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Alabandicus, Almandine, Garnet

Alabandicus, Almandine, Garnet Page of 453 Alabandicus, Almandine, Garnet Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
ALABANDICUS.
53
kindled up more brightly than the others when held and turned about in the light of the fire or sun. In the shade within doors the colour was purple; in the open air flamy; that the wax sealed with such a gem would melt even though in the cool."
These descriptions of the several varieties of the ancient Carbunculus will be rendered more intelligible by a brief account of the various Garnets known to the modern lapidary. First in value comes a rare stone, the Guarnaccino of the Italians (from Vernaccia, red wine), of a vinous yellow, seeming to hold the mean between the Jacinth and the Garnet, since it unites the distinctive marks of both, combining the orange of the one with the wine-colour of the other. It is a splendid stone, of great lustre, and, when of the first quality, can with difficulty be distinguished from the browner tinted Spinel. Fine Roman intagli frequently, and sometimes imperial portraits, occur in this admirable material.' The Common Garnet is precisely of the colour of Burgundy wine, more or less diluted according to its goodness. The Pyrope differs slightly from this chemically (magnesia replacing in it the peroxide of iron), but not in appearance, except in being clearer and brighter. The Carbuncle is somewhat darker than the last; and is, in fact, the common Garnet cut " en cabochon," or into a very convex form on the upper surface, whilst the base is hollowed out more or less to give translucency to the stone; for in their native state they are so dark in tint as to be nearly black until held against the light, when the red becomes visible. Many antique Carbuncles are found with the back hollowed out, precisely in the modern manner; but, if the quality of the stone allowed it, the ancients preferred cutting the bottom of the gem to a plane surface, instead of increasing the risk of fracture to so brittle a material by diminishing its substance. The Vermilion Garnet, or Vermeille, is of a bright red, with a considerable mixture of yellow, retaining nothing of the vinous tint of its class, and differing but slightly from the Guarnaccino.
Alabandicus, Almandine, Garnet Page of 453 Alabandicus, Almandine, Garnet
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