This is the first in a three-part series also covering types of gemstones with the letters J to R and types of gemstones with the letters S to Z.

What is a Gemstone? The definition of a gemstone isn’t quite as precise as the faceted beauties it describes. In general, when minerals, and sometimes organic materials such as amber, are cut and polished to create jewelry, we call them gemstones. There are nuances and outliers because some types of gemstones are too delicate to be worn, but most people in the gem world accept this general concept. To further clarify, types of gemstones are divided into “precious and semi-precious” stones with only diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies encompassing the precious category. Everything else falls into the semi-precious zone, although this doesn’t necessarily imply inherent modern value or desirable characteristics. Regardless of the classification, there’s no question that when we can bring out the inherent beauty within these stones, it is something to be truly prized.

Agate

Agate is a silica-based mineral and is a popular semiprecious stone because of its attractive coloration and banding. Reportedly discovered by Greek philosopher Theophrastus roughly 2500 years ago, early people throughout the Middle East, Russia, and Greece used agates to create ornaments. According to research by the Bureau of American Ethnology, Indigenous People utilized them in much the same way.

Agate is a chalcedony, which is a type of cryptocrystalline quartz. Like many stones in this category, it’s created when groundwater seeps into the igneous rock where silica deposits form concentric layers within the rock cavities and crevices to create the telltale banded patterns.

The wide variety of colors, ranging from brown, black, white, red, gray, pink and yellow, are because of impurities in the groundwater. With a seven on the Mohs rating, agates are on the upper end of the hardness scale. This makes this translucent stone a favorite for rock tumbling. It’s often used for jewelry as well.

Bloodstone

An opaque, dark green type of gemstone, bloodstone features distinctive orange to scarlet red splatters that look like blood at first glance. This is the telltale signature of this traditional birthstone for March. The more modern birthstone choice is aquamarine.

Bloodstone is also called heliotrope, a name derived from the Greek helio meaning sun and tropos meaning toward the sun. If you garden, you’re familiar with heliotrope plants that turn toward the sun as they grow. This name indicates how the stone reflects the light. Along with legends of healing powers, bloodstone is also known as a protective stone. People will often wear or carry bloodstones to keep threats at bay.

The minerals chlorite and amphibole are responsible for the deep green coloration while iron oxide inclusions create the blood-red speckling.

Carnelian

Carnelian is one of the least expensive chalcedonies, the translucent yellow-orange to rich amber or even reddish-brown gems darken when heat treated. This includes the heat of the sun, so it’s best to keep your stone out of the sun to keep the color true. Iron is responsible for the red coloration and it’s what oxidizes and deepens when exposed to heat.

Carnelian is sometimes confused with jasper, although jasper is a type of gemstone that is typically a deep red and is opaque, rather than translucent. Plus, jasper often exhibits banding patterns on its surface appearance.

Carnelian is found throughout the world with some of the highest quality stones found in Scotland, Brazil and Washington State.

Even though it’s relatively inexpensive, many so-called carnelians are dyed and heat-treated agates. To determine if a carnelian is real, hold it up to the light. If it’s a natural carnelian, it looks cloudy. If it’s a heat-treated agate, it will most likely show striping.

Dumortierite

Although colors range from brown, green, and the rarer violet and pink, the eye-catching denim blue of this type of gemstone is probably the most popular with gemstone enthusiasts.

An aluminum boro-silicate mineral, dumortierite occurs in regions of high metamorphic activity that are also rich in aluminum and boron. Manganese, iron, and sometimes zinc inclusions, are responsible for the blue coloration.

Dumortierite was first described in 1881 after being found in the French Alps. It was named for the French paleontologist, Eugene Dumortier.

Dumortierite has a glassy (vitreous) luster. Its fibrous nature creates fine, almost hair-like radial crystals within the structure. The blue variation is sometimes mistaken for lapis lazuli, but dumortierite is typically a deeper blue or violet, plus lapis lazuli sports white or gold metallic flecks because of the pyrite within it.

Dumortierite quartz is quartz with inclusions of dumortierite.

Emerald

The birthstone for May, emeralds are a type of gemstone that earns their place as an adjective to describe a particularly intense green. The name is derived from the Greek word smaragdos, meaning green stone.

Created in metamorphic rocks when hot magma flowed over and through the crevices of limestone and shale, emeralds are a beryllium aluminum silicate. Although emeralds are a type of beryl, not all beryls are emeralds. While green beryl is still green, it’s distinctly lighter.

Chromium oxide is responsible for the emerald’s deep green. Other gems, such as peridot and tsavorite garnets, are also found in green hues but not with the same vibrancy. Registering 7-8.5 on the Mohs hardness scale and forming in hexagonal crystals, emeralds are long favorites for precious jewelry, but fakes abound. To determine authenticity, inspect the stone with a 10X loop. Flaws and inclusions, particularly a small crystal within the stone, indicate a natural emerald. Air bubbles or even a “too perfect” stone are tell-tale signs that it is not real.

Fluorite

Made of calcium fluoride, pure fluorite is colorless, yet samples are commonly found in shades of purple, golden-yellow, green, blue, pink and brown. These types of gemstones are translucent to nearly transparent with attractive banding. The term “fluorescence” became part of the terminology when physicist Sir George Gabriel Stokes was working with fluorite in 1852. Although fluorescence doesn’t consistently occur, fluorite is known to glow when there is the presence of uranium, yttrium and other rare earth elements. It often emits blue, although yellow, green, white and red shades are possible.

Also called fluorspar, it’s been produced in Illinois since the 1800s and is the state mineral. Often forming in cubic crystals, it is popular for jewelry but has a wide number of commercial applications ranging from an ingredient in ceramics to a flux used in refining metals.

Garnet

Many people picture garnets as red stones, but these types of gemstones are also found in shades of orange, pinkish-orange, green, reddish-purple, colorless and even blue and green, albeit these last two are rarer.

Garnets are formed when aluminum-laden sedimentary rock is metamorphosed. Garnets are one of the most widespread types of gemstones throughout the world. While the bulk of garnets is mined for industrial applications, it’s one of the oldest known gemstones and has been used for ornamental purposes for 5000 years. Historical evidence shows stones within the necklaces of pharaohs. Garnet signet rings were used by Roman leaders to seal documents.

Sometimes mistaken for a ruby, garnets are usually a darker red with brownish tones. When it’s held up to the light, yellow bands are often visible in a garnet while a ruby will be clear.

Hematite

Consisting of 70 percent iron, hematite is one of the primary ores of iron. Fortunately, it is one of the most abundant minerals on Earth. According to NASA, it’s also the most abundant mineral on Mars. The iron-rich environment is why Mars is dubbed the “red planet.”

Named as far back as 300-325 BCE, hematite is derived from the Greek haima, meaning blood. These types of gemstones are found in colors ranging from rust-red, brown, steel-gray to black, it always leaves a red streak when scratched on a scratchpad.

The distinct reddish hue has been used in artwork from the earliest cave paintings. It was a key pigment for Renaissance artists creating paintings with canvas and oil in the Middle Ages. Besides its importance as an ore for iron and in art, it effectively stops radiation making it useful in shielding applications. Plus, it creates a beautiful tumbled stone for those who love to collect them.

Iolite

This beautiful violet-blue stone was the secret to the Vikings’ success in crossing the ocean as they looked through a thin iolite specimen to determine the position of the sun on cloudy days. The key to this unique quality is called pleochroism where different colors are visible at different angles. For example, a piece of iolite may have the classic violet-blue hue on one side, but when it’s turned over, it appears yellow or clear.

A silicate of aluminum, iron and magnesium, iolite (also known as the mineral cordierite) is created in metamorphic and igneous rock formations. Derived from the Greek word ios meaning violet, some iolite is blue enough to look like a sapphire. Some speculate this quality is because of the presence of titanium, although iolites are easily distinguishable because of pleochroism.

This story about types of gemstones appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Amy Grisak.

The post Types of Gemstones By Letter (A-I) first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Jasper

Jasper is found throughout the world. This chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica. Jasper types of gemstones come in colors ranging from green, red, blue, orange, yellow and brown. The colors are because of impurities such as ash, clay or minerals within the stones. Iron typically creates the reddish hues, while manganese oxide is responsible for blues, and inclusions of iron oxide or the mineral goethite create the yellows.

Many times there are types of gemstones with examples of various inclusions, such as with the bloodstone jasper, where chlorite and pyroxene cause the deep green, while iron is responsible for the red speckling. Jasper’s name is based on the French word “jaspre” which came from the Latin “jaspidem” meaning “speckled stone.” This is fitting because when polished, jasper has a speckled pattern seemingly just below the surface.

Kunzite

The best-known variety of spodumene, kunzite is the pink to purple version of this important mineral that is still sometimes mined for lithium production. Kunzite boasts beautiful pink or purplish hues because of the presence of manganese, while chromium creates the greens of another variety, hiddenite.

A fascinating aspect of kunzite is its pleochroic attributes where it displays different colors, such as a combination of pink, purple and transparent, depending on which way you look through the crystal. This is a key consideration when cutting the gem. It also has phosphorescence, which allows the stone to absorb light and then release it in the dark, as with any of our favorite glow-in-the-dark items. The drawback is excessive exposure to sunlight fades its beautiful colors.

With a Mohs rating of 7, eye-catching colors, and the unique characteristics of pleochroism and phosphorescence, it’s even more intriguing to know that large crystals are possible with the best example being an 880-carat heart-shaped kunzite housed at the Smithsonian.

Lapis Lazuli

The beautiful deep blue lapis lazuli is an example of when a gemstone is not a mineral. Instead, lapis lazuli is a rock consisting of multiple minerals, including lazurite, calcite, pyrite, afghanite and several others.

To be considered true lapis lazuli, the rock has to contain at least 25 percent of the mineral lazurite that lends to the distinct blue coloration. Calcite is usually the next most prevalent mineral which often shows up as white layers or mottling. Pyrite provides the shiny gold flecks in some specimens.

