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EMERALD.
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than 10 lire the carat. It is believed that in the treasury of Loreto there is still a quantity of emerald crystals, which being naturally united together, are of the size of a human head. They were dedicated there to the Virgin, by the miners of Peru, represented by the Marquis of Aragon, then ambassador from Spain to Rome.
It is said that in the imperial treasury of Vienna there is an emerald which weighs 2,205 carats and is valued at 300,000 gold crowns. In a work entitled ' Mémoires du Eègne de Catherine II.,' it is asserted that there is an emerald belonging to the Eussian crown as large as a hen's egg. The finest emerald known is in the imperial cabinet of St. Petersburg ; it weighs 30 carats ; its colour and clearness are perfect.
I saw, with the Count Lavinio Spada, a natural emerald which came from Peru ; it was of a beautiful colour, and was ten centimetres long and about five wide.
It is said that Dhuleep Singh has a very perfect emerald about five centimetres long, three in width, and two in height.
The Duke of Devonshire has one which weighs nine ounces.
Beautiful engravings on emerald are made, notwithstanding the fragility of the material. Ismenia, an ancient Italian musician, is said to have had one representing Amimone, daughter of Diana ; Gorlee, of Antwerp, published the illustration of a large oval emerald
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