Category: Gems

( White Opal, Black Opal, Fire-Opal) THAT opal in early times excited keen admiration is evident from Pliny’s enthusiastic description of these stones : ” For in them you shall see the burning fire of the carbuncle, the glorious purple of the amethyst, the green sea of the emerald, all glittering together in an incredible […]

(Jargoon, Hyacinth, Jacinth) ZIRCON, which, if known at all in jewellery, is called by its variety names, jargoon and hyacinth or jacinth, is a species that deserves greater recognition than it receives. The colourless stones rival even diamond in splendour of brilliance and display of ` fire’ the leaf-green stones (Plate XXIX, Fig. 13) possess […]

(Chrysolite, Cat’s-Eye, Cymophane, Alexandrite) CHRYSOBERYL has at times enjoyed fleeting popularity on account of the excellent cat’s-eyes cut from the fibrous stones, and in the form of alexandrite it meets with a steadier, if still limited, demand. It is a gem-stone that is seldom met with in ordinary jewellery, although its considerable hardness befits it […]

TOURMALINE is unsurpassed even by corundum in variety of hue, and it has during recent years rapidly advanced in public favour, mainly owing to the prodigal profusion in which nature has formed it in that favoured State, California, the garden of the west. Its comparative softness militates against its use in rings, but its gorgeous […]

THE beautiful bottle-green stone, which from its delicate tint has earned from appreciative admirers the poetical sobriquet of the evening emerald, and which has during recent years crept into popular favour and now graces much of the more artistic jewellery, is named as a gem-stone peridot—a word long in use among French jewellers, the origin […]

THE beryl glass mentioned in the previous chapter marks the transition stage between manufactured stones which in all essential characters are identical with those found in nature, and artificial stones which resemble the corresponding natural stone in outward appearance only. In a sense both sorts may be styled artificial, but it would be misleading to […]

THE important group of minerals which are known under the general name of garnet provides an apt illustration of the fact that rarity is an essential condition if a stone is to be accounted precious. Owing to the large quantity of Bohemian garnets, of a not very attractive shade of yellowish red, that have been […]