Afghanistan is the hotbed of lapis lazuli. There are records of it being mined in the Badakhshan Province of the northeastern part of the country as early as 7000 B.C. The name is derived from the Arabic word “lazaward” meaning “heaven” along with the Persian term for blue, “lazhuward.” In ancient times, Egyptian women also used powdered lapis as an eye shadow. And even in the 1800s, powdered lapis was used to create ultramarine blue paint used in oil canvas paintings, such as Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.”

Malachite

A vibrant green gemstone with distinct parallel banding, malachite is a striking specimen and its popularity for thousands of years is no surprise. Derived from the Greek word meaning “mallows,” this correlates to the deep green of malachite with the color of the mallow plant’s leaves.

The gem color is derived from the copper carbonate hydroxide minerals often found in regions near copper deposits. Because malachite is a fairly malleable oxidized copper ore, it’s possible to extract copper from it using sulfuric acid.

The Egyptians also figured out how to remove the copper by placing powdered malachite in a hot fire, which resulted in tiny spheres of copper as a by-product. They used this copper to make cookware, and razors and eventually created stronger bronze by adding arsenic or tin. They also used finely ground gemstones as a distinctive eye paint. Besides adorning the appearance of ancient Egyptians, malachite is one of the oldest known pigments and was identified in the artwork of Egyptian tombs.

Natrolite

Typically found with slender, needle-like crystals protruding from the crystal, natrolite is an eye-catching specimen. It’s difficult to imagine such a fragile-looking stone cut and polished into impressively faceted gems, although high-quality gems are truly rare. Not surprisingly, it’s sometimes called needle stone.

Natrolite leans toward a colorless appearance but can be found in white, light yellow, green, orange, pink, brown or gray. When it’s placed under either longwave or shortwave ultraviolet light, it glows in yellow, orange and sometimes pale green.

A member of the zeolite group, which are hydrated aluminosilicate minerals, the name comes from the Greek words for soda and stone, “natron” and “lithos.” It was officially named by the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in the early 1800s. Natrolite is found in regions where there are veins of basaltic rocks, along with granite and the igneous rock, gneiss.

Onyx

While onyx and agate are both types of chalcedonies and share many similarities, one way to tell them apart is to look at their banding. Agate sports curved bands and onyx has straight, parallel banding. When many people envision onyx, they think of a black gem but is often found in red, brown or yellow, which is called sardonyx. Red and white layers are usually what is referred to as carnelian onyx, while Nicolo onyx has light blue layers alternating with black.

Since ancient times, artists have created intricately carved cameos. Black onyx grew in popularity during the Victorian Era when mourning jewelry was an integral part of society. After Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert passed away in 1861, she and all of the British Empire descended into mourning. Besides onyx, jet, vulcanite and even black enamel were used in the adornments. Many included personal mementos, such as hair, woven into the locket or watch fob.

Peridot

Peridot is the gem variety of the common mineral olivine and one with a unique origination story. Unlike many other minerals that form on the Earth’s surface, peridots are birthed either deep within the Earth’s upper mantle where they are brought to the surface through volcanic activity, or deposited by meteorites.

Because of this relationship with volcanoes, Hawaiian legend claims that peridot symbolizes the tears of Pele, the goddess of volcanoes and fire. It is so intertwined that there are several beaches on the island of Oahu that are made up of green sand that glitters with these tiny green crystals. Its distinct coloration is because of the percentage of iron in the formation of the crystals, yet can vary to the point where the stone looks more yellow, olive or even greenish-brown.

The ancient Egyptians referred to peridots as the “gem of the sun,” and some experts surmise that Cleopatra’s famed emeralds may have actually been peridot gemstones.

Quartz

Quartz might not only be one of the most abundant minerals found on Earth, but it is also possibly one of the most useful as it is found in everything from glass to electronics, and has been critical in the mining industry. One fascinating aspect of quartz crystals is their vibrational ability.

As a piezoelectric material, quartz creates an electrical charge when it’s squeezed. As a result, it vibrates 32,768 times per second, and for nearly a century, quartz crystals have been used in watches, computers, GPS units and a remarkable number of everyday items. Found in several varieties, types of gemstones include rosy quartz, smoky quartz and amethyst, quartz is as diverse as it is beautiful. The coloration differences are often due to natural radiation reacting with specific minerals within the quartz. For instance, iron is responsible for the purple hue of amethyst while aluminum creates the gray of the smoky quartz.

Ruby

The terms “ruby” and “red” are practically synonymous, or at the very least, ruby is often used as an adjective to describe types of gemstones with a particular shade of color. Its name comes from the Latin word for red, “ruber.” Bringing the highest per-carat price of any of the colored stones in the modern market, rubies shine among the corundums, which also include sapphires. Like sapphires, they score high on the Mohs scale ranking just below a diamond.

Pure corundums are colorless, but chromium causes the striking red coloration of rubies. The deeper the color, the more chromium is present. This element also causes rubies to glow under ultraviolet light. Because of rubies’ chemical composition, the first working laser, called the ruby laser, was created in 1960 by Theodore Maiman. One of its first uses was in range-finding equipment, but the technology is used to this day as a light source for medical procedures or high-speed photography.

As this list demonstrates, types of gemstones go well beyond only beautiful objects. The myriad of important day-to-day applications for gemstones gives us a deeper appreciation of what might be considered common gems.

This story about types of gemstones by letter appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Amy Grisak.

The post Types of Gemstones by Letter (J-R) first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Everything is Energy

While this connection might seem puzzling on the surface, it all boils down to energy. Samantha Fey, author, teacher and co-host of the podcast, Psychic Teachers, said, “Crystals have the piezoelectric effect, so they do generate energy. They grow with their own unique vibration and lattice structures.”

This phenomenon occurs when pressure is put on particular crystals, such as quartz, causing the atoms within the stone to move, subsequently turning mechanical energy into electrical energy. This is why crystals are used in watches, televisions and cell phones. It’s this inherent energy that resonates with astrological signs.

Connecting Zodiac Crystals & Sun Signs

Those who are familiar with astrology understand the correlation with the elements — fire, water, air, and earth — and how they offer a glimpse into personality characteristics. When working with crystals according to sun signs, it’s helpful to consider the elements and how they best fit with the particular stones.

Fey used an example of the sun sign Cancer, which is attributed to the moon and is a classic water sign. “They are very watery and ruled by their emotions. Look for crystals with those similar qualities,” she said, such as moonstone.

It’s also important to understand how a stone works with a particular sign in coordination with where we are physically, mentally, and spiritually. “Our energy fluctuates up and down all the time,” Fey said. Depending on what we need, crystals can amplify or balance our actions.

While there are classic combinations of crystals and Zodiac signs, such as obsidian with those under Scorpio, in reality, there are multiple crystals per sign. The choice depends on what you need to do or learn, and this list is a good start to finding a crystal that works for you.

Aries Sign

Notoriously stubborn, Aries people know what they want and are clear about who they are. Fittingly, amazonite is an ideal crystal for this sun sign as it enhances inner strength and the warrior attitude, particularly with women going through significant changes in their lives.

“It’s called the stone of hope and new beginnings,” said Fey, and is excellent for manifesting dreams and goals.

Deb Bowen, co-host on Psychic Teachers, as well as a metaphysical teacher and author, recommends Sardonyx because it is excellent in the realm of self-control and discipline.

“It’s really good for communicating relationships,” she noted because Aries can have sticking points in this area.

Taurus Sign

An earth sign, Taureans, are grounded people who are nurturing and comforting to those most important to them. Being a bull, they are known for their stubbornness and uncompromising nature.

The beautiful light blue to green, or sometimes white kyanite is good for Taureans because it helps clear and align the chakras, according to Bowen. It also builds stability and trust and is excellent for communication. Kyanite cannot hold negative energy.

Fey recommended, ”Carnelian is a great stone for bringing in creativity, positivity and joy. It’s the cheerleader of the stones and it keeps the other stones together.”

Gemini Sign

When a “twin” is around, there’s never a dull moment. Geminis are known to have lots of energy and are very talkative. They can also be indecisive and impulsive.

The green and smooth gem serpentine is a good fit for a Gemini. “It helps you to align your soul’s purpose,” explained Bowen as it enhances the heart chakra. She noted that it also offers protection against the dark arts.

Cancer Sign

Cancer is the classic mother of the Zodiac who is family-oriented, intuitive, and a tad moody. Not surprisingly, the “crab” is their sign.

Bowen said, “Sometimes cancer folks can get sad or depressed.” Because of this tendency, she said blue chalcedony is a good choice. “It helps cancer to communicate the truth. It also dispels negative energies and activates positive changes. It’s a great stone for those who seek general positive shifts in their lives.”

Leo Sign

Leo is known to love being the center of attention with their bigger-than-life energy. They’re also loyal, generous, and loving. The funny thing is, their negative traits simply seem to be their positive traits on overdrive.

Because of this desire to shine, citrine is the stone for Leos. ”Citrine is like your own personal sun,” said Fey. This yellow-to-orange type of quartz appears charged by the sun. Unfortunately, natural citrine is a rare stone and much of what we find is heat-treated amethyst (enhanced gemstones). It’s also well-known to manifest abundance, a natural quality of Leos, and is sometimes called the “stone of success” or the “merchant’s stone.”

Virgo Sign

Logical and energetic, Virgos thrive with well-organized and practical goals, while on the flip side, they tend to overthink situations and can often seem aloof and detached.

Resembling the blues and greens of the earth, the mineral chrysocolla is often found in copper deposits and referred to as the “Stone of the Goddess,” with famous figures, such as Cleopatra, valuing its beauty and energy.

Fey said chrysocolla is like a happy-go-lucky friend. “It’s a great stone for everything. It helps people face some hard truths,” she said. She also recommended that those working with this stone visualize their goals going into the stone.

Libra Sign

The scales represent Libra’s desire for fairness and balance, which is the center of this witty, smart and outgoing soul. With Venus as their ruling planet, they are all about love but will carry a grudge if slighted.

“Libras look at both sides differently, or rather it’s difficult to choose sides,” said Bowen, who is a Libra. She said bloodstone is good because it balances everything, including Libra’s energy. “It helps level folks be present in the here and now.”

