considerable detail, including American occurrences, the South African mines and their production, mining methods, trade, cutting, import duties, and the growing diamond-cutting industry in the United States. He discusses the occurrence and artificial production of ruby, with descriptions of the ruby mines of Siam and Burma, and gives particular attention to new sapphire discoveries in Montana, including the Yogo/Fergus County deposits. Other sections record American occurrences of andalusite, kyanite, tourmaline, turquoise, garnet, quartz and rock crystal, amethyst, chrysoprase, chalcedony, plasma, moss agate, and opal, together with new mineral discoveries. Kunz also discusses gem collections and exhibitions, experiments on the behavior of gems under Röntgen rays, and contemporary work on artificial production of precious stones. The report concludes with statistical tables of United States gem production, valued at $113,621 for 1896, historical production figures, and imports of diamonds and other precious stones, providing a detailed picture of both the scientific and commercial state of gemology at the end of the nineteenth century.

corundum, Sri Lanka.12, gems

Ravenstein’s translation of the Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes presents the sixth-century account of a merchant and traveler who had extensive knowledge of the Red Sea, northeastern Africa, Arabia, India, and the Indian Ocean trade. Although primarily a Christian cosmographical and theological work, it contains valuable geographical and commercial information derived from Cosmas’s travels and mercantile experience. Of particular gemological interest are his references to precious stones and their sources and trade, including sapphires associated with Ceylon (Taprobane), which he describes as an important entrepôt receiving merchandise from India, Persia, Ethiopia, and other regions and redistributing it through the Indian Ocean trading network. Cosmas also records products such as pearls, spices, silk, and other valuable commodities and provides evidence for the extensive maritime commerce connecting the Mediterranean and Red Sea worlds with India and Ceylon in late antiquity. Ravenstein’s edition includes an introduction, notes, and geographical commentary that place Cosmas’s observations within the historical geography of early Indian Ocean trade.

corundum, quality.10, gems

Smith’s Gems and Precious Stones, published as No. 11 of the Technical Education Series of the New South Wales Department of Public Instruction, is a practical introductory handbook devoted to the identification and properties of gemstones. Its full title, Gems and Precious Stones: With Descriptions of Their Distinctive Properties, the Methods for Determining Them, &c., reflects its emphasis on distinguishing gem materials by observable and measurable characteristics. Smith treats the principal precious and ornamental stones and explains the properties used in their determination, providing a concise guide intended for students, collectors, jewelers, and others requiring a practical introduction to gem identification. Published in Sydney by Charles Potter, Government Printer, the work is significant as an early Australian gemological manual and as part of the colony’s program of technical education.

jade, nephrite, Khotan, Hotan, Chinese jade, Xinjiang, gems

Lansdell recounts an extensive journey through Russian and Chinese Central Asia to the western approaches of Tibet, combining personal travel narrative with geographical, ethnographic, historical, and commercial observations. His route takes him through the Russian Turkestan region and across Chinese Turkestan, including Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan, before reaching the high country toward Ladakh and “Little Tibet.” He describes local peoples, religions, agriculture, markets, communications, political conditions, and natural resources, drawing upon both firsthand observations and contemporary geographical literature. Of particular gemological interest is his account of Khotan and its celebrated jade industry, including the collection of nephrite from the rivers and the extraction of material from the surrounding mountains, its preparation and trade, and its importance as a commodity exported eastward to China. The work provides a valuable late nineteenth-century description of the traditional Khotan jade-producing region and the Central Asian trade routes through which its nephrite circulated.

corundum, USA.12, Georgia.12, gems

King presents a detailed study of the corundum deposits of Georgia, describing their geographic distribution, geological occurrence, mineral associations, mining, and economic prospects. He examines the principal corundum localities along the crystalline belt of northern Georgia and describes deposits associated particularly with peridotite and related altered rocks, recording the character, size, color, and quality of the corundum found at individual workings. The report discusses prospecting and mining methods, preparation of corundum for abrasive use, production and markets, and the factors affecting the commercial value of deposits. King also records accessory minerals and varieties of corundum encountered in the field, including material of potential gemological interest, although the industry was directed principally toward supplying corundum as an abrasive. The bulletin provides an important late nineteenth-century account of the geology and exploitation of one of the principal corundum-producing regions of the United States. Contains a good history of corundum.

