The Gemstone in Different Cultures | Gemstone Treatments | Overviews
Our Personal Gemstone Top 10
1) George Frederick Kunz: Gems and Precious Stones of North America (a complete overview of 1890)
2) Robert Boyle: An Essay about the Origin and Virtue of Gems (1672) 3) W.R. Catelle: Precious Stones (a reference for Jewellers) (1907) 4) Edwin Streeter: Pearls and Pearling Life (1886) 5) Georg Agricola: De Natura Fossilium (Textbook on Mineralogy) (1556)
6) Louis Feuchtwanger: A Popular Treatise on Gems (1867)
7) George Frederick Kunz: The Curious Lore of Precious Stones (1913)
8) Al-Biruni: On Stones (10th century)
9) Rev. Charles King: Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems (1865)
10) (pseudo-?) Albertus Magnus: A Virtue of Herbs, Stones and Certain Beasts (16th century)
A Gemstone in Asia
Tavernier (Hope diamond) writes about Kingdom of Pegu, Ceylon, Persia etc.
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Most Valuable Gemstone
Read the formal statement of the USGS in 1916 (!!!): What is the difference between precious and semi-precious stones ?
Renaissance times: Values of most precious gemstones (Agricola, 1600's)
Gemstone Art and Engraving
One of the foremost experts in history on Gem Engraving
Other Gemstone Catalogues
Antique catalogues of Mineral Collections (last 5 centuries) Parts I , II and III (articles published in 2006 in the Mineralogical Record, all PDF) includes Gemstone Collections as well.
University of Pennsylvania has a great list of books on gemstones.
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