Scorpio Sign

Scorpios get a bad rap as being secretive, defensive and vindictive, but their emotions run deep (even if they don’t show it), and they are passionate about whatever, and whoever, they love.

“Malachite is the drill sergeant,” said Fey. “It’s the only stone that breaks to warn you when something wicked this way comes. It’s great for protection.” This rich green stone is also an important part of facing Scorpio’s shadow side. Fey said, “It’s like a friend that is in your face.”

Known as the stone of transition, Bowen said, “Charoite connects the heart and crown chakras.” It allows someone to focus on self-love when setting healthy boundaries.

Sagittarius Sign

Ruled by Jupiter, Sagittarius people are gregarious and big dreamers but can be blunt and preachy.

Fey recommends labradorite that resembles the aurora borealis with its color-shifting nature where one moment it looks gray, the next is shimmering blues and greens. “It helps block the emotions and stuff around you that’s not yours. It’s more like a filter. It lets the good stuff come in and the bad stuff goes out,” she said.

Capricorn Sign

With Saturn as the taskmaster, Capricorns get things done. Although they are disciplined and responsible, this can shift into a level of condescension toward others.

Amethyst is the go-to for these hardworking signs. “It cleans, clears, and heals everything around it,” said Bowen. ”It’s a balancing, protective and loving stone. It’s a great stone to connect. It fights off temptation and works with decision-making. It’s good for sleeping and it protects them from nightmares.”

Once used by the Romans to fend off the evil eye, tiger’s eye is protective and balancing. Fey said, “It works with your energy to establish a foundation and recognize patterns of things that no longer serve you. She said to place tiger’s eye on the solar plexus during meditation for courage and confidence, as well as to shift toxic energy into positive ones.

Aquarius Sign

Quirky and unconventional, the highly social Aquarians champion humanitarian efforts and relish deep conversations. Yet, they are not known for being the most emotionally open individuals and might appear aloof.

“Aquarians are ahead of their time,” said Fey. “Dark, ruby red garnets help them recharge and revitalize their energy. Write down goals and dreams for the year and place garnets on top of the list.”

The ornamental chrysanthemum stone is typically all black except for a splash of white in the middle resembling a flower. Bowen recommended it for Aquarians because ”it brings to us child-like energy and being able to live in the moment.”

Pisces Sign

The astrological fish who swim in deep waters are philosophical, intuitive and creative, yet at times, spend too much time in their own heads.

To counteract this latter tendency, aquamarine, which is often called the “stone of courage” boosts confidence for the Pisces people. Bowen said, “It’s such a beautiful stone. It helps one to always be prepared.” Legend says aquamarine was spilled from a mermaid’s treasure chest and it was supposedly blessed by Neptune.

Fey recommended fluorite to clear negative energy. Called the student’s stone, she said, “It’s created for cleansing the aura. It eliminates negative patterns and helps you to see your path more clearly,” said Fey. She also mentioned it is effective in blocking electromagnetic fields and is often kept near the computer to minimize exposure.

Picking the right stone for you is a matter of listening to the universe. “It’s really important when you buy sun sign crystals that the stone speaks deep, deep into your soul,” said Bowen.

“It’s great to read and study, but at the end of the day, you have to go with the crystal that resonates with you,” noted Fey. “Walk into a store that sells stones and see what you’re drawn to. Find your buddy and stick with it for a while.”

*The metaphysical properties discussed in this article are not intended as a substitute for traditional medical treatment. If you have a health issue, please seek a licensed medical professional. The crystals and stones discussed are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any conditions.

This story about zodiac crystals previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Amy Grisak.

The post Best Crystals for Your Zodiac Sign first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

This iconic World Heritage Site encapsulates a central theme of “Paradise” with its harmonious blending of so many elements including the phrase “Enter Thou My Paradise” inscribed over one entrance.

The Taj Mahal, which translates as the “Crown of Palaces,” has been called the jewel of Muslim art in India. This “ultimate symbol of love and loss” perched above the Yamuna River in Agra in the state of Uttar Pradesh, began with Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who reigned from 1628 to 1658.

Keeping a Memory Alive

Although he had many wives, Jahan had one great love, his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died while giving birth to their fourteenth child in 1631. It is said Jahan’s hair turned gray overnight in his grief. To keep his wife’s memory alive forever, he immediately commissioned a great mausoleum to house her remains. Eventually, it would also serve as the tomb of Jahan himself, forever side-by-side with Mumtaz in what was meant to replicate paradise on earth.

Construction began in 1632, and the famous white marble mausoleum was completed in 1648. It took another five years (until 1653) to complete the entire 42-acre complex, which includes reflecting pools, courtyards, gardens, cloisters, crenelated walls, and associated majestic buildings (including a mosque and a guesthouse) constructed in red sandstone from Delhi. But the 115-foot high dome of the mausoleum stands out as the centerpiece. Its translucent white marble from Makrana quarries in Rajasthan (transported nearly 500 miles via bullock carts and elephants) contrasts with the red sandstone of the surrounding buildings and walls. The color of the marble shifts with the hours of the day : pink in the rising sun, white in strong daylight, golden-hued at sunset and under the moon. Some say this was intentional, to replicate the ever-shifting moods of Mumtaz.

Surprising Materials

A surprise for many is that the Taj Mahal is more brickwork than marble. The white marble forms just a thin veneer. Had it been crafted entirely of marble blocks, the tomb would not have been able to support its own weight.

Under the supervision of Ustad Ahmad Lahauri and a board of court architects, construction involved masons, stonecutters, sculptors, and inlay artisans along with the best calligraphers in the land. In all, more than 20,000 laborers formed a city-within-city surrounding the complex in a project that, in its day, was comparable to the Apollo moon shot of the 1960s. And its cost was similarly exorbitant.

How much would it cost to build the Taj Mahal today? Sources are conflicting. In U.S. dollars, numbers range from as low as $70 million to as high as $1 billion. No matter how you do the math and the exchange rate, that is a lot of rupees!

Symbolic Designs

Because the Islamic faith forbids the use of human faces or imagery in decoration, the surface of the mausoleum relies on symbolism to reflect both natural beauty and divinity. Per one source, it was designed to represent “an earthly replica of one of the houses of Paradise.”

Floral Symbols

Architects chose abstract geometric forms, including herringbone inlays here and there, but especially floral designs. Flowers were considered natural symbols of the divine realm.

The designs include realistic vases, flowers, and vines carved in three-dimensional relief and polished within the marble on some panels. Such carved relief works particularly grace the lower portions of the walls.

What really catches the eye are the inlays of stylized flowers. While commonly called peitra dura (“hard stone”) from Italian traditions, in India it is called parchin kari. Precious and semi-precious stones ranging from large slabs to tiny slivers were cut, shaped, polished, inlaid, and leveled to the enclosing marble. The floral patterns they represent include tulips, lilies, irises, poppies, and narcissus. To create shaded effects, a single flower might have a dozen or more carnelian pieces in colors of varied intensity.

Taj Mahal Pattern Books

To this day, Indian artisans hold “pattern books” to craft designs originating with the Taj Mahal into marble countertops, tables, and small jewelry boxes. While few of us will ever be in a position to create or purchase a monument on the scale of the Taj Mahal, parchin kari has long been a vibrant cottage industry in this region of India.

But buyer beware! Quality varies considerably, from the finest marble that is highly durable and takes a fine polish to soft, porous marble or even soapstone that may be inlaid with plastics. The real deal is stunning to behold.

While parchin kari in airport gift shops may go for cheap, Shah Jahan spared no expense in sourcing stones for inlay from all around India, the Middle East, and Asia to grace the mausoleum for his beloved Mumtaz. For instance, carnelian came from Arabia, jade from China, jasper from Punjab, turquoise from Tibet, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and sapphires from Sri Lanka. In all, some 28 types of gemstones were used as inlay.

Common Gems in the Taj Mahal

It’s said the lapidary artists decorating the Taj Mahal chose stones “whose luster and color never fades.” Here are just a few:

• White, yellow, and black marble
• Blue lapis lazuli
• Red and orange carnelian
• Green jade
• Blue turquoise
• Jasper in varied colors
• Green malachite
• Green-and-red bloodstone
• Multi-colored banded agates and chalcedonies
• Garnet
• Sapphire

In addition to flowers, inlaid calligraphy composed of jasper and black marble graces several parts of the Taj Mahal, particularly recessed arches. The calligraphy highlights passages from the Qur’an that were chosen by the Persian Abdul Haq, who was greatly admired for his skill as a calligrapher. He used an elegant cursive style known as “thuluth script.” Shah Jahan graced him with the title “Amanat Khan Shirazi” for his work. Such was the attention to detail that calligraphy in higher parts of the building is slightly larger to reduce “skewing effects” when viewed from the ground. Everything about the Taj Mahal had to be pleasing to the eye with balance, symmetry, and harmony.

Taj Mahal Through the Years

Shah Jahan was a rich man with a rich kingdom and as such could afford inlay using the best of precious and semi-precious stones. However, if you were a ruler in a province lacking in resources but you at least wanted to look rich, you had plaster painted to look like inlaid marble or plaster inlaid with colored glass and mirrors simulating gemstones and silver. But, try as they may, none came close to replicating the real deal at the Taj Mahal.

Decorative elements in the Taj also once included gold and silver, including a gold spire atop the main dome. But Agra was invaded in the 18th century by armies of the Jat rulers of Bharatpur. They took away all gold and silver elements, as well as an agate chandelier. At some sites, all precious stones had been pried from walls and it is said that invading armies would pile wood in halls and set it ablaze to capture silver as it melted and dripped to the floors. In light of such carnage elsewhere, we are lucky the Taj Mahal escaped further vandalism over the many centuries.

By the end of the 19th century, the Taj Mahal complex had fallen into a state of disrepair. Recognizing the significance and beauty of even a tarnished Taj Mahal after India had been colonized by the British, viceroy Lord Curzon embarked on a restoration project that was completed in 1908. Despite ups and downs, India and the world continue to recognize and appreciate the beauty, symmetry, and significance of this incomparable gem of love, loss, and paradise. In the words of the poet Rabindranath Tagore, it will forever stand as “a teardrop on the face of eternity.”

