Riot of colors
According to Abhishek Rastogi, 2021 would see designs that encourage optimism come to the fore to counter post-pandemic anxieties. “An enhanced focus on playful and continued mood-boosting jewels would gain traction. It is well documented that colors can have a profound effect on human emotion, using it to elevate, stimulate and inspire through unusual combinations. The jewelry in 2021 would be anything but boring and subtle. So we would see a ‘riot of colors’ expressed through unusual combinations and vibrant juxtaposition of gemstones coming together, giving designers a very rich canvas to paint on. We would see the return of jewelry as adornment, as people embrace back socializing with a fervent. So be open to embrace extremely bold and dramatical jewelry pieces with highly unusual silhouettes, almost like a wearable art!”

Pearl power
You’d agree with us when we say that pearls are not just for grandmas anymore and Chaitanya V Cotha,  pearls will rule this significant year. “Pearls have been loved for over centuries; they have been the ultimate royalty option for hundreds of years now. But they were mostly worn by older women who wanted to appear classy and elegant at all times. But now? Everyone can wear and style them however they want! Pearls have never gone out of style, and even this year, pearls are here to dominate the jewelry stores and the online jewelry market.”

Floral jewelry
Another trend that will be seen at weddings mostly would be that of floral jewelry. Arpit Goyal, feels floral motif jewelry will be in trend this year. “While floral motif jewelry is not new but thanks to beautiful modern designing and detailing, it is all set to become the biggest bridal trend to watch out for. From mehendi designs to outfits and jewelry, one can incorporate floral motifs in any way for their beauty and the fact that these motifs symbolize good fortune, eternity and purity,” adds Arpit.

Arpit suggests flaunting floral rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets to look trendy this year.

Very long earrings
Another trend that Chaitanya foresees is the comeback of shoulder-grazing earrings or very long earrings. These over-the-top earrings are so long they either touch your shoulders when you are wearing them or sometimes, they even go past your shoulders. These earrings are usually super funky and vibrant, but you can get the elegant looking ones if you want to get that perfectly stylish and trendy look.

Vinay Gupta echoes Chaitanya’s prediction and puts his bet on long earrings and says that New Year brides will endorse this unusual trend by donning long polki and diamond earrings.

Big rings
According to Vinay, we don’t know how 2021 will prove to be, but we can always be ready to embrace change. “2020 taught us that bigger forces can change our life on a massive scale any day. Whether we still work from home, or just partially, as many will do in the nearby future, or simply get back to our workplace full-time, we’d need to be ready for the change. We will have to do with what’s wearable and easy.”

“Leave apart the engagement ring, a ring is something which everyone buys on a number of occasions or already owns a few of them. I recommend you to choose a cocktail ring or any oversized ring that you can sport in a number of ways on different occasions for both personal and professional gatherings,” adds Vinay.

Traditional statement jewelry
As per Chaitanya V Cotha, another trend to lookout for this year is the comeback of traditional elements in jewelry. “With all these new classy trends taking over everyone’s heart, people want to make sure that they don’t forget their traditional style and preferences. This year, the conventional statements are here to stay. The conventional statement jewelry will remind jewelry lovers of their rich culture and will make them look their best with their ethnicity shining through. One can pair these heritage jewelry items with heavy ethnic dresses, and rule the festive scene,” says Chaitanya.

Minimal neckpieces
Vinay is of the opinion that 2021 will see women wanting something trendy yet traditional and minimal chokers are a statement accessory that can add the right amount of glamour and vintage charm to your traditional look without going overboard.

According to Chaitanya, chain link jewelry will also rule the roost this year. “Chain link necklaces can be one jewelry item that can be worn the most as they are both classy and straightforward. They can be worn with almost any outfit, whether simple or fancy one. Both men and women can style them with their outfits, anywhere, anytime,” suggests Chaitanya.