gems, early lapidaries, Greek, Roman, history of gemology

Mély examines ancient lapidary literature in relation to the inscribed stone stamps used by Greco-Roman oculists for marking medicinal preparations. By comparing the names and supposed properties of mineral substances recorded in medical and lapidary texts with the inscriptions preserved on these oculists’ stamps, he attempts to clarify obscure terminology and trace the transmission of mineral-based medical recipes from Antiquity into the early Middle Ages. The study is particularly relevant to the history of gemstones and mineralogy because it treats ancient stone names not simply as literary curiosities but as part of practical pharmacological traditions, illustrating the close historical relationship between lapidaries, medicine, and materia medica.

gems, beryl, emerald, Egypt, Russia

Sinkankas: The discovery of the Alexandrian hoard of gemstones and other materials, including glasses, enamels, partly-worked, and finished gemstones during 1867–9, inspired the present study of Egyptian emeralds in a monograph of great historical and archaeological value, not to mention the numerous gleanings of pertinent information from ancient writers who mentioned Egyptian emerald. As a result of the discovery of the hoard, a controversy arose concerning the origin of the emeralds—were they from Egypt or were they from the Urals? Andreas Arzruni, the eminent European mineralogist, was called in to examine the specimens and compare them to emeralds from Gebel Sabara in Egypt and from the Urals. From his examinations, especially of inclusions, he concluded that the Alexandrian stones were from Gebel Sabara. In the course of his study, Schneider examined works by K.R. Lepsius (1810–1884), a German Egyptologist, Leo Africanus, Diodorus Siculus, Ptolemy Philadelphus, Solinus Polyhistor, Aelian, Lucian, Strabo, Olympiodorus, and other ancient writers, and took much from a treatise on gemstones by Masudi (Abu-al-Hasan Ali al-Masudi, d. 956 AD) and Achmed Teifaschi (13th c. Cairo gem dealer), not to mention much later accounts of travelers, explorers, and visitors to the Gebel Sabara emerald mines. Among the latter may be mentioned Frederic Cailliaud (1787–1869), whose account is referenced elsewhere in the present bibliography, and who rediscovered the emerald mines in 1816. [919] The present account by Schneider is of great importance but is rarely mentioned in the ordinary gemological bibliographies; it deserves translation into English and other languages. USGS Kunz Coll, GS 34-1005.

corundum, Sri Lanka.12, pearls, gems

Walters’s Palms & Pearls is an illustrated account of a prolonged stay in Ceylon, written from opportunities the author believed gave him greater familiarity with the island than that of an ordinary traveler. He describes its scenery, towns, vegetation and wildlife, together with the everyday life, customs, religions, occupations, and social conditions of its inhabitants. The narrative combines personal travel experiences with observations on Colombo, Kandy and the hill country, Buddhist temples and ceremonies, agriculture and plantation life, indigenous animals, and other features of late nineteenth-century Ceylon. Of particular gemological interest are his descriptions of pearls and the celebrated pearl fisheries, including the methods and conditions under which pearl oysters were obtained and the people associated with the industry. The work provides a contemporary British traveler’s view of Ceylon shortly before the end of the nineteenth century.

gems, synthetic gems, synthetic spinel

Meunier surveys the experimental methods by which minerals could be reproduced artificially, presenting mineral synthesis as a means of investigating the conditions under which natural minerals and rocks formed. He describes techniques involving fusion, sublimation, reactions at high temperatures, the action of gases and vapors, hydrothermal processes, and crystallization from molten or dissolved substances, reviewing experiments by numerous nineteenth-century investigators. The work treats the artificial production of a wide range of mineral species and discusses the significance of successful syntheses for mineralogy and geology. Of particular gemological interest are experiments involving the synthesis of corundum and ruby, including the work of Gaudin, Ebelmen, Sainte-Claire Deville, Caron, Frémy, and Feil, in which alumina was crystallized under various high-temperature conditions and chromium compounds were used to produce ruby coloration. The volume provides a useful contemporary synthesis of experimental mineralogy immediately before Verneuil’s development of a commercially practical method for producing synthetic ruby.

gems, corundum, History.1, spinel, carbuncle

Ernault presents a biographical and literary study of Marbode (Marbodus), Bishop of Rennes (1035–1123), examining his life, ecclesiastical career, intellectual milieu, and surviving writings. Particular attention is devoted to Marbode’s Latin poetry and didactic works, including the celebrated Liber lapidum or De lapidibus, a verse lapidary describing stones and the medicinal, magical, and symbolic virtues traditionally attributed to them. Ernault considers the sources, manuscripts, editions, and literary character of Marbode’s writings and places them within the scholarly and religious culture of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. For the history of gemology, the study is especially useful for establishing the authorship, textual history, and context of the Liber lapidum, one of the most influential medieval European lapidaries and an important conduit through which Classical and late-antique traditions concerning precious stones were transmitted into medieval literature.