Explore More

• Official website of the Taj Mahal: www. tajmahal.gov.in/

• UNESCO Taj Mahal profile: whc.unesco.org/en/list/252

• Explore the Taj Mahal: www.taj-mahal.net/newtaj/textMM/Inlay.html

This story about Taj Mahal gems previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story and Photos by Jim Brace-Thompson.

The post Exploring Taj Mahal Gemstones first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

…of amber, crystal and beaded jet

…for thy mind is opal

…his heart like an agate

…and rubies red as blood

These lines from the plays and poems of William Shakespeare are just a few of many that reflect his awareness and extensive poetic use of gemstones.

Shakespeare’s Jewelry By Words

In his 37 plays and 154 sonnets, Shakespeare uses the terms “crown,” “ring,” and “bracelet” (which one assumes are set with gemstones) some 400 times, and “precious stone” and “jewel” around 300 times. He also mentions specific gemstones and gem materials more than 100 times.

If the frequency of usage is any indication of Shakespeare’s personal gemstone preferences, he was most enamored of pearls, which he mentions 43 times, followed by diamonds at 22 times.

Shakespeare also refers to garnet, ruby, agate, amber, jet, carbuncle, emerald, turquoise, opal, rock crystal, sapphire, and chrysolite, most of which were popular gemstones and gem materials during England’s Elizabethan Era when Shakespeare did most of his writing. Examining the sources, value, and importance of these gemstones is a window into life during Elizabethan times.

About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, a village 90 miles northwest of London. While in his 20s, he became an actor, writer, and part-owner of an acting company; he went on to produce most of his work between 1589 and 1613. Although not widely acclaimed at the time of his death in 1616, he is today recognized as arguably the greatest writer in the English language.

The Elizabethan Era, which coincides with the 1558-1603 reign of Queen Elizabeth I, is considered England’s “golden age.” It marked a renaissance in art, music, theatre, and literature and was a time when many English citizens were intrigued by gemstones. The concept that gemstones set into royal crowns and scepters signified wealth, power, and authority was well-established in England by 1000 CE.

Queen Elizabeth I’s father, King Henry VIII, who reigned from 1509 to 1547, had a particular fondness for gemstones; his seven-pound, golden crown was studded with 344 gems and pearls. His daughter was equally fond of gemstones and gem-studded jewelry.

Science vs. Medieval Beliefs

The Elizabethan Era was part of the long transition period between medieval beliefs and the age of science, and its perception of gemstones was rather complex. Then as now, gemstones were statements of fashion and wealth. But in Shakespeare’s time, with mass education far in the future and illiteracy the norm, gemstones were also closely linked with medicine, folklore, and religion. And with science only in its rudimentary stages, belief in gem-related miracles and superstitions was common.

It is unknown whether Shakespeare personally possessed any of the gemstones about which he wrote. But he certainly saw many fine gems in pageants and processions during the years he lived and worked in London. His acting company also performed at royal functions where elite attendees were well-adorned with costly gems and jewelry.

Shakespeare’s Jewelry – Pearls

Shakespeare writes most often of pearls, which were hugely popular in Elizabethan England and the favorite of Elizabeth I. Shakespeare frequently associates pearls with dewdrops and tears, as in Richard II when he writes: “The liquid drops of tears that you have shed/ Shall come again transformed to orient pearl.” The term “orient pearl” referred to an especially fine pearl from the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, or the coast of India. Shakespeare seems aware of these sources, for in Troylus and Cressida, he writes: “Her bed is in India, and there she lies, a pearl.” Today, the term “orient” refers to the luster and color of a quality pearl.

Troylus and Cressida also provides an example of Shakespeare’s metaphoric use of pearls: “She is a pearl whose price has launched o’er a thousand ships.”

Elizabethan royalty wore pearls as jewelry and also as decorations on cloaks and robes. In Henry V, Shakespeare describes one such garment as “an intertissued robe of gold and pearl.” In royal portraits of Elizabeth I, her gowns are often studded with hundreds of pearls.

While the best pearls then came from the “Orient,” many of those available in Elizabethan England were freshwater pearls of somewhat lesser quality from the rivers of Scotland.

Literary Gems – Diamonds

In Shakespeare’s time, diamonds came only from the Pannar and Krishna rivers in what is now India’s Andhra Pradesh state. Although Indian diamonds reached Europe during the time of the Roman Empire, the trade did not resume again until about 1600 with the founding of the British East India Shipping Company. By then, Indian diamond mining was a major industry that employed 30,000 workers and the Indian treasury held 135,000 carats of uncut diamonds, none weighing less than 2.5 carats.

At that time, diamonds were valued less for their beauty than for their rarity, extraordinary hardness, and mystique of distant origin. Precise, symmetrical faceting as we know it today did not yet exist. Large diamonds were crudely shaped, partially faceted, or cleaved into octahedrons; smaller diamonds were set in the rough into rings and crowns.

Diamonds in England

Although few great diamonds reached England, those that did attracted the attention of many, including Shakespeare. One such diamond was the centerpiece of what came to be known as the “Three Brothers” gem ensemble. Fashioned in Paris around 1400, it featured a large, pyramidal-cut diamond, surrounded by three rectangular, red gemstones and four large pearls. The Three Brothers became part of the British Crown Jewels in 1551 and is seen in several portraits of Elizabeth I.

In the early 1600s, the value of this pyramidal diamond was stated at 7,000 English pounds, roughly the equivalent of $1.3 million in today’s U.S. dollars. Unfortunately, the  Three Brothers disappeared about 1645; its fate remains unknown. In his plays, Shakespeare employs diamonds as royal gifts or as metaphors for great beauty and value. Their monetary value is inferred in The Merchant of Venice when the moneylender Shylock laments the loss of his diamond: “Why there, there, there, there, a diamond gone!/Cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort!” That sum is roughly the equivalent of $140,000 today.

Turquoise – “Turkies”

Shylock also laments losing a turquoise of great sentimental and monetary value: “It was my turquoise/I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor.” This is Shakespeare’s only mention of turquoise.

Although the gemstone had been mined for thousands of years in Persia (present-day Iran) and in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, it was costly and rarely seen in Elizabethan England. Shakespeare, who seems to value this gemstone nearly as much as a diamond, refers to it in his original texts as “turkies”—the English root of our modern word “turquoise” and an allusion to the gemstone routes that passed through the country of Turkey.

Shakespeare also mentions the medieval custom of sacrificing gemstones to thank or beg favors from higher powers. After almost drowning, the queen in Henry VI says, “I took a costly jewel from my neck/A heart it was bound in with diamonds/And threw it towards the land/The sea received it.”

Shakespeare’s Jewelry – Amber

Lesser gemstones are sacrificed in Shakespeare’s narrative poem A Lover’s Complaint: “A thousand favors from a [basket] she drew/Of amber, crystal, and beaded jet/Which one by one she into the river threw.”

Amber, rock crystal, and jet all enjoyed great popularity in Elizabethan England. Amber, a polymerized fossil tree resin, came from the southern beaches of the Baltic Sea, where it had been collected since antiquity. Large quantities of amber reached England in trade during the Elizabethan Era.

Shakespeare’s Jewelry – Rock Crystal

Rock crystal, or “crystal” in Shakespeare’s usage, the colorless, transparent form of macrocrystalline quartz, was far more valuable in Shakespeare’s time than it is today, and was set in crowns and jewelry side-by-side with precious gems. Although lacking a diamond’s sparkle, it was much more workable and affordable. A steady supply of rock crystal was obtained from England’s Northumberland and Cumberland areas.

Shakespeare’s “crystal eyes” and “crystal tears” are metaphors for brilliance, transparency, cleanliness, or clarity, as in Richard II: “The more fair and crystal is the sky/The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.” In Romeo and Juliet, he infers that a lady’s love should be measured on “crystal scales,” meaning with great clarity of thought. Our modern expression “crystal clear” derives directly from Shakespeare’s metaphoric use of the word “crystal.”

Shakespeare’s Jewelry – Jet

And England also had the world’s premier source of jet at Whitby on its eastern coast. A form of lignite coal that occurs in small pods rather than seams, jet is fine-grained, lightweight, durable, easily workable, and takes an excellent polish. In The Merchant of Venice, jet is used to create a sharp contrast: “There is more difference between thy flesh and hers/Than between jet and ivory.” And in Henry VI, Shakespeare describes a gown’s color as “Black, forsooth, coal-black as jet.” Our descriptive term “jet-black” also stems from Shakespeare’s comparative use of the word “jet.”

Shakespeare’s Jewelry – Red Gemstones

Shakespeare’s red gemstones are “rubies” and carbuncles. “Carbuncle” then referred loosely to moderately hard, red gemstones, but especially to garnet. Red gemstones harder than garnet were specifically called “rubies.”

While a limited number of true rubies—the red gem variety of corundum (aluminum oxide)—reached Elizabethan England, most hard, red gemstones were actually spinel (magnesium aluminum oxide). The British and Dutch East India companies only began bringing quantities of true ruby from Southeast Asia to Europe around 1600. True ruby was not even mineralogically differentiated from spinel until 1783.

Spinel

Shakespeare uses “ruby” only as an adjective for a bright or rich shade of red. In Measure for Measure, he compares rubies to blood when Isabella says “the impression of keen whips I’ll wear as rubies.” Spinel was then known as “balas ruby,” from the Arabic Balakhsh for its source near the present-day Afghanistan- Tajikistan border. Balas rubies were well-known in Elizabethan England, thanks to the fabled Black Prince’s Ruby.

According to legend, this two-inch, 170-carat, irregular cabochon was taken by Don Pedro, the King of Castile, from the Muslim prince of Granada in 1367. Don Pedro later passed it on to Edward of Woodstock, known as the “Black Prince.” The gem appears in Henry VIII’s 1521 crown jewel inventory as the “large ruby” set in the Tudor Crown. Although later mineralogically identified as spinel, the Black Prince’s Ruby has nevertheless retained its traditional name.