Content Produced by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council

“We’re all just looking to be happy, right? But have you ever thought about all the different ways a fabulous piece of jewelry can make you feel great?
I’ve loved jewelry for so many years because of the way it makes me feel special – especially handmade or bespoke jewelry that I know I won’t find many other people wearing.

Here’s five different ways jewelry makes me happy…

1. It’s a gift

We all love feeling loved right? So when someone takes the time to really think about us, it makes us feel absolutely amazing! When someone gifts me an item of jewelry, I think about them every single time I wear it and it makes me feel great that someone cared enough to select a beautiful piece just for me.
I also love the fact that it’s very often a piece I probably wouldn’t have picked out for myself. Hands up who looks at their wardrobe and realizes they’ve got pretty much the same pair of jeans five times over?! Yes me too! We all end up buying for ourselves pretty much the same things, so I just love it when someone buys me something that they’ve chosen and expands my collection.

2. It has a story

Of course, material goods aren’t everything, so for me it’s about what the jewelry symbolizes which makes it so very special. The story could be anything – from a piece of heirloom jewelry passed down generations, to a piece you bought for a special occasion. Maybe you saved up with your very first wage packet to buy it, maybe your daughter made it with her tiny little hands. Or maybe you bought it to mark a special achievement in your life. Whatever that story is, you can guarantee that when you wear that piece, those feelings come flooding back to you. I have a silver ring I bought in Paris more than 15 years ago after I spent a tough summer working in France. I bought it as a symbol to myself that I can get through difficult situations, and to keep going. I
still love that ring now and wearing it helps me to feel invincible.

3. It’s fun

There’s definitely a place for serious jewelry in life – an engagement ring for instance, or a classic string of pearls. But sometimes it’s just good to have a bit of fun. The perfect example are bold and iconic pieces. Sometimes you’ve just got to wear jewelry that simply makes you smile because it’s intrinsically happy.

4. It’s beautiful

There are many different styles of jewelry out there, but all of it’s designed to be beautiful and adorn us in some way. Yes we wear it because it’s beautiful, and especially when you get a well crafted piece you can spend a long time sitting there and just admiring its beauty. Who needs an iPad when you can just gaze at a a beautiful piece of jewelry? Look at the way they sparkle and glimmer!

5. It gives you confidence

I’ve got to be honest. I’m not always the most confident of people walking into a room of strangers. But sometimes you’ve just got to take a deep breath and put yourself out there. It honestly makes it a whole lot easier if you know you have a
conversation starter at the ready. I’ve heard them called ‘wotsits’ or ‘thingimabobs’ before by motivational experts.

In other words, they’re something distinctive and original you can wear which someone can easily comment on and start a conversation with you. Did you think the art of a good conversation is just in the talking? Well, isn’t it great to know you can make a plan before you go out to wear a knockout piece and know you’ll have something to talk about. No more awkward silences.

There is a wealth of original designs out there which can be conversational pieces…  Or for a really special occasion you could always commission your own! There’s also no denying that wearing a beautiful and distinctive piece of jewelry will make you feel great and super confident. It just will.

So for me, jewelry’s so much more than just an ornament. Wearing a fab piece of jewelry not only gives me confidence but also helps connect me with my memories and loved ones.”

Rose quartz is one of the many quartz varieties used as a gem material. It gets its name from its delicate pink color, which ranges from very light (almost white) to medium-dark. The most appealing color typically occurs in larger sizes, and small rose quartz specimens with good color tend to be rare. Rose quartz is always found in massive form, so it lacks regular, flat crystal faces. It’s typically found in pegmatites, but also occurs in hydrothermal veins.

Research has shown that rose quartz owes its delicate pink color to microscopic inclusions of aligned silicate mineral fibers. Advanced testing has shown that they’re generally similar—but not identical—to the mineral dumortierite. The fibers likely crystallized out as the host gem cooled, and they’re aligned according to the crystal directions of the rose quartz.

