Where Do Emeralds Come From?

In ancient times, the various gems were distinguished only by their colours. The name ruby was given to all precious stones of a red hue. All green stones were called emeralds. All those of blue were called sapphires.

Later on it was seen that some of the gems were harder than others and endured longer. So it came about that the value of a gem depended not only on its colour, brilliancy, and rarity, but also on its hardness.

All the gems are called precious stones. But strictly speaking, "precious" is used only for the four most valuable stones—the dia­mond, the ruby, the emerald, and the sapphire. The other valuable stones are called semiprecious.

The emerald is one of the softest of the precious gems. It is a variety of beryl. In its perfect state an emerald is a rich, clear green. But flawless stones are seldom found and for that reason are very expensive.

In ancient times, all the emeralds came from the mines of Egypt. These mines are still worked today but yield only a small quantity of the precious stones. The finest emeralds are at present obtained from the mines near Bogota, Colombia. There are also emerald de­posits in the Ural Mountains of Russia and in the Salzburg Alps. A few fine emeralds have been found in North Carolina. And more re­cent discoveries of emeralds have been made in the Transvaal in South Africa.

There are many legends about emeralds. One of them is that the Holy Grail—the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper—was carved from a huge emerald. The emerald was believed to have medical power, too. It was supposed to have the power of curing the “falling sickness" (epilepsy). Another old legend about the emerald was that it endowed its owner with the gift of foretelling the future. It was said that by looking into its green depths one could see the things that were to come to pass!

The largest known uncut emerald is five centimetres long and five centimetres in diameter.

Diamonds are the result of a process that took place in nature. Millions of years ago, the earth was gradually becoming cooler. At that time, there existed beneath the ground a mass of hot liquid rock. This mass was subjected to extreme heat and pressure. As a result of this, molecules of carbon became packed together in dense, clear crystals. A diamond is simply a crystal of pure carbon.

When a diamond is found in "rough" form, its outside appearance is rather dull. Now man takes over to make it into the sparkling gem we all know about. Most diamonds are sawed in two, and each half is shaped and cut into a round diamond called a brilliant.

Then little faces, or facets, are cut into the diamond. The aver­age brilliant is cut into fifty-eight facets, or even more. These facets make a diamond sparkle.

The reason for this is that a diamond has a very high refractive power. This means that when light enters it, the diamond bends the light more than other substances do. The light, instead of passing through the diamond, is bent so that it is reflected back into the stone. So a greater amount of light is returned to our eyes when we look at a diamond and it looks more brilliant. The diamond also breaks up the light into its different colours, which gives a diamond its "fire".

Did you know that diamonds were not worn as personal orna­ments until 1430, when a Frenchwoman called Agnes Sorel started the custom? From then on the custom spread.