Pyrope Garnet

Shakespeare would also have been familiar with the “rubies” in the previously mentioned  Three Brothers gem ensemble, in which the “brothers” are actually three large, rectangular-cut spinels. Shakespeare’s “carbuncle” is pyrope garnet. With its deep-red color and relative affordability, carbuncle had been a favorite gemstone in England since Anglo-Saxon times. During the Elizabethan Era, it served as a standalone gem in rings and a cloisonné inlay in gold jewelry.

At that time, pyrope came from the Ceské Stredohorí Mountains north of Prague in the Bohemia region of the present-day Czech Republic. This pyrope had weathered free from peridotite host rock and concentrated in vast alluvial deposits. This was the world’s first great Pyrope source and its type locality; some deposits are still being mined there today.

Carbuncle

In Elizabethan superstition, carbuncle generated its own internal light. Shakespeare apparently shared this view, for he uses carbuncles as the glowing eyes of ominous figures as in Hamlet, when he describes the “hellish” Pyrrhus as having “eyes like carbuncles.” Carbuncle remained synonymous with red garnet for centuries. The word “pyrope,” which first appeared in the English language in 1804, fittingly stems from the Greek pyršpos, meaning “fiery-eyed.”

Although Shakespeare usually mentions gemstones to project beauty, wealth, power, and mystery, an exception is found in the Comedy of Errors when he ironically describes a blemished nose as “all o’er embellished with rubies, carbuncles and sapphires.”

In this line, Shakespeare makes a clear distinction between ruby and carbuncle. It is also the only mention of sapphire in his plays. Sapphire then came from the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Shakespeare’s only other mention of sapphire is in A Lover’s Complaint where it is described as “heaven-hued,” reflecting the belief at the time that all sapphires were blue.

Agate Popularity

Another popular Elizabethan gemstone was agate. Most agate during this time was engraved with human likenesses and mounted in rings that were especially popular among merchants and aldermen. Agate then came from Europe’s leading gem-cutting center at Idar-Oberstein, Germany. In Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare compares engraved agate to a lover’s heart: “His heart, like an agate, with your print impress’d.”

Emerald Green

Shakespeare rarely mentions emeralds and only then as an adjective for a vivid shade of green. Until the early 1500s and the Spanish colonization of the New World, emeralds came only from Egypt’s historic mines. And these were pale and clouded, not something that Shakespeare would have chosen as a metaphor for green. But he likely had been familiar with the vividly colored, transparent emeralds just then reaching Europe from Spain’s Viceroyalty of Peru (modern Colombia).

In A Lover’s Complaint, Shakespeare alludes to the ancient belief that emeralds cured eye ailments: “The deep-green emerald in whose fresh regard/Weak sights their sickly radiance do amend.”

Shakespeare’s Jewelry – Amazing Opals

One of Shakespeare’s best-known lines in Twelfth Night is: “ . . . and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta/For thy mind is opal.” The Clown is comparing the Duke’s vacillating mind to opal’s constantly changing, opalescent colors.

Until the discovery of Mexican and Australian opal in the 1800s, the world’s only significant opal source was Cervenica in the Prešov region of present-day Slovakia. In Elizabethan times, Cervenica opal was very costly and considered especially lucky because its multicolored opalescence was thought to have captured the virtues of every other colored gemstone.

Chrysolite Equals Beauty & Value

In Othello, chrysolite is a metaphor for beauty and value: “If heaven would make me such another world/Of one entire and perfect chrysolite/ I’ld not have sold her for it.” Shakespeare’s “chrysolite” was actually peridot (forsterite, magnesium silicate) which had been mined since Roman times on Egypt’s Zabargad (St. John’s Island) and was still occasionally mined during the Elizabethan Era.

Shakespeare’s frequent use of gemstones in his plays and poems provides striking imagery and insight into the Elizabethan perception of gemstones. Two excellent sources on Shakespeare and his literary use of gemstones are Shakespeare’s Gemstones by David W. Berry (privately printed, 2004); and Shakespeare and Precious Stones by George Frederick Kunz (J. B.nLippincott, 1913, Project Gutenberg E-book reprint, 2005). Both are accessible online in their entirety.

This story about Shakespeare’s jewelry and gemstones previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe! Story by Steve Voynick.

The post Shakespeare’s Jewelry and Gemstones first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

As part of Russia’s Ministry of Finance, the Diamond Fund was established more than 300 years ago during the reign of Peter the Great. Today, it maintains one of the world’s great gem collections. Its story is an epic of gemological triumph, personal tragedy, political upheaval and, ultimately, preservation and renewed growth.

After imperial Russia ended abruptly with the 1917 Russian Revolutions, the Diamond Fund endured two decades of chaos, theft, mismanagement, and liquidation. But the Fund’s fortunes have since improved markedly; its collection now includes many of Russia’s original crown jewels and coronation regalia, some of the world’s most historic gems, elaborate Romanov jewelry, and spectacular diamonds from modern Russia’s mines.

The Diamond Fund – Humble Beginnings

The concept of crown jewels—gemstone studded crowns, scepters, and orbs—as symbols of royal wealth, power, and authority had become well-established among western European royalty by 1000 CE. But the first Russian royal regalia— simple golden caps and broad neckpieces called barmas—didn’t appear until the 1200s.

Russia’s first crown was Monomakh’s Cap, also known as the “Golden Cap.” This gold-filigree skullcap was sparsely adorned with rubies, emeralds, pearls, and topped by a golden cross. Enclosed in a circlet of sable, it clearly has a Central-Asian style.

By the time of Mikhail Romanov (Michael I, reigned 1613-1645), the first tsar of the long-lived Romanov Dynasty, Russian regalia had become increasingly elaborate with greater emphasis on gemstones, especially diamonds. The silk barma of Alexei Michailovich (Alexis of Russia, reigned 1645-1676) featured seven enameled medallions, 249 diamonds, and 255 colored gems; his orb glittered with 179 diamonds and 340 colored stones, his scepter with 268 diamonds and 360 colored stones.

Russia’s early tsars also amassed family gem collections. Alexei’s personal, six-foot-long staff was set with 178 diamonds, 259 emeralds, 3 large pearls, and 369 pink tourmalines; his personal throne, fashioned of ivory, was studded with 876 diamonds and 1,223 colored stones.

Peter the Great (Peter I, reigned 1682-1725) expanded the Russian empire and developed it into a major power. In 1719, Peter ordered the Romanov jewels to be kept separate from the state jewels, and that the latter be secured in a repository that became known as the “Diamond Room”—the forerunner of today’s Diamond Fund. He also mandated that the state jewels never be sold and that future tsars and tsarinas would contribute a portion of their personal gem collections to the Diamond Room collection.

A Change in Style

The style of Russian crowns changed in the 1700s, when design and manufacture shifted from jewelers in Constantinople (today’s Istanbul) to those in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Unlike the earlier golden skullcaps, the crown of Catherine I (reigned 1725-1727), set with 2,000 diamonds and a large pink tourmaline, copied the arched style of western European crowns.

The crown of Anna Ioannovna (Anna of Russia, reigned 1730-1740) featured two open-work hemispheres divided by an arc and topped by a cross; it was set with 2,536 diamonds, 28 colored gems, and 500-carat, a red, Chinese tourmaline.

Catherine II (Catherine the Great, reigned 1762- 1796) ruled during Russia’s Golden Age when art, music, theatre, and literature flourished. Catherine II’s fondness for gems is reflected in the Great Imperial Crown made for her coronation and now the centerpiece of the Diamond Fund’s public exhibit.

At the time, this crown’s 398.6-carat spinel, an irregular, partially faceted stone, was thought to be a ruby. It is similar in shape to, but much larger than, the well-known “Black Prince’s Ruby” (a 170-carat red spinel) in the British Crown Jewels collection. The confusion between red gems was largely resolved in 1783 when mineralogists learned to differentiate between true ruby (corundum, aluminum oxide) and spinel (magnesium aluminum oxide).

Catherine the Great also loved amethyst, which was then much more valuable than it is today. She ordered prospectors into the Ural Mountains to search for amethyst sources, which they discovered, but only after Catherine’s death in 1796. Prospectors in the Urals later found deposits of emeralds, demantoid (garnet, the green gem variety of almandine), and alexandrite. The latter, the color-change variety of chrysoberyl (beryllium aluminum oxide) was named for Tsar Alexander II (reigned 1818-1881).

By the 1800s, the state’s crown jewels included many large stones of great historical significance; the Romanov collection of gems and jewelry featured huge numbers of high-quality diamonds that came mostly from the historic mines near Golconda, India, with smaller amounts from Brazil. Although South African diamonds became available in the late 1800s, they seemed to attract little Romanov attention.

A Revolution

The final chapter of the Romanov Dynasty was written under the rule of Nikolay Aleksandrovich Romanov (Nicholas II, reigned 1894-1917), a politically inept leader who presided over a difficult period of political and social unrest. Only after World War I had pushed Russia to its social, fiscal, military, and political limits, and tore the nation apart, did the world learn the extent of the gemological treasures that the state and the Romanovs had acquired over the previous two centuries.

After the February Revolution of 1917 deposed Nicholas II, a provisional government placed the Romanovs—Nicholas, his wife Empress Alexandra, and their five children—under house arrest ostensibly for its safety, the family was exiled to Tobolsk in the Urals. The Romanovs took with them personal belongings that included a fortune in gems and jewelry.

In the October Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks ousted the provisional government and triggered a civil war. The following April the Bolsheviks confiscated the Romanovs’ belongings and moved the family to Yekaterinburg. Before leaving Tobolsk, the Romanovs hid their bulky diamond jewelry in a convent. For their financial security in hoped-for foreign exile, they sewed a fortune in loose diamonds into their daughters’ corsets and other clothing.

As an anti-Bolshevik militia neared Yekaterinburg on July 16, 1918, the Bolsheviks shot the entire Romanov family in a brutal, clumsy execution. When the daughters’ diamond-filled corsets deflected bullets, the execution was completed with bayonets. While disposing of the bodies, the Bolsheviks found 41,000 carats (18 pounds) of diamonds in the garments of the victims.