This pastel gem’s inclusions give it a characteristic cloudy translucence, so it’s generally cut into beads and cabochons. Sometimes, the inclusions produce a six-rayed star if the fashioned gem is cabochon-cut and correctly oriented. Fine examples show a distinct, sharp, star floating above even pink bodycolor. The most transparent rose quartz rough might be faceted. Cutters can intensify the delicate color by applying concave facets and cutting gems in larger sizes.

The delicate translucence of rose quartz inspires gem carvers to create dainty or whimsical figures. The finest-quality rose quartz rough typically comes from Brazil. Other sources include India, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka.

Besides the typical cloudy rose quartz, which is colored by inclusions, there’s a type of transparent quartz that owes its pink color to a different mechanism. Some in the trade call it “pink crystalline quartz,” “crystalline rose quartz,” or simply “pink quartz.” Compared to massive rose quartz, it’s exceptionally rare. It might occur as beautiful clusters of transparent, well-formed crystals. The finest examples are from Brazil, especially a deposit near Galiléia, located near Governador Valadares in the state of Minas Gerais. The best are often left as mineral specimens, which can command high prices at auction. In 2013, a superb example called La Madona Rosa (the Pink Madonna) sold for $662,500. This specimen measures 15.5 x 8 inches (39 x 20 cm) and features a core of smoky quartz that resembles a human form surrounded by a glittering halo of transparent pink quartz crystals.

Material from some of these deposits will fade when exposed to natural light, but its color can be restored by irradiation. Research by Russian crystal growers on synthetic pink quartz has demonstrated a color-causing mechanism, which can cause results very similar to the natural material. Growers produce pink color in transparent synthetic quartz by growing it with impurities of aluminum and phosphorous. Some of these impurities replace silicon in the quartz lattice. Subsequent irradiation produces color centers that give the crystal its pink color.

Rose Quartz History and Lore

Rose quartz beads dating back to 7000 BC have been found in the area once known as Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq). Rose quartz jewelry was known to be crafted by the Assyrians around 800-600 BC. The Assyrians, along with the Romans, might have been the first to use this stone.

People in the earliest recorded times believed in the magical powers of quartz. Ancient Roman, Egyptian, and Greek civilizations used quartz crystals as potent talismans. The Romans used rose quartz as a seal to signify ownership, and Egyptians believed the stone could prevent aging.

In the Middle Ages, medical practitioners used quartz in their healing potions. Early cultures of the Americas used quartz amulets. Known as the “love stone,” it was said to balance the emotions and to heal anger and disappointment.

From GIA

Now that you are a proud owner of a beautiful opal, we would like to share some recommendations in proper care and cleaning in order to keep the opals in top condition for many years to come.

While opals have been worn and enjoyed in jewelry for thousands of years, it is good to know that they are a little soft and porous. Opals should never be saturated in water for more than a quick dip, and they should never be dipped into water containing any chemicals or cleaning agents. Like many colored gemstones, they are also sensitive to high heat. For those of you who own home use jewelry ultrasonic cleaners or steamers, those are best suited for diamonds and sapphires, and not for opals.

The best way to keep your opal clean is to use a clean chamois or soft cloth and lightly rub the top of the stone. If a deep cleaning is needed for the metal and surrounding diamonds, we suggest that you contact us in the office to properly protect the brilliant opal and clean the jewelry. If you stop by your local jeweler for a cleaning, make sure that they are familiar with these guidelines, so that they don’t place the opal into a professional ultrasonic and the chemicals that often go into them.

Opals draw moisture from the air, so storing them in a safe or lock box is not recommended.

CARING FOR EMERALDS

While emeralds have been worn and enjoyed in jewelry for thousands of years, it is good to know that they are a little soft and porous. Emeralds should never be saturated in water for more than a quick dip, and they should never be dipped into water containing any chemicals or cleaning agents. Many emeralds have oils, and the oil can be washed out by prolonged saturation or with detergents and chemicals.Like many colored gemstones, they are also sensitive to high heat. For those of you who own home use jewelry ultrasonic cleaners or steamers, those are best suited for diamonds and sapphires, and not for emeralds.

