corundum, Sri Lanka.12, gems

AS SOON as a traveler sets foot on the shores of Ceylon he comes under the subtle charm of the land, and is quickly imbued with the feeling that it would be most incongruous if such a climate did not produce the most luxuriant foliage, the most beautiful flowers, the most luscious fruits; if such a soil did not give forth the most wonderful profusion and variety of precious stones; if such surrounding waters did not yield the most resplendent pearls. Ceylon has long been celebrated for its sapphires, rubies, cat’s-eyes, moonstones, opals, amethysts, carbuncles, and emeralds; but none of these, nor all of them combined, have given to the island the fame and the romantic setting that have been conferred on it by the product of the limpid waters that bathe its coral strands and sandy beaches. The poetic name of Ceylon today is “The Pearl on India’s Brow.” Colombo, the principal city of modern Ceylon, is a stopping place for all the steamers plying between Europe and Asia and Australia, and is therefore visited by thousands of tourists and travelers each year. But the pearl fishery is so remote from Colombo that not one visitor in ten thousand ever goes there. In Colombo a person sees only a fraction of the great pearl crop, of which more than 90 per cent—99 per cent in some years—goes to India; but this fraction is sufficiently seductive to the transient visitor to render uncertain the time and manner of his arrival home, for the pearl shops in Colombo are veritable magnets that irresistibly attract the contents of purse and wallet. The pearl fishery of Ceylon and of India and the Persian Gulf is of very great antiquity, and is thought to be the oldest established fishery now in existence. The Sinhalese records, going back to about 550 B.C., indicate that the fisheries were then well developed, and there is reason to believe that they flourished at least 500 years before. At a very early period the pearls brought the island into prominence abroad, and were in great repute in Rome at the time of Pliny, who, referring to Ceylon under the name of Taprobane, wrote that it was “the most productive of pearls of all parts of the world.” From the most remote period of which there is any record, it would appear that the pearl fishery played a very important part in the history of Ceylon, having had more or less direct and intimate relations with every important aspect of the civilization of the island. The information available clearly suggests that from the earliest times the fishery was conducted in much the same way as in our own day—the same methods of obtaining the pearl oysters, of handling the catch on shore, and of extracting the pearls. In the words of a local writer, “Ceylon is a place with a glorious past. Its once magnificent cities are now but a mass of crumbled and half-buried ruins; its native dynasty has passed away forever;”

corundum, Madagascar.12, gems

Based on Lacroix’s account of his four-month mineralogical exploration of Madagascar, this paper describes the island’s remarkable gem-bearing pegmatites and the rapid development of gemstone prospecting following the French occupation. Lacroix reviews earlier reports of precious stones dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and notes the failure of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century attempts at exploitation. He then discusses Madagascar’s abundant beryls and other gem minerals, emphasizing the exceptional quality of its pink beryls and yellow tourmalines, which he considered unrivaled elsewhere. The article is an important early firsthand account of Madagascar’s emergence as a major source of gem minerals and was translated into English the following year as “A Trip to Madagascar, the Country of Beryls” in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.

Sinkankas: This very large, beautiful, and superbly produced book was manufactured from the finest materials as befitted the tastes and the pocketbook of J. Pierpont Morgan, and provides one of the finest collection catalogs of all time. Even more lavish is the de luxe version described below. The depicted and described objects fall into the following classes: jewels, portraits in wax, carved woodwork, rock crystal and glass, gold and silver plate, and others made from various precious materials, and the precious objects of Prince’s Gate. The gemologist will find the section containing rock crystal carvings and containers the most interesting for its discourses on the nature and occurrences of rock crystal, and the artisans responsible for the execution of a considerable number of the larger vessels and other objects made from quartz. The section on miscellaneous objects made from precious materials also contains interesting matter on gemstone objects made from cryptocrystalline quartzes, and also a sole example of carved jade. Elsewhere objects are made in part from pearl, nacre, amber, diamond, emerald, corundum, peridot, topaz, turquoise, etc. John Pierpont Morgan: b. Hartford, Conn., 1837; educated in Switzerland & Germany; entered the financial field 1856; formed own company 1895; formed United States Steel Corporation 1901. Eminent art collector, rare book collector, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; benefactor of this and the American Museum of Natural History (Morgan Collection of Gems); d. NYC 1913. See Pierpont Morgan as Collector and Patron 1837–1913, New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 1970, wrappers, 39 p., ill.

corundum, Sri Lanka.12, gems

corundum, ruby, sapphire, Sri Lanka.12, gems

A concise account of the crystalline rocks of Ceylon, intended to summarize their character and classification as then understood. Coomaraswamy discusses the terminology of “gneiss” and “granulite,” preferring the latter for many Ceylonese rocks, and regards them as belonging to the Charnockite Series described from southern India, the two regions forming a closely related petrographical province. He describes the principal rock types and their mineral banding, together with the crystalline limestones and rocks intermediate between limestone and granulite. The latter may contain diopside, phlogopite, amphibole, scapolite, spinel, sphene, calcite and, more rarely, serendibite, and may occur at limestone–granulite contacts, as inclusions, dykes or bands; some also yield mica of commercial value. Coomaraswamy argues that, whatever their ultimate origin, the crystalline limestones were essentially contemporaneous with the granulites and crystallized under broadly comparable high-temperature conditions. He also distinguishes the wollastonite-bearing Galle group and discusses the structural geology of the crystalline series, particularly foliation, folding and the influence of rock structure on the development of parallel strike valleys such as those around Hatton. The paper is an important early synthesis of Ceylon’s Precambrian crystalline geology and provides geological context for the mineral and gem deposits associated with these rocks.

corundum, China.12, gems

corundum, India.12, gems

corundum, USA.12, Montana.12, gems

corundum, USA.12, North Dakota.12, gems

corundum, USA.12, Montana.12, gems