Protecting the Past

Bolshevik leaders then began debating the fate of what was collectively called the “Russian treasure”—the state’s crown jewels and regalia, along with the seized gems of the Romanovs, their extended family, and former aristocrats. The Bolshevik’s choices were either to sell the treasure abroad for desperately needed hard currency or to preserve at least part of it for its historical value.

But with no inventory and poor security, the jewels quickly began disappearing. In 1919, American customs agents in New York City detained several Russians surreptitiously carrying, and admittedly intending to sell, part of the Russian treasure.

In 1920, Bolshevik leaders established the Diamond Fund, which was similar to the original Diamond Room, as a secure repository for the jewels. The following year, they appointed a 63-member committee to inventory and appraise the treasure. But when theft was suspected, the entire committee was brought before tribunals; 23 members were executed and many others were sent to labor camps.

Taking Inventory

Just before the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was founded in 1922, the People’s Commissariat of Finance appointed another appraisal committee, this one headed by the respected mineralogist and geochemist Alexandr Evgenevich Fersman. Fersman’s inventory listed 25,300 carats of diamonds, many in gems of five or more carats. Notable stones included a 46-carat blue diamond in an imperial orb; the 189.6-carat, slightly greenish Orlov Diamond in a scepter; and the historic, 88.6 carat Shah Diamond that dated to the 1500s.

Among the 3,200 carats of emeralds, most from Colombia, were many “large and very rare” gems like the spectacular, 136-carat Sinople Queen Emerald. Half the 2,600 carats of Kashmir, Siam, and Ceylon sapphires were “gems of great historical and scientific value.” Half the 1,300 carats of red spinel were stones of 50 or more carats. Other gems included “topazes, alexandrites, aquamarines, beryls, chrysolites, large turquoises, chrysoprases, smoked-topazes, fine amethysts and agates, Bohemian grenats [garnet, pyrope, garnet], labradores [labradorite], and almandines [garnet, almandine].”

The Diamond Fund – Jeweled Surprises

Surprisingly, the inventory listed a mere 200 carats of ruby. Fersman suspected that the tsars, while certainly capable of acquiring fine rubies, had a superstitious aversion to their blood-red color.

Fersman’s examination also revealed that the 398.6 carat “ruby” in Catherine II’s Great Imperial Crown was actually a spinel. This stone, acquired in China by a Russian envoy in the late 1600s, turned out to be the world’s second-largest gem spinel.

Another surprise concerned the historic “Caesar’s Ruby.” This 255.6-carat, raspberry-shaped “ruby,” a gift from Sweden to Catherine II in 1777, proved to be rubellite, the red variety of the tourmaline-group mineral elbaite.

The inventory listed very few amethysts, alexandrites, and Russian emeralds, which was surprising since these stones were regularly mined in the Urals. Fersman believed that the Romanovs had simply preferred foreign gems and had lavishly gifted most of the Russian stones to foreign dignitaries.

Precious Eggs

The inventory also included the jeweled eggs of Peter Carl Fabergé’s House of Fabergé, the jeweler to the crown. Between 1885 and 1916, Fabergé had made 51 jeweled, “imperial eggs” for the Romanovs. Among them was the “Lilies of the Valley,” an especially elaborate egg with enameled portraits of three Romanov family members. Made of pink enamel, gold, diamonds, and pearls, it had been a gift from Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra in 1898.

In 1922, the value of the Russian treasure was estimated at four million rubles (more than $1 billion in 2021 dollars). The intent to convert at least some of the treasure into hard currency was apparent in the appraisal committee’s final report, Russia’s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones. Published in 1925 in catalog form in German, French, and English, it was clearly a prospectus aimed at enticing foreign gem buyers.

Up for Sale

In 1927, the Soviets approved a major sale of the Russian treasure—154 lots of gems, jewelry, and regalia that were sold at a London auction. These items included some of Catherine the Great’s jewelry; an 1884 diadem with 1,375 diamonds, including a rare, 13-carat pink stone; and the 1840 Russian Nuptial Crown set with 1,535 diamonds. The Soviets justified the sale by deeming these objects to be of “little historical importance.”

But even as some jewels were being sold, others were turning up. In 1933, Soviet investigators tracked down the Romanov jewelry that had been hidden in the Tobolsk convent in 1918. Among the 150 individual pieces recovered were two brooches, each set with more than 100 carats of diamonds.

The Soviet government continued to quietly sell the Russian treasure to private buyers until 1936. By then, more than half the original inventory of 1922 had been sold, misplaced, or stolen. But, fortunately, the remaining items included most of the historic Russian regalia, some of which dated to the 1300s.

Of the Romanovs’ 51 Fabergé imperial eggs, 41 were either lost or sold into private ownership; only 10 remain in the Diamond Fund today. The value of these imperial eggs became clear in 2004, when the “Lilies of the Valley” egg sold for $12 million to a private Russian museum. That same year, a Russian billionaire paid more than $100 million to acquire nine Fabergé imperial eggs from an American collector.

Although the state and the Romanovs had amassed huge numbers of diamonds, Russia itself had never been a diamond producer. But during the industrialization that followed World War II, the Soviets needed, but would ill afford, a steady supply of industrial diamonds. In 1946, confident that diamonds existed somewhere in Siberia, the Soviets launched an intensive exploration program.

Eight years later, Russian geologists discovered the Zarnitsa and Mir diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes. By the 1960s, the Mir open pit was producing 10 million carats of diamonds per year—a remarkably high 20 percent of which were gem quality. Over its 40-year life, the Mir pit yielded more than 100 million carats of diamonds and contributed $25 billion to the Soviet economy. Today, as the world’s leading diamond producer, Russia mines six kimberlite pipes and recovers 43 million carats per year.

The Diamond Fund – Growing the Collection

Since Russia began mining its own diamonds, the Diamond Fund collection has grown substantially. Under state policy, the Fund acquires all Russian-mined raw diamonds larger than 50 carats and all faceted diamonds larger than 20 carats. Recent acquisitions include a 342.5-carat diamond from the Mir pit that was named, in inimitable Soviet-style, The 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Diamond; the 320.7-carat Alexander Pushkin Diamond, named for the celebrated Russian novelist and poet of the early 1800s; and the 298.48-carat Creator Diamond.

The Diamond Fund collection also includes Russian gold nuggets, among them a 36.2-kilogram (80-pound) specimen found in 1840 and a 33-kilogram (73-pound) nugget mined in 2003, both from the Urals.

Showing Off

The Diamond Fund collection had remained securely locked out of sight in the Kremlin Armory until a temporary public exhibition was held in 1967 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Because of great public interest, the exhibit became permanent the following year. The value of Diamond Fund’s collection was then estimated at more than $7 billion. In 2012, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Great Imperial Crown, the Diamond Fund fashioned a modern replica. Made of white gold at a cost of $15.5 million, this replica glitters with 11,426 diamonds, 74 large natural pearls, and a 398-carat, purplish-red, irregular red tourmaline.

With the irreplaceable, original Great Imperial Crown too valuable to leave the Kremlin, its replica is part of traveling exhibits inside and outside of Russia. Also, because mounted gems are worth much more than loose stones, the value of the thousands of diamonds in the replica has substantially increased. And that’s important, because the Diamond Fund collection, currently valued in excess of $50 billion, partially backs the Russian ruble.

The Russian Diamond Fund story is one of gemological triumph in amassing world-class collections, tragedy in their seizure and sell-off, and triumph again in their partial preservation and renewed growth.

For fascinating reading, Aleksandr Evgenevich Fersman’s 1925 committee report on Russia’s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones is accessible in its entirety online.

This story about the Russian Diamond Fund previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Steve Voynick.

The post The Diamond Fund: Exploring Russia’s Jeweled Past first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

Gemstones of the Bible – Sacred Breastplate

The Bible’s most celebrated – and debated – reference to gemstones regards the sacred breastplate of the high priest of the Israelites, also known as “Aaron’s breastplate” and the “breastplate of judgment.” Described in detail in the Old Testament’s Book of Exodus, this golden breastplate was set with 12 different gemstones arranged in four rows of three gemstones each. Each gemstone was identified in ancient Hebrew, the original language of the Old Testament.

But the text of the original Hebrew Bible and the meanings of many ancient Hebrew words are now largely lost. Our knowledge of the Old Testament as presented in the Bible’s many English versions is based on 2,500 years of scholarly interpretation of Greek, Aramaic, and Latin translations

Gemstones of the Bible – Debating Identities

Not surprisingly, the identities of the breastplate gemstones have become confused. Modern English versions of the Bible collectively offer more than 40 different identities for the 12 breastplate gemstones. Most are modern names of gemstones, minerals, and mineral varieties, along with some archaic English names and several untranslated Greek and Latin names.

Adding to the confusion, modern artistic depictions of the breastplate often disregard the probable color and transparency of its gemstones. Many depict the gemstones as faceted, transparent gems, even though faceting as we know it today was not developed until about 1400 C.E. Prior to the first century B.C.E., most gemstones were opaque or translucent and were fashioned as cabochons.

For centuries, historians, theologians, and scholars have debated the identities of the breastplate gemstones and agree only on the general historical background of the breastplate itself. According to biblical scholars, the Old Testament was written over a period of 1,000 years, roughly from 1400 to 400 B.C.E. The breastplate was created about 1450 B.C.E. during the time of Moses. The Book of Exodus, which contains the breastplate description, is based almost entirely on oral tradition and was written in stages between 600 and 400 B.C.E.

Gemstones of the Bible – Tricky Translations

Most interpretations and translations of the names of the breastplate gemstones were provided by scholars with little, if any, geological, gemological, mineralogical, or sometimes even historical, awareness. Their translations are based largely on tradition, limited gemstone knowledge, personal whim, or simple phonetics – sapphieros must mean “sapphire,” and topazos must means “topaz.”

