EMERALD |
Emeralds
are fascinating gemstones. They have the most beautiful, most intense and
most radiant green that can possibly be imagined: emerald green. Inclusions
are tolerated. In top quality, fine emeralds are even more valuable than
diamonds.
The
name emerald comes from the Greek 'smaragdos' via the Old French 'esmeralde',
and really just means 'green gemstone'. Innumerable fantastic stories have
grown up around this magnificent gem. The Incas and Aztecs of South America,
where the best emeralds are still found today, regarded the emerald as a
holy gemstone. However, probably the oldest known finds were once made near
the Red Sea in Egypt. Having said that, these gemstone mines, already
exploited by Egyptian pharaohs between 3000 and 1500 B.C. and later referred
to as 'Cleopatra's Mines', had already been exhausted by the time they were
rediscovered in the early 19th century.
Emeralds
have been held in high esteem since ancient times. For that reason, some of
the most famous emeralds are to be seen in museums and collections. The New
York Museum of Natural History, for example, has an exhibit in which a cup
made of pure emerald which belonged to the Emperor Jehangir is shown next to
the 'Patricia', one of the largest Colombian emerald crystals, which weighs
632 carats. The collection of the Bank of Bogota includes five valuable
emerald crystals with weights of between 220 and 1796 carats, and splendid
emeralds also form part of the Iranian National Treasury, adorning, for
example, the diadem of the former Empress Farah. The Turkish sultans also
loved emeralds. In Istanbul's Topkapi Palace there are exhibits with items
of jewellery, writing-implements and daggers, each lavishly adorned with
emeralds and other gems. |