A Hand-book of Precious StonesRothschild, Meyer D.
Science
A Hand-book of Precious Stones
Rothschild, Meyer D.
Precious stones
The best amethysts come from Brazil and Ceylon, but good specimens are
found in India, Persia, Botany Bay, Transylvania, near Cork and the
island of May in Ireland, at Oberstein, in Saxony, in Hungary, Siberia,
Nova Scotia, Sweden, Bohemia, Canada, and in the States of Maine,
Pennsylvania, Colorado, Georgia, Virginia, and Michigan.
Under heat, the amethyst turns first yellow, then green, and finally
becomes colorless. The value of an amethyst depends upon the fashion,
and the time has been when these stones ranked among the most valuable
of precious stones. At present, a fine amethyst can be bought for very
little money, but should the stone become fashionable again, the best
specimens will command good prices.
YELLOW QUARTZ.
Yellow quartz, known as false topaz, Bohemian, occidental, Indian,
or Spanish topaz, resembles the real topaz in color, but is softer,
lighter, different in crystallization and cleavage, and in electrical
properties.
In color, this stone varies from the lightest yellow to orange-red and
brown.
Most of the yellow quartz comes from Brazil, and much of it is changed
to yellow by burning amethyst and smoky quartz.
CAIRNGORM, ETC.
Smoky yellow to smoky brown, often gray and black, are the tints of the
cairngorm. This species of transparent quartz takes its name from
Cairngorm in Invernessshire, in Scotland, a locality where some of the
best specimens have been found. Pike’s Peak, Arkansas, and certain
districts in North Carolina have also produced some very fine smoky
topazes.
The cairngorm is used for seals, beads, and some of the cheaper jewels,
and is largely sold at watering-places in Switzerland, and in the
Western United States.
The stone is very popular in Scotland. Hair or needle stones is the
name given to these varieties of crystallized quartz when they contain
foreign substances, such as rutile, manganese, chlorite, etc., in hair
or needle formation.
These stones are cut to represent the needle enclosures in an upright
position, and are called sagenite or Venus hair stones or love arrows.
Iridescent or rainbow quartz is the variety of rock-crystal containing
cracks and fissures which reflect all the colors of the rainbow. Quartz
can also be artificially colored by rapidly cooling a heated specimen
and then dipping the piece into a coloring preparation; the minute
cracks in the quartz absorb the coloring matter, and the result is a
red-, blue-, or green-tinted stone.
The massive varieties of quartz embrace the rose quartz, avanturine,
cat’s-eye, crocidolite, heliotrope, chrysoprase, prase, plasma,
chalcedony, agates, onyx, carnelian, jasper, hornstone, and flint.
ROSE QUARTZ.
Rose quartz occurs in a massive form, usually very imperfect and
cracked, and varying in color from rose-red to pink. The color is
supposed to be due to titanic acid, and often becomes paler on exposure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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