But Dr. James A. Harrell, Professor Emeritus of Geology at the University of Toledo, has taken a different approach to identify breastplate gemstones. A specialist in the archaeological geology of Egypt and the Middle East, Harrell presents his ideas in a paper published in the Bulletin for Biblical Research and titled “Old Testament Gemstones: A Philological, Geological, and Archaeological Assessment of the Septuagint.”

The Septuagint is a third through first-century B.C.E. Greek translation of the original Hebrew Bible. The name “Septuagint” stems from the Latin septu gint, meaning “seventy” and refers to the number of Jewish scholars who worked on the translation. As a first-generation translation, the Septuagint is the most direct linguistic link to the identities of the breastplate gemstones.

Gemstones of the Bible – Breastplate Order

In his research, Harrell considered all Septuagint passages that mention gemstones and not just those related to the breastplate. He also consulted numerous other contemporaneous ancient texts that describe gemstones that are likely the same as those in the breastplate.

Historically, Harrell considered the gemstones that were known to be in use in the greater biblical region (southwestern Asia, Egypt, and the eastern Mediterranean) during the first millennium B.C.E. He also applied geological criteria to gemstone identification and drew upon his own field research and personal examination of ancient gemstones in museum collections.

As described in Exodus, the order of the breastplate gemstones progresses from right to left, as does ancient Hebrew writing. The first stone in each row, therefore, appears at the right and the third stone in each row at the left. In the following discussion, the stones are identified by the transliteration of their Septuagint Greek names that have so confused translators.

Sardion

Sardion is the first stone in row one of the breastplate. It has been translated as “carnelian,” “sard,” “sardonyx,” and “red jasper.” Archaeological recoveries indicate that carnelian and sard, both translucent forms of microcrystalline quartz, were the most common gemstones throughout the biblical region during the first millennium B.C.E. Carnelian is reddish; sard is brownish. Sardonyx is a brown-and-white-banded type of sard. Red jasper, an opaque form of microcrystalline quartz, also served as a gemstone, but not nearly to the extent of carnelian.

In his Naturalis Historia, the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, 23-79 C.E.) describes sardion as a widely used, “fiery, red gemstone.” As a gemstone for the breastplate, Harrell concludes that bright-red carnelian would certainly have been chosen over sard, sardonyx, or red jasper.

Topazos

Topazos is the second stone in row one of the breastplate. Topazos has been translated as “topaz,” “chrysolite,” “emerald,” and “peridot.”

Its earliest reference, written in the second century B.C.E., describes “a delightful, transparent stone similar to glass and with a wonderful golden appearance.” Another calls it “topazion Ethiopias,” meaning “topazos from Ethiopia.” During the biblical period, “Ethiopia” referred to Egypt’s Eastern Desert and nearby Red Sea islands.

Pliny writes that this stone came from the Red Sea island of Topazum (now Zabargad Island). He calls it the largest of the precious gemstones and the only one that is affected by an iron file – a description that indicates topazos is peridot, the gem variety of the olivine-group mineral forsterite (magnesium silicate). At Mohs 6.5, peridot is just soft enough to be scratched with an iron file, unlike the harder emerald and quartz gemstones. And the basalt formations of Zabargad Island, a classic peridot locality, have yielded very large peridot crystals.

Topaz, or basic aluminum fluorosilicate, is much harder than peridot and does not occur in basalt. Topaz was given its modern name in the 18th century when it was confused with the ancient topazos. Harrell is confident that the breastplate’s topazos is definitely peridot.

Smaragdos

Smaragdos is the third stone in row one of the breastplate. Smaragdos has been translated as “beryl,” “carbuncle,” “emerald,” “malachite,” and “turquoise.” In his On Stones, the Greek scholar Theophrastus (ca. 371 – ca. 287 B.C.E.) writes that smaragdos refers to a group of bluish and greenish stones and that it is “good for the eyes,” implying a cool, soothing color. He also mentions that blocks of smaragdos large enough to fashion into obelisks were common.

Emerald was not readily available until mines in Egypt’s Eastern Desert opened in the late first century B.C.E. At that time, smaragdos was also referred to as emerald, probably because of its similar green color. But the size of the smaragdos that Theophrastus describes certainly does not indicate emerald.

Some early descriptions of smaragdos would fit malachite. During the first millennium B.C.E., malachite was mined as the primary ore of copper on Cyprus and the Sinai Peninsula, and in Israel’s Timna Valley. Malachite was associated with such colorful, oxidized copper minerals as turquoise, azurite, and chrysocolla, which sometimes occurred in large, intermixed blocks.

Anthrax

Anthrax is the first stone in row two of the breastplate. Anthrax has been translated as “carbuncle,” “emerald,” “ruby,” “turquoise,” and “red garnet.” The Greek word anthrax refers both to hot embers and to a gemstone with a similar, glowing red color. Theophrastus describes it as “very rare and small, and carved into signets,” and compares its color when held against the sun to that of a glowing, red coal. He notes anthrax being “angular and containing hexagons.” Garnet group minerals, which crystallize in the cubic system, often occur as spheroids with hexagonal faces.

Pliny, who refers to anthrax as carbunculus, notes its “exceptional brilliance.” The substantial density of garnet-group minerals produces a high index of refraction and thus greater “brilliance” than many other red gemstones. Pliny also observes an amethyst-violet tone in the basic red color of anthrax. The almandine-pyrope garnet series, which has purplish-red colors, were the garnets mainly used in antiquity. Although garnet was occasionally found in the biblical region, most came from India after the third century B.C.E. Harrell concludes that the breastplate’s anthrax is red garnet, most likely a member of the almandine-pyrope garnet series.

Sappheiros

Sappheirosis the second stone in row two of the breastplate.

Sappheiros, the origin of our modern word “sapphire,” has been almost universally translated in the Bible as “sapphire.” Yet sappheiros is actually lapis lazuli, a prized gemstone and a major trading commodity throughout the biblical period.

Lapis lazuli is a metamorphic rock consisting of lazurite, calcite, pyrite, and other minerals. Lazurite, a basic sodium calcium aluminum sulfate chlorosilicate, is the primary mineral in lapis lazuli and the cause of its striking blue color. In top-quality lapis lazuli, pyrite appears as glittering, disseminated specks. Many ancient writers have compared the dark-blue color and glittering pyrite specks of sappheiros to a star-filled night sky.

Since 4000 B.C.E., the Sar-e-Sang mines in northeastern Afghanistan have produced the world’s finest lapis. The corundum gemstone we now know as sapphire was not available in the first millennium B.C.E. Had it been available, its extreme hardness would have made it very difficult to work.

There is no doubt that the breastplate’s sappheiros is not sapphire, but lapis lazuli.

Iaspis

Iaspis is the third stone in row two of the breastplate.

The Bible’s long list of iaspis translations include “beryl,” “diamond,” “rock crystal,” “emerald,” “jasper,” “onyx,” “moonstone,” “chrysoprase,” and “amazonite.” Theophrastus writes that iaspis was carved into seals, and groups it with smaragdos, implying that it has a bluish or greenish color.

Pliny describes it as “a highly prized stone,” translucent and with blue and green varieties. Although these descriptions are general, iaspis could be greenish microcrystalline quartz, perhaps a color variation of jasper. Iaspis is also the origin of the modern word “jasper.”

But another possibility is amazonite, the green-to-blue variety of microcline feldspar, which was mined in Egypt during the first millennium B.C.E. and saw limited use as a gemstone. However, Harrell believes that iaspis is more likely a greenish microcrystalline quartz, perhaps a form similar to chrysoprase.

Ligyrion

Ligyrion is the first stone in row three of the breastplate.

Although ancient literature consistently indicates that ligyrion is amber, a fossilized tree resin, it has also been translated as “zircon,” “tourmaline,” and “opal.” The ancient Greeks knew ligyrion as elektron and were aware of its electrostatic properties. Rubbing ligyrion with wool cloth produces a strong negative electrostatic charge that attracts feathers and other light, positively charged materials.

Theophrastus writes that elektron is found in Liguria, an area of northwestern Italy and southeastern France, where it is “dug from the earth” and “has the power of attraction.” Other writers use the words elektron and ligyrion interchangeably.

In his Naturalis Historia, Pliny notes the sources of ligyrion, which he calls sucinum, as Liguria and the “northern sea” – the latter referring to the Baltic Sea coast. The Baltic coast supplied the Roman Empire with large quantities of amber and remains the world’s most prolific amber source.

Some biblical historians have translated ligyrion as yellowish or brownish zircon; others as tourmaline, likely because of tourmaline’s electrostatic properties. But neither zircon nor the tourmaline-group minerals were used as gemstones during the first millennium B.C.E., whereas amber was common. Harrell believes that ligyrion is definitely amber.

Achates

Achates is the second stone in row three of the breastplate.

Achates has usually been translated as “agate,” which is almost certainly correct. In On Stones, Theophrastus discusses achates as “a handsome stone from the river Achetes in Sicily that fetches a high price.” The Achetes River (now the Drillo River) is the root of the English word “agate” and a classic agate locality.

Pliny describes different colors and patterns of achates, all of which fit agate. He also writes that achates “was once held in high esteem, but now enjoys none,” apparently indicating that formerly valuable translucent and opaque gemstones had fallen out of favor in Rome by the first century C.E. and had been replaced by transparent stones from India.

Amethystos

Amethystos is the third stone in row three of the breastplate. (row three, third stone)

The Greek word amethystos, the root of the English word “amethyst,” has been translated only as amethyst and has no conflicting identifications. Amethystos means “without drunkenness;” the stone was believed to prevent drunkenness or to alleviate its unpleasant aftereffects.

Theophrastus discusses amethystos as “transparent … with the color of red wine … and found by splitting certain rock.” This description fits amethyst, because red wine is actually purplish-red, and amethyst often occurs in geodes that must be “split.” Pliny describes the stone as “violet” and notes that it comes from Egypt, where the Abu Diyeiba mine produced amethyst throughout the first millennium B.C.E. The ancient descriptions of amethystos can only fit amethyst.

This story about gemstones of the Bible previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe! Story and photos by Steve Voynick.

