Modern Jeweler’s Consumer Guide to Colored Gemstones / by David Federman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Federman, David, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mineralogy.

Arts.

Fine Art.

Local Subjects:

Mineralogy.

Fine Art.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (253 pages) : color illustrations

Edition:

1st ed. 1990.

Other Title:

Consumer guide to colored gemstones.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Springer US : Imprint: Springer, 1990.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Since early 1989, a gem dealer I've known for years has been calling me every few weeks to brief me on mounting mayhem in Colombia's lucrative emerald market. The troubling gist of these calls is always this: There is a full-fledged turf war going on between that South American country's bustling drug and gem trades for control of its emerald ex­ port business. According to this dealer and several others, anywhere from two to four thousand emerald industry people, mostly miners and deal­ ers, have been murdered since 1980. No doubt the gem sector, itself never gun shy, has retaliated in full and in kind. After all, the two groups have banded together in an intermittent alliance against a common enemy-Communist guerillas-with results the CIA would envy. I mention this bloodshed because of something the gem dealer once said to me: "I bet you never think of what a gem has to go through to get to a jewelry store:' He's right. I tend to think of colored stones as things of beauty, not objects of gruesome power struggles between mining kingpins and drug lords. Can you blame me, or anyone with insider knowledge, if a gem sheds any connection with its past once sculpted by a cutter into the glittering mar­ vel we see in a jeweler's showcase? Like Odysseus listening to the sirens' song, we become victims of an aesthetics-induced amnesia.

Contents:

Brazilian Alexandrite

Russian Alexandrite

Amber

African Amethyst

Andalusite

African Aquamarine

Brazilian Aquamarine

Cat’s-Eye Chrysoberyl

Citrine

Coral

Australian Pink Diamond

Fancy Blue Diamond

Fancy Brown Diamond

The hope Diamond

The Tiffany Diamond

Fancy Yellow Diamond

Colombian Emerald

Zambian Emerald

Demantoid Garnet

Malaya Garnet

Rhodolite Garnet

Indicolite

Iolite

Burma Jadeite

Kunzite

Lapis Lazuli

Moonstone

Morganite

Australian Black Opal

Australian White Opal

Mexican Fire Opal

American Freshwater Pearl

Chinese Freshwater Pearl

Conch Pearl

Japanese Akoya Pearl

Tahitian Black Pearl

Burma Peridot

Rubellite

Burma Ruby

East African Ruby

Star Ruby

Thai Ruby

East African Fancy Sapphire

Kashmir Sapphire

Padparadscha Sapphire

Pink Sapphire

Sri Lankan Sapphire

Star Sapphire

Yellow Sapphire

Yogo Sapphire

Pink Spinel

Tanzanite

Blue Topaz

Pink Topaz

Precious Topaz

California Tourmaline

Chrome Tourmaline

Tsavorite

Turquoise

Zircon.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

1-4684-6488-4