A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving PublicWade, Frank Bertram
Science
A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public
Wade, Frank Bertram
Precious stones
AMETHYST. The chief charm of the Siberian amethyst lies in its large red
component, which enables it to change from a deep grape-purple by
daylight to a fine red by artificial light that is rich in red rays, and
poor in blue ones. The paler types of amethysts that were once esteemed,
probably for lack of the rich deep variety, become gray in appearance
and much less lovely under artificial light. India furnishes some
amethysts, and papers of "fancy color stones" containing native cut gems
from Ceylon, frequently contain amethysts, but Brazil, Uruguay, and
Siberia furnish the great bulk of the stones that are regarded as choice
to-day.
YELLOW QUARTZ. Citrine or golden quartz comes mainly from Brazil. The
"Spanish topaz" is sometimes the result of heating smoky quartz from
Cordova province in Spain. Our own western mountains furnish
considerable yellow and smoky quartz fit for cutting.
ROSE QUARTZ. Rose quartz of the finest quality comes from South Dakota.
Bavaria, the Ural Mountains, and Paris, Maine, have also furnished it.
AGATE. Agates of the finest types, such as carnelian and sard, come
principally from Brazil and from India.
OPAL. Opals now come most largely from Australia, the Hungarian mines
yielding but few stones at present. The fine black opals of New South
Wales are unsurpassed by any that have ever been found elsewhere. Mexico
furnishes considerable opal, and is notable for its fine "fire opal" or
"cherry opal."
JADE. Most of the jade of the variety nephrite that is obtained to-day
comes from several of the provinces of China or from Siberia or from
Turkestan. A dark-green nephrite comes from New Zealand.
Jade of the jadeite variety, which is harder than nephrite and more
highly valued, is rare. The best specimens come from Upper Burmah. It
is also found in China and in Tibet.
PERIDOT. Peridot, and the brighter olivine or chrysolite, while of the
same mineral species, do not seem to occur together. The darker
bottle-green specimens come from the Island of St. John in the Red Sea.
It is said that many of the finer peridots now available have been recut
from old stones mined many years ago.
Queensland supplies light-green chrysolite, and Arizona a
yellowish-green variety. Light-green stones have been found near the
ruby mines of Upper Burmah.
MOONSTONE. Moonstone comes mainly from Ceylon. The native cut specimens
are sent here and recut, as, when native cut, the direction of the grain
is seldom correct to produce the moonlight effect in symmetrical
fashion. The native cutters apparently try to retain all the size and
weight that is possible, regardless of the effect.
TURQUOISE. Turquoise of the finest blue and most compact texture (and
hence least subject to color change) comes from the province of Khorasan
in Persia. Several of our western states supply turquoise of fair
quality, notably New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California.
LAPIS LAZULI. Lapis Lazuli comes from Afghanistan, from Siberia, and
from South America.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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