known
to occur of a large size, and of which the emerald itself is the
precious type—or else masses of green quartz. The true emerald occurs
in crystals seldom over one inch in length. The Indian emerald has been
applied both to signets and personal ornament alike in Ancient Greece,
Italy, Egypt, and Arabia.
It
must not be confounded with the so-called Oriental emerald of India,
which is nothing less than a green ruby or sapphire, characterised by
its sap-green colour, and, however curious as a gem, undeserving of the
appellation of emerald.
The
extraordinary rise in the value of this gem since the year 1700 has
known many fluctuations. The basis of valuation up to 1710 was one
quarter of the price of table diamonds of same weight, or about 3s. 9d.
per grain. A 10-carat emerald was worth about £160. From 1720 to 1780
the quantity of emeralds brought to the European mirkets had so largely
increased as materially to diminish their value. At the end of last
century rough emeralds were sold at the following approximate
prices:—Inferior small, 20s. per oz. troy; medium small, 40s. per oz.
troy; fine small, £8 per oz. troy; fine medium small, ,£10 per
oz. troy; while the very best rough, in larger sizes, fetched only .£15
per oz. troy, equal to 151-1/2 carats.
Parcels of emeralds, now very rare, of medium colour, are offered at from ,£10 to £15 per carat. I have purchased small emeralds of good colour, within this month, at £6 per carat.
I
should like to dissipate an idea frequently entertained by amateurs
that the commercial value of many of the abnormal specimens of emerald
on record is in proportion to their size, as for example, the Duke of
Devonshire's emerald, weighing 1,360 carats; Duleep Sing's emerald,
measuring 3 in. by 2 in.; and a large sexangular emerald recently
looted at Mandalay which while its weight approximates to 200 carats,
is distinguished by size but not quality.
THE MINOR GEMS.
I
regret that time this evening only enables me to sketch the outline of
a chapter always dear to the art goldsmith. The application of the
minor or aesthetic gems, as they are often called, has possessed a
peculiar attraction to the craftsmen and purchasers of many ages. *
It
is true that from the times of early Greek art most of the gems enjoyed
their mythology, but it is no less a fact that the important group of
semiprecious gems, classed by their commercial value to-day, seem to
have been those most involved in the legendary fable pervading the
Christian era. The exquisite tones peculiar to these gems of lesser
value establishes them as a separate category when compared to the
magnificent or acknowledged gems. Their natural beauties could not fail
to endear them to the artist in search of that which is best adapted to
the harmonies of the cinque cento.
I
do not think it possible for any gem to arrogate a greater a,rt value,
for example, than the amethyst, worn in the Middle Ages as an amulet
and preservative in battle, besides being one of the pious or
episcopal gems, invariably to be seen in the shrines, frequently
centring the bishop's morse, incrusted in the chalices of Italian and
German art1—in short, playing its part wherever it was desirable to impart serious beauty or dignity to the property of the Church.
To
say that the amethyst, because it is only a beautiful variety of
coloured crystal, should descend from its eminence as an art gem, would
be to assert that which no artist could feel. If it were only as
valuable as the sapphire, it is easy to believe that its popularity
would be even greater.
Then
we have the chrysolites, the topazes of various hues, the beautiful
family of the garnets, Oriental varieties of which ranked with gems of
higher order rather more than a century ago.
The
peridot, which is worthy of a denomination of its own, other than its
generic name of chrysolite, in spite of its softness, ranked with the
gems from the 15th to the end of the 17th centuries, doubtless by
reason of its perfectly artistic colour.
