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    Gem and Stone: Jewels of Earth, Sea, and Sky
    Gem and Stone: Jewels of Earth, Sea, and Sky
    Gem and Stone: Jewels of Earth, Sea, and Sky
    Ebook200 pages1 hour

    Gem and Stone: Jewels of Earth, Sea, and Sky

    By Jenifer Altman, Heather Smith Jones and Thomas W. Overton

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    About this ebook

    Gem and Stone celebrates 50 different gems ranging from timeless classics like diamond and emerald to exotic beauties such as lapis lazuli, peridot, and even petrified wood. Altman's photographs capture the splendor of each gem alongside brief text highlighting the stones' chemical makeups, metaphysical properties, and associated folklore throughout human history. Hand-drawn illustrations by Heather Smith Jones and an insightful foreword by mineralogist Thomas W. Overton round out this lustrous volume. Rock hounds, new age practitioners, and contemporary decorators and fashionistas will all delight in this treasure of a book.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChronicle Books Digital
    Release dateAug 24, 2012
    ISBN9781452119090
    Gem and Stone: Jewels of Earth, Sea, and Sky

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      Book preview

      Gem and Stone - Jenifer Altman

      Gem and Stone

      JEWELS OF EARTH, SEA, AND SKY

      by

      Jen Altman

      foreword by Thomas W. Overton

      illustrations by Heather Smith Jones

      Table of Contents

      Dedication

      Acknowledgments

      Foreword

      Introduction

      Agate

      Amazonite

      Amber

      Amethyst

      Apatite

      Aquamarine

      Aragonite

      Azurite

      Bloodstone

      Calcite

      Carnelian

      Chalcedony

      Chrysocolla

      Chrysoprase

      Citrine

      Copper

      Coral

      Creedite

      Crystal Quartz

      Diamond

      Dolomite

      Emerald

      Fluorite

      Garnet

      Gold

      Hematite

      Howlite

      Jasper

      Kyanite

      Labradorite

      Lapis Lazuli

      Lepidolite

      Malachite

      Meteorite

      Moonstone

      Opal

      Pearl

      Peridot

      Petrified Wood

      Pyrite

      Rhodochrosite

      Rose Quartz

      Ruby

      Sapphire

      Schorl

      Silver

      Stibnite

      Topaz

      Tourmaline

      Turquoise

      More Minerals

      Zodiac and Birthstone Charts

      Metaphysical Notes

      Resources

      References

      Index

      Copyright

      FOREWORD

      uman beings have valued gems and minerals for reasons beyond their mere utility for millennia. Indeed, evidence of humanity’s obsession with pretty rocks predates recorded history. Archeologists believe that the oldest examples of natural materials employed for gem use—some of which may date to as many as 100,000 years ago—were shells, coral, pearls, amber, and the like. Rocks such as turquoise, jade, and lapis lazuli are also of ancient lineage, having been used in the earliest human civilizations.

      Though we may struggle to understand the daily lives of the Neolithic peoples who first collected and worked natural materials for their aesthetic and cultural value, and though such people would be reduced to awestruck wonder at modern society, it is likely that one of the few common points of reference—as basic as food, water, and children—would be an appreciation for gem materials. A Neolithic shaman and a modern mineral collector might not be able communicate about much else, but they would share the same reverence for a well-formed quartz crystal.

      Gems are mined on almost every continent and in every ecosystem on Earth: from the frozen reaches of Greenland to the torrid deserts of Ethiopia, from the towering heights of the Hindu Kush to the ocean depths off the coast of Namibia, and from the sweltering jungles of Colombia to the arid wastes of the Australian outback. The sole exception is Antarctica, which is protected from mineral exploitation by international treaty—but some geologists suspect it could hold rich deposits of diamonds under its vast ice cap. Gems and minerals know no political boundaries. The world’s finest rubies are the product of one of the world’s most despotic regimes in Burma, while some of the richest diamond mines on Earth are found in enlightened, democratic Canada. The mining and marketing of gems and collectable minerals likewise touches the full spectrum of humanity: from the poorest subsistence farmers in Africa and Asia, supplementing their income by digging for gems in the dry season, to the wealthiest individuals on Earth. (One of the gems in Warren Buffett’s portfolio is the famed Borsheims, the largest jewelry store in the United States.) A rough pink diamond dug from a riverbed in Africa and sold to a dealer for a few thousand dollars may later sell at auction to a wealthy collector in Geneva for millions.

      The cultural importance of gems and minerals is difficult to overstate. Though preferences vary by region and era, one can track the rise and fall of a civilization through its use of gem materials. The Chinese character for jade, (yu), is one of the oldest in the Chinese language (though it accurately refers to a variety of carving stones, including jade), and the procession of Chinese dynasties over the centuries is reflected in the artistic styles of their jade carvings. The ancient Greeks and Romans were fond of engraved gems, and the sophistication of their carvings ebbed and flowed with the heights of their empires. India, the only source of diamonds until the mid-eighteenth century, evolved an elaborate caste system for the stones. Colorless diamonds were assigned to the highest caste and were reserved for royalty. Other colors were assigned to priests, merchants, soldiers, and other occupations, with black diamonds left for common laborers (who probably could not have afforded the gems anyway).

      Diamonds bedecked Indian royalty for centuries— the maharajahs were renowned for their gem wealth, some of them sporting massive diamond necklaces that would make the flashiest rap artist of the twenty-first century blush. The Mughal emperors of the seventeenth century took things to heights never seen before or since, crafting the legendary Peacock Throne from more than a ton of pure gold and hundreds of rubies, emeralds, diamonds, and pearls. When French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was allowed to inspect the throne in 1665, he estimated its value at 100 million rupees. It’s difficult to guess what its value might be today, but on materials alone, it would likely be worth well over $50 million.

      Such wealth naturally drew envious gazes. Per-sian emperor Nader Shah sacked Delhi in 1738, carrying away the Peacock Throne and numerous other priceless treasures. When the British conquered the Punjab a century later, in 1849, one of their first acts was to seize the legendary Koh-i-Noor Diamond and spirit it off to London. There it remains as part of the English Crown Jewels, to the continuing irritation of Indian politicians and historians.

      The Indians were, of course, not alone in their use of gemstones to mark high status. European monarchs have used gem-encrusted crowns and regalia as symbols of their might since the Dark Ages, and the Egyptian pharaohs spent vast sums filling their tombs with gold and gemstone artifacts. The gold and emeralds of the Incan rulers, much of it believed to have been stolen during the Spanish conquest, have likewise remained the stuff of legend. Wherever archeologists have looked, from Mesoamerica to Celtic Europe to the vast expanses of Asia and Africa, nobility and gems have gone hand in hand.

      Naturally, with gems being prized by so many people of power, they have also spawned numerous wars and conquests. The devastation wrought by the Spanish conquistadores in pursuit of emeralds is a matter of bloody historical record. The British conquest of northern Burma in 1885 was driven in part by a desire to control the rich Burmese ruby mines—a plan that largely failed, as the Burmese rulers fled with their legendary hoard ahead of the British army. A few years later, diamond magnate Cecil Rhodes (the founder of the De Beers cartel) led his British South Africa Company in the conquest of what would become the nation of Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe), largely in pursuit of diamonds and gold.

      In the twentieth century, the relationship between gems and conflict has given rise to the term resource curse. Many of the conflicts in postcolonial Africa can be attributed to a desire to control natural resources, especially diamonds. Bloody civil wars in Angola, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sierra Leone in the 1990s—largely funded by trade in illicit diamonds—led to an unprecedented public focus on

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