gems, corundum, Ceylon.12, Sri Lanka.12

A posthumous collection of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy’s writings on the geology and mineralogy of Ceylon, bringing together his scientific papers, official reports, and related comments from the period when he served as Director of the Mineralogical Survey of Ceylon. The volume documents his geological and mineralogical investigations of the island, including studies of rocks, minerals, ore deposits, and economically important mineral resources, and reprints his Ceylon Administrative Reports for 1903–1906. Of particular gemological interest are his observations on Ceylon’s gem deposits and gem-mining industry, including the occurrence, recovery, and distribution of precious stones. The collection preserves the early scientific work of Coomaraswamy before his subsequent career as an influential historian of Indian and Asian art and provides an important contemporary source for the geology, mineralogy, and gemology of early twentieth-century Ceylon.

gems, early gemology, early lapidaries, medieval lapidaries, alchemy, medicine, Dioscorides

Studies a late medieval medical and alchemical manuscript preserved in Palermo’s Biblioteca centrale della Regione Siciliana (MS I.E.6). The volume combines writings on the reputed therapeutic properties of stones, plants, and animals with magical remedies, invocations, and prayers. Cherubini publishes selected texts, including the prologue to the “Book of Fanuel,” material attributed to Dioscorides, and portions of the Liber Kyranidis. An appendix inventories the manuscript’s contents, documenting the coexistence of medical, lapidary, and magical traditions.

gems, Somalia, Somaliland, ruby, sapphire, garnet

Recent geological surveys indicate that Somaliland has abundant deposits of gemstones, from emerald to aquamarine, ruby and sapphire as well as vast amounts of garnet, quartz and opal, and lesser-known minerals such as titanite and vesuvianite. Somaliland in northern Africa appears to be the new potential gemstone-bearing area comparable to Madagascar or Tanzania. In addition to pegmatite, which are the host rocks of emerald and other kinds of beryl such as aquamarine, Somaliland has metamorphic rocks that hold nodules of ruby and sapphire. There is little understanding of its mineral deposits, but villagers in Somaliland use primitive tools to dig out a range of gemstones that they offer for sale to dealers locally. When aid officials at the European Community (EC) office in the capital, Hargeisa, first saw the gemstones, they believed they had been stolen from graves. To determine whether these stones came out of the ground or were stolen, EC invited Dr. Judith Kinnaird, a consultant geologist and gemmologist from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, to investigate. Dr. Kinnaird visited the country twice and, in addition to identifying gem minerals, she helps local miners distinguish among similar coloured minerals and is working with Progressive Interventions (supported by EC funding) to help set up a gemmological association and marketing channels. Somaliland is part of the Mozambique Belt and was formerly part of the same landmass as Madagascar, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and India prior to continental drift. Recovery of gemstones began only in 1988 and is still carried out in a primitive and haphazard manner. The gem-producing belt is a narrow strip between 30 and 80 km wide and 200 to 300 km long, running roughly parallel to the Gulf of Aden. The country, once a British protectorate, suffered a nine-year civil war from 1982, leaving infrastructure like roads and bridges in disrepair. Dr. Kinnaird described access to gem deposits as difficult and hazardous. The terrain includes high mountains and coastal regions with temperatures reaching up to 50°C. Two emerald-producing areas, Alihiley and Simodi, occur at the contact of pegmatite and chromium-bearing schist. Patchy colour development and dual-colour zoning were observed in crystals. At Simodi, pegmatite is visible across the hillsides, and emerald is being mined again after years of inactivity, despite dangerous pit conditions and lack of equipment. In Alihiley, rudimentary mechanical tools like a compressor are used. East of the emerald belt, aquamarine and other beryls occur in pegmatite intruding granite, giving rise to large but often cracked crystals coloured by iron or titanium. Reports also mention yellow beryl (heliodor). Ruby and sapphire are found in metamorphic rocks, not pegmatite. Ruby has been found in red corundum cores with green zoisite, while sapphire occurs in nodules, greenish-blue near the surface and better-quality blue material at depth. Unlike other African countries, ruby and sapphire are not found together. Garnet is extremely abundant, in red to orange colours and of multiple types, including pyrope and almandine, and some green garnets initially mistaken for Tsavorite were identified as vesuvianite. Orange to yellow opals lacking play-of-colour have been found, but high-quality reddish opal with good play-of-colour also occurs, possibly in both lava and gypsum/anhydrite strata. Quartz is widespread, including high-purity rock crystal, smoky quartz, banded forms, and deep purple amethyst. Additional minerals include red spinel, watermelon tourmaline, colourless topaz, blue and green vesuvianite, titanite, apatite, and zircon. Some locals mistake quartz for diamond, though Dr. Kinnaird clarified there are no diamonds in Somaliland.

gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, China

corundum, Inclusions.5, Tanzania.12, Madagascar.12, gems

gems, early lapidaries, early gemology, early mineralogy, Albertus Magnus, Augustine, Roger Bacon

Examines magic and alchemy in medieval thought, focusing on powers attributed to minerals and precious stones and their criticism in the writings of Augustine, Albertus Magnus, and Roger Bacon. The discussion considers these beliefs in relation to Christian theology and medieval natural philosophy.

jade, jadeite, fei cui, Burma, lavender jade, gems

Describes cathodoluminescence as a nondestructive method for distinguishing natural jadeite from maw-sit-sit and chloromelanite, and for differentiating treated from untreated material. Examples of cathodoluminescence spectra illustrate the responses of the materials examined and their potential application in gemological identification.

gems, lapis lazuli, Afghanistan, history of gemology, gem trade, Central Asia, archaeology, archaeogemology

Lapis lazuli was the true precious stone of the ancient Near East—a key symbolic element in both the Near East and Egypt—its possession was a mark of political and religious power. Its history, which began as early as the Neolithic period (in the 7th millennium), continued into the Bronze Age up to the 2nd millennium B.C. and beyond. It is attested at sites more than 3,000 km apart, from Central Asia to Mesopotamia, and from Syria to Egypt. It is a rare rock, difficult to obtain due to its origin in very high mountains with access limited by natural conditions. The lapis lazuli worked in the ancient Near East came from the Badakhshan mines (Afghanistan), from Gorno-Badakhshan in the Pamirs (Tajikistan), and possibly from the Chagai Hills (Pakistan). Lapis lazuli saw its greatest use in the mid-3rd millennium, as shown by the fabulous wealth of the Royal Cemetery tombs at Ur. The study of manufacturing debris and tools indicates the existence of a shared sequence of production steps for making lapis lazuli ornaments. Regional styles emerged depending on whether the adornments came from Egypt, Syro-Mesopotamia and Susiana, or from Iran (outside Elam) or Central Asia. The hierarchical city-states of Syro-Mesopotamia were major consumers of symbolic goods, which also served their propaganda. Craftsmen worked within workshops dependent on palaces or temples. The Epic of Gilgamesh shows the gods equipping favored beings with lapis lazuli or providing them with protections before entering the underworld. Lapis lazuli symbolizes the life force that is the source of divine power. It is both agent, sign, and manifestation of the circulation of goods, ideas, and cultural representations, as well as of relationships of influence, domination, and exchange among the centers of Near Eastern civilization from the 4th to the 2nd millennia B.C.

corundum, synthetic corundum.7, gems

Gemological investigations of Tairus hydrothermal synthetic ruby revealed characteristic microscopic features, including solid alloy inclusions consisting mainly of copper–iron alloys and wavy growth lines. Chemical analysis by microprobe showed that the chromium concentration in the area of the growth lines averaged 3.81 wt.% Cr₂O₃, as compared to 1.53 wt.% Cr₂O₃ in the remainder of the stone. Characteristic infrared absorption peaks are 3308, 3233, and 3186 cm⁻¹.

gems, agate, Germany, Idar-Oberstein, history, lapidary, fashioning

Surveys five centuries of gemstone activity in Idar-Oberstein, tracing the development of the region from its documented late-fifteenth-century beginnings into one of the world’s best-known centers for gemstone cutting, trading and gemological research. Bank reviews the historical exploitation of local agate and other quartz materials, the growth of water-powered cutting mills along the Nahe and Idar, and the transformation of the industry after imported rough—particularly agate from Brazil—supplemented declining local supplies. The article follows the expansion of Idar-Oberstein’s lapidary and jewelry trades, its increasingly international gemstone connections, and the establishment of institutions devoted to gemology, education, research, museums and commerce. Published for the 500th anniversary of the gemstone region, it presents Idar-Oberstein’s history as a continuous interaction between local mineral resources, specialized cutting skills, international trade and organized gemological expertise. The article is illustrated with 10 photographs, two maps and a table.