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I did not take to this remark kindly and had to bite my tongue not to make a caustic comment in return. However, as I drove away I remembered that she had several beautiful emeralds she couldn’t bear to part with, along with a stunning piece of quartz that she recently bought from one of her customers. Ha, I thought, she is nothing but a rockhound herself. She just has more specialized knowledge of the minerals in her area.

Rockhounds come in all shapes, sizes, occupations, and ages. I recently left Arizona and turned over the leavings of the rockpile in my backyard to the neighborhood children. Within hours, it disappeared – the baby boom of five new rock piles and five new rockhounds.

Small Rocks

Some rockhounds just collect micro-mounts. They usually give one the feeling that they are the crème de la crème of rockhounds. I have spent many boring hours looking through a magnifying glass at the minute grains in their collections.

They always have several of these glasses around and at least one microscope. I’ve noticed they lower their voices at what they have paid for these tiny bits of rock if their spouse is not a collector. Rockhounds do get sneaky if only one partner collects. I once moved 1,500 pounds of rock across the country in cartons marked “books” so that my husband wouldn’t realize just why the moving company was charging us so much.

Precious Metals

I have been friends with many a gold prospector that maintains all he wants to do is “strike it rich.” But, when they do find a nugget of considerable size, where is it?

I’ll tell you! It’s usually in their home or pocket so they can show it to others. They are just rockhounds of precious metals.

Latent Rockhounds

I have friends who own a commercial quartz crystal mine in Arkansas. Do you think they can part with their best pieces? Of course not. Their home is lined with shelves of beautiful specimens, along with their driveway, porch patio and even their kitchen window. They have all the symptoms of dyed-in-the-wool rockhounds.

You don’t need to carry the label rockhound to be one. I’ve met people who would scoff if I called them that. The stray rock I saw in their yard or home was just something they picked up because it was pretty or interesting looking. I know one person who has a ping-pong table filled with rocks picked up over the years because they were interesting. In my estimation, all of the above are latent rockhounds.

Artifacts & Precious Gems

If you have ever met a collector of Native American artifacts, have you noticed that they can tell you just what kind of minerals their arrowheads are made of — quartz, chert, granite, obsidian, etc. Rockhounds all!

And, I can’t help but think that precious gem collectors and jewelers are in it for more than just monetary reasons. The few I know can give me a rundown on each gem, virtue by virtue, carat by carat, sheen by shine. They are just the elitists in the rockhound field. I might add that I would love to graduate into this type of collector myself.

Fossil Hunters

Have I mentioned fossil hunters? Ordinary rocks are not for them, their collection has to tell a story of inland seas and ancient times. They collect anything from petrified foraminifers to agate dinosaur droppings. I must admit that most of us rockhounds have some fossils in our collections, but we would be hard-pressed to tell you just what we had and what age it came from. We usually take our finds to knowledgeable members of our group for identification. I once met a rockhound I called an “old fossil” but that had nothing to do with collecting. Almost every group has one of them present!

Budding Rockhounds

Rockhounding can be catching and we “rockers” usually infect the people around us. My husband, who at one time wouldn’t get out of his chair to look at a meteor if it fell from the skies in front of him, has changed his attitude over the years. I once made him go gold panning with me and he sat on the banks of a small stream and watched me work for several hours.

I dug deep holes, moved large boulders, carried tons of dirt in pails and fell into both the creek and a patch of poison ivy. His only comment was, “If I made you work this hard at home, you would divorce me!” Cleaning out the car after I arrived home, I found this useless piece of granite with mica in it. “Where did this come from?” I asked. “Well,” he replied, turning a little red, “I found it in the stream and thought it was pretty.” I call this a budding of a blooming rockhound.

Another little bud is my daughter. She is vehement in declaring that she is no rockhound. Last week I talked her into going with me on a trip to a nearby quarry. She agreed as long as I didn’t expect her to look for anything and she reinforced this statement by putting a lawn chair, suntan lotion and a book in the truck with us. She also made several nasty comments about crazy people who spend the day breaking apart boulders and calling it fun.

When we got to the quarry she took one look at the beautifully fractured garnets impregnated in the granite schist, grabbed my extra sledgehammer and went to work. Hours later, she had the truck filled with huge rocks, saying that she collected more than she needed because she wanted her brothers to have some of them for their homes. Now, all of my children have 30 to 40-pound doorstops and enough rocks to start a rock garden. I hate to think of what we would have brought back if she had been a “rockhound.”

Being Aware

One nice thing about rockhounding is that it heightens your awareness of nature and the riches of this planet earth. Rockhounds also develop an ability I call “vision sharpening.” I now notice everything on the ground around me. Indoors, this talent has led to minutes more play at the one-armed bandits in Las Vegas as I am now adept at finding coins on the casino floors. Outdoors, I not only find lots of interesting rocks, but I also have collected pop can rings, petrified bubble gum, lost keys and a smattering of dried rabbit and burro droppings. Once, I found what I thought was a fantastic fossil and only after picking it up, did I realize that it was a decomposing fish that still needed a few thousand years to cure. I might add that no one in the group came near me for the rest of the day. I smelled as ripe as the fish after this encounter!

Rockhounds are dreamers. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t pursue our hobby to the extent that most of us do. My favorite dream is where the curator of the Smithsonian is begging me on bended knee to donate the magnificent specimen that I just found to the museum. I already know my answer, “Golly, I would like to, but it looks so good on my fireplace mantel that I can’t give it up.” This answer also proves that some of us have rocks in our heads.

The First Rockhounds

The woman I met at the emerald mine just doesn’t realize that a person needn’t be a geologist, or specialist, to enjoy rockhounding. You can be a housewife, doctor, lawyer, or truck driver — whatever. You can rockhound every weekend or just collect whenever you see a rock that catches your eye. You can join a club or go it alone. As far as I am concerned, civilization started when a rockhound first picked up a stone and decided that it might make a good tool. One of man’s greatest accomplishments included a rockhound field trip. We call that resultant collection “moon rocks.” In conclusion, I think that rockhounding is born and bred into all of us, it remains passive in some, but the rest of us can be seen trekking through fields and streams hauling out “specimens” for our collections.

This story about what is a rockhound appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Marilyn Mchugh Meier.

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Where to Find Pink Natrolite

Pink natrolite is easily found. It is sold at rock shows and can also be found online. Most of this material is smaller-sized pieces under a couple of inches in either direction and relatively soft, about 4.5 on the Mohs scale. The one thing to look for when shopping for this material other than the pattern is its thickness. Always look at both sides and make mental notes of whether or not there will be enough material for a cab after the botryoidal backside has been sanded down flat.

Since this is a seam material, you won’t have to do any slab cutting. Instead, you’ll have to trim out your preforms and then sand the backside. This material comes quite often in curled pieces, not always flat, so you’ll have to make adjustments as to how to trim each preform so that you can get a flat-backed cab.

Cabbing Pink Natrolite

Once you have your preforms cut out and are ready to cab, natrolite is fairly easy to cab. Though it looks like larimar, it’s much softer and doesn’t break apart as larimar does. So, start on an 80-grit steel wheel to shape your cabs. Go lightly at first, get a feel for the hardness of the material, and then start doming your cab.

Many people like to use 220 “steel” wheels in their setup, but I like to use 140 soft resin diamond wheels before moving on to the 280 grit. It quickly removes deep scratches and takes much of the hard work away so that by the time you are ready to move on to the 280, the majority of your work is already done. At the 280 grit stage, this is where you need to make sure all the scratches are completely gone before moving on.

Checking Scratches & Finishing Up

With this material, it can be very difficult to see scratches due to the white coloring and radial crystal patterns, so it’s best to have a good light source in your shop and to dry off the cab thoroughly to see if the surface is scratch-free.

By the time you finish the 600 grit stage, you’ll notice a nice polish already appearing; it doesn’t take much to get a brilliant mirror polish on natrolite. Continue to the 1200 and up to 14k grit. From here, you shouldn’t have to go any further, and this should yield a beautifully polished cab.

This story about crystallized fossil clams appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Russ Kaniuth.

The post What to Cut: Pink Natrolite first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.

QUICK TIP: When a slab has a uniquely shaped opening caused by the method of infilling in the rough, it’s got to try to incorporate it into the cabochon, especially when it will enhance the piece.

Utilizing an Interesting Feature

The plume agate pictured had a very interesting vug with a botryoidal inner surface. Finding these features when you are slabbing a particular rock is often an accidental occurrence, but it is a plus. I designed the cab so that the vug was positioned horizontally near the bottom, and it ended up well suited for my cab.

Obviously, wearing this cab as a pendant would not be the best choice because the background, whatever it is, would detract from the cab. Also, the cab’s translucency detracts from its potential beauty, so I decided to install a backing on the cab. My preferred backing is basanite, a black basalt. It is quite durable and takes a great polish.

Filling a Void

Even after selecting and polishing the basanite, there was still a void in the piece’s lower right side. I decided to embed a small round stone to fill the void. I struggled a bit in selecting the material to use, as I wanted something to enhance the cab. Then I remembered I had a few small fire agate pieces that might do the trick, but many of the pieces are very directional in their color pattern. I needed a piece that would exhibit its best color when it was hanging as a pendant. This necessity narrowed the choice of available pieces to just one. As I was grinding and polishing the piece, I rotated it under the light to make sure it would show well in all orientations. It did have some slight issues regarding orientation, but I made sure to mount it in the ideal position.

I used diamond wheels to recess the basanite area, where I intended to mount the fire agate. The basanite layer on the back of the cab is 3mm thick, so I recessed the stone 1-1/2mm. I wanted this recess to ensure the durability of the adhesion on the fire agate cab.

Jack-O-Lantern Appeal

As I was applying the epoxy 330 adhesive, I had to be careful to keep it out of the “window” area of the cab so it wouldn’t detract from the beauty of the stone. I think the final appearance has a Halloween jack-o-lantern look to it.

This story about how to make a jack-o-lantern cabochon appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Bob Rush.

The post How to Make a Jack-O-Lantern Cabochon first appeared on Rock & Gem Magazine.