corundum, USA.12, Montana.12, gems

Reports on the Sapphire and Ruby Company of Montana’s proposal to raise $2,250,000 through a London stock offering to acquire 4,000 acres of gem-bearing land along the Missouri River near Helena. Drawing on comments by George Frederick Kunz of Tiffany & Co., who had inspected the deposits, the article describes sapphire-bearing placers extending six or seven miles between Ruby and Eldorado Bars, approximately sixteen miles east of Helena. The stones occurred in gold-bearing gravels described as glacial and had previously been recovered as a by-product of gold sluicing rather than through systematic sapphire mining. Growing commercial interest had prompted an option on extensive properties in 1889 and the formation of smaller companies intending to recover gemstones either alone or together with gold. Kunz characterizes the sapphires as brilliant but generally pale, with a wide range of yellow, blue, green, and intermediate colours. Stronger greens tended toward blue-green rather than emerald-green, while finely cut stones reportedly displayed a distinctive, apparently metallic lustre. Eldorado Bar had produced one to two pounds of sapphires daily, although individual crystals rarely exceeded one-quarter to one-half inch in length. A particularly fine green cut specimen weighed approximately 3½ carats. The report highlights the commercial difficulty posed by these unusual colours, which differed from the ruby-red and sapphire-blue shades preferred by buyers. Although Kunz states that conventional red rubies and blue sapphires had not been found, he also mentions two small specimens of those colours in the Amherst College collection.

gems, Arabic mineralogy

A treatise on the properties of popular gemstones, including diamonds, rubies, emeralds, aqeeq (a stone of particular importance to Islam), and several others, attributed to a famous Muslim physician in the Mughal court, Hakim Muhammad Sharifi (1722–1807). The author details the physical attributes of each gem, then goes on to describe their spiritual properties and how each affect health and mood, can work to cure disease, and how one might use gemstones in alchemy. Works on the properties of gemstones were quite popular across the Muslim world as an offshoot of both science and folk medicine; their use in alchemy, the precursor to modern chemistry, was popular. Here, gemstones can guard against miscarriage, prevent internal pain, bad luck, or a fearful disposition.

gems, Arabic lore, history, Arabic mineralogy,

Probably an abridgment of a work composed by Zain al-Dīn Muḥammad Jāmī for Shāh-Rukh Bahādur Khān. Its 12 chapters treat diamond, yāqūt, ruby, emerald, pearl, turquoise, bezoar, amber, lapis lazuli, coral, carnelian, and jasper, giving information on their mines, properties, supposed influences, and values in florins, with frequent references to European jewelers. A related Kapurthala manuscript dated 1747 adds musk and rock crystal.

gems, Arabic lore, history, Arabic mineralogy,

Composed for Shāh-Rukh Bahādur Khān, the work is divided into 12 chapters. Storey associates it with an abridged Jawāhir-nāmah dealing with diamond, yāqūt, ruby, emerald, pearl, turquoise, bezoar, amber, lapis lazuli, coral, carnelian, and jasper, describing their mines, properties, supposed influences, and values and frequently referring to European jewelers.