gems, archaeology, archaeogemology, EThiopia, Aksum, historical

A voyage to Abyssinia, and travels into the interior of that country, executed under the orders of the British government, in the years 1809 and 1810; in which are included, an account of the Portugese settlements on the east coast of Africa, visited in the course of the voyage; and a concise narrative of late events in Arabia Felix. And some particulars respecting the aboriginal African tribes, extending from Mosambique to the borders of Egypt; together with vocabularies of their respective languages / Illustrated with a map of Abyssinia, numerous engravings, and charts.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A travel account by Jean-Joseph Dauxion Lavaysse describing Trinidad, Tobago, Margarita and parts of Venezuela based on his experiences in the Caribbean and northern South America. The work combines travel narrative with observations on geography, population, colonial society, agriculture, commerce, natural history and regional resources. Lavaysse discusses the economic products and physical character of the territories he visited and provides a useful early nineteenth-century European account of Venezuela and the neighboring islands during a period of major political and commercial change. For gemological research, its relevance is secondary, chiefly through notices of local natural resources and mineral wealth rather than any sustained treatment of gemstones.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A large bilingual Latin–German and German–Latin dictionary based on the lexicographical work of Immanuel Johann Gerhard Scheller and prepared in this edition by I. J. G. Scheller-Lünemann. The Handlexicon provides Latin vocabulary with German equivalents and German terms with their Latin counterparts, including terminology drawn from classical literature, natural history and the sciences. For gemological research, it is useful for interpreting historical Latin names for gemstones, minerals, metals and related materials and for establishing how such terms were understood and translated by German scholars in the early nineteenth century. Its principal value is therefore linguistic and terminological rather than mineralogical.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A work by the German chemist Karl Wilhelm Gottlob Kastner concerned with establishing chemistry on a systematic scientific basis. Kastner discusses chemical principles, substances and analytical methods within the rapidly developing framework of early nineteenth-century chemistry, including their application to mineral substances. Of interest to mineralogical and gemological history is the use of chemical analysis to characterize minerals and distinguish substances that could not reliably be separated by external appearance alone. The work reflects the period in which chemistry was becoming fundamental to mineral classification and provides context for Kastner’s contemporary investigations of mineral materials, including jade.

corundum, Sri Lanka.12, gems, pearls

An early nineteenth-century account of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) by Robert Percival, describing the island’s geography, inhabitants, economy, natural resources and colonial administration. Of particular gemological interest are his detailed remarks on the pearl fisheries (pp. 59–80), including the Gulf of Mannar fishery, its organization, diving and commercial importance, and his discussion of the island’s minerals and precious stones (pp. 352–360). The work is a useful contemporary source for the natural resources and gem-related industries of Ceylon at the beginning of British rule.

gems, history of gemology, zircon, hyacinth

Among the precious stones coming from Sri Lanka, there occurs a particular genus, hitherto little noticed, which is distinguished from other gems by the following characters. Its colour consists of various shades of pale yellowish green and a dull hue inclining altogether toward smoky grey. Externally, a greasy lustre is observed, and it feels rough when uncut. The size of the individual stones is inconsiderable; commonly twenty or thirty of them weigh only one drachm. The form of their crystals is a rectangular four-sided prism (parallelepipedon), terminated by tetrahedral faces resting upon the edges. However, this form of crystallization is distinctly perceptible in very few specimens only, for the greater part occur merely as loose, minute, rounded grains (abgerundete Geschiebe). But this kind of gem is especially distinguished by its specific gravity, which I have found to be 4.615. Romé de l’Isle was the first, to my knowledge, who mentioned these particular species of stones from Ceylon as a gem; giving them the name Jargon of Ceylon, and stating their specific weight, according to Brisson’s experiments, at 4.416. Other mineralogists and writers, who notice this stone, class it — some with the sapphire, others with the topaz, others with the ruby, others with the diamond, and some with the hyacinth. But Werner has assigned to it a peculiar place in the mineralogic system, immediately under the diamond and the chrysoberyl, and called it Zircon (Silex circonius).

corundum, ruby, sapphire, Burma.12, gems

An account of Michael Symes’s diplomatic mission to the Burmese court at Ava in 1795, undertaken on behalf of the British government in India. Symes describes Burma’s geography, government, society, religion, commerce, natural resources and relations with neighboring countries, together with his journey to and reception at the royal court. Of particular gemological interest is his discussion of Burma’s precious stones, including the ruby-producing region and the royal control and valuation of gemstones. The work provides an important late eighteenth-century European account of the Burmese gem trade and of the association between the kingdom and its celebrated ruby deposits.

gems, peridot, olivine, Egypt, Zabargad, St. John’s Island

An investigation by Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin of beryl from Saxony following Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff’s announcement that it contained a supposed new earth, which he named Agustine (Agusterde). Vauquelin chemically examined the material to determine whether this represented a genuinely new substance and found no justification for recognizing Trommsdorff’s proposed earth as a new constituent. The paper belongs to the intense late eighteenth-century effort to determine the chemical composition of minerals and identify new elements and earths. Of gemological interest, it contributed to clarification of the chemistry of beryl shortly after Vauquelin’s own discovery of glucina (beryllia) in beryl and emerald.

gems, jade, ruby, Burma, Myanmar, China, Yunnan

A wide-ranging description of the natural resources, products, geography, peoples, and material culture of Yunnan, completed by Tan Cui in 1799. The work comprises 13 sections, including caves and mountains, minerals and stones, aromatics, implements, animals, plants, and peoples. Of particular gemological importance is the second section, Zhi Jinshi [志金石], which discusses gold, silver, copper, jade, amber, gemstones, pearls, cinnabar, and other mineral substances. Its account of jade is especially significant because it explicitly describes jade from the region beyond Tengyue, the extraction and trading of boulder-like rough material, its transport to Dali and Yunnan, and the considerable uncertainty involved in cutting the rough to reveal fei cui [翡翠]. It is therefore an important early source for the history of the Burmese jadeite trade into China. The work was completed in 1799 and first printed in 1804. Sun Laichen: Volumes 2, 5, and 9 contain descriptions of Burmese products, including jade and jade Buddha images, penis bells, eggplants, insects, rubies, cotton, and cotton cloth. Prefaced in 1799 and printed in 1804.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, green feldspar

A brief mineralogical notice by Claude-Hugues Lelièvre on the green feldspar of Siberia, the material now known as amazonite, a green variety of microcline feldspar. Lelièvre discusses the distinctive green stone and its mineralogical character at a time when the identities and relationships of feldspar varieties were still being established. The notice is of gemological interest as an early scientific reference to Siberian green feldspar, a material valued for ornamental and lapidary use and subsequently known as amazonstone or amazonite.