The Curious Lore of Precious Stones: Being a description of their sentiments and folk lore, superstitions, symbolism, mysticism, use in medicine, protection, prevention, religion, and divination. Crystal gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones and talismans, astral, zodiacal, and planetaryKunz, George Frederick
Religion
The Curious Lore of Precious Stones: Being a description of their sentiments and folk lore, superstitions, symbolism, mysticism, use in medicine, protection, prevention, religion, and divination. Crystal gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones and talismans, astral, zodiacal, and planetary
Kunz, George Frederick
Gems; Gems -- Folklore
Saturday’s talismanic gem: the amethyst.
No gems have afforded more interest to the Oriental peoples than
those that are known as phenomenal gems; that is, such as exhibit a
phenomenal quality, either as a moving line as in the chrysoberyl
cat’s-eye, or the quartz cat’s-eye, or as a star, a class represented
by the star-sapphire and the star-ruby, all these being considered to
bring good fortune to the wearer. A splendid star-sapphire is in the
hilt of the sword presented as an Easter gift to King Constantine of
Greece, then Prince Constantine, by the Greeks of America, on Easter
Day 1913.[438] This ornate and beautiful sword was made by Tiffany &
Co. Then there is the alexandrite cat’s-eye which, in addition to its
chatoyant effect, changes from green to red, showing its natural color
by day and glowing with a ruddy hue by artificial light. The cat’s-eye
effect here is caused by a twinning of the crystal; that is, when the
gem is cut, with a dome, across the twinning line, this shows itself
as a smooth band of white light, with a translucent or transparent
space at one side, the line varying in sharpness and in breadth as the
illumination becomes more intense. If the light is very bright, the
line is no wider than the thinnest possible silver or platinum wire.
The quartz cat’s-eye, less distinct than the chrysoberyl cat’s-eye,
is also found in the East, and possesses the property that when cut
straight across, an apparent striation in the stone produces the
cat’s-eye effect, but the material is not so rich or brilliant nor is
the gem as beautiful as is the true cat’s-eye. The alexandrite variety
of chrysoberyl is colored by chromium and is dichroitic, appearing
green when viewed in one direction and red in another; in artificial
light, however, the green color is lost and the red alone becomes
apparent.
The moonstone, with its moonlike, silvery-white light, changes on the
surface as the light varies. This is due to a chatoyancy produced by a
reflection caused by certain cleavage planes present in feldspar of the
variety to which the moonstone belongs.
PHENOMENAL GEMS FOR THE DAYS OF THE WEEK
Sunday Sunstone
Monday Moonstone
Tuesday Star sapphire
Wednesday Star ruby
Thursday Cat’s-eye
Friday Alexandrite
Saturday Labradorite
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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