The best way to keep your emerald clean is to use a clean chamois or soft cloth and lightly rub the top of the stone. If a deep cleaning is needed for the metal and surrounding diamonds, we suggest that you contact us in the office to properly protect the beautiful emerald and clean the jewelry. If you stop by your local jeweler for a cleaning, make sure that they are familiar with these guidelines, so that they don’t place the emerald into a professional ultrasonic and the chemicals that often go into them.

CARING FOR PEARLS

Who doesn’t love pearls?In order to protect your pearls and keep them looking lustrous and in top shape, we recommend a few simple guidelines.

Clean pearl strands and pearl jewelry with a clean chamois or soft cloth. Gently rub off any traces of body lotions and off of the mounting. Pearls draw moisture from the air, so storing them in a safe or lock box is not recommended. Store pearls separately in a pearl folder or in a protective pouch. However, the very best way to keep pearls looking new is to wear them. Pearls will naturally absorb moisture from the air and oils from the skin, which keep them looking beautiful. As the saying goes, “pearls want to be worn”!

Pearl strands are typically strung using silk or nylon thread. For this reason, it is never recommended to submerge your strand into water. The drill hole in the pearl will prohibit the thread from drying, and the thread will become weak,discolor, and possibly fail to stay in one piece. Pearl jewelry which does not use thread, a ring for example, will most likely use glue to hold the pearl onto the peg. Water and chemicals will cause the glue to fail.The outer nacre of a pearl is also sensitive to chemicals, like perfumes. We always suggest to put the perfume on first, and then to put on your pearl jewelry.

It is wise to have us check your pearl jewelry at least once per year. Restringing and re-gluing is inexpensive and quick, and we are here to help!

CARING FOR TANZANITE, TOURMALINE AND OTHER GEMS

Tanzanites and any variety of tourmalines can be saturated in water, but without harsh chemicals. Tanzanites and tourmalines are sensitive to high heat, as well as in sudden changes in temperatures from cold to hot. For those of you with home use jewelry ultrasonic cleaners and steamers, those are best suited for diamonds and sapphires, and not for most colored gemstones.

The best way to clean tanzanites and tourmalines is to lightly rub with a clean cloth or chamois. As these stones can be safely saturated in lukewarm water, you can also place this jewelry in a cup containing lukewarm water with liquid dish washing soap(Palmolive, for example). After an hour or so, take a soft toothbrush and gently clean the back side of the jewelry and under any diamonds, to remove any oils or lotions that may have been lodged into crevices. Then rinse with clean lukewarm water and place on a paper towel to dry.

* IMPORTANT TO KNOW

Proper storage of your jewelry is very important. Jewelry should never simply be tossed into a drawer or box haphazardly as they can scratch unintentionally. Most jewelry purchases come in an individual lined box or pouch that is perfectly acceptable for storage. Jewelry boxes that have individual felt‐lined and padded slots for rings,necklaces and earrings will keep them organized, clean and safe.

It is recommended to remove your jewelry before doing dishes, manual work, gardening or swimming. Do also make sure you are not wearing jewelry before applying lotion, makeup or perfume. Let lotions dry before wearing the jewelry again.

Keep your jewelry away from chemicals as the exposure to them can damage or discolor precious metals and may harm some colored gems. Even everyday substances like hairspray, lotion, perfume or other cosmetics can contain chemicals that will permanently damage the surface of your pearls and other delicate or porous gems (like opals and turquoise). Fine jewelry should be removed before diving into a chlorinated swimming pool or before using household cleaners. Many of these cleaners contain ammonia, which can be too harsh for delicate gems or vintage jewelry. Chlorine bleach, another common household solvent, can pit or damage gold alloys.

While you can purchase professional ultrasonic cleaners or jewelry cleaning solutions, you should be aware that not all gems and jewelry can be safely cleaned in them. They should never be used to clean:

– Gemstones like emeralds,opals, peridot, tourmalines, etc.

– Organic gem materials such as pearls, amber, etc.

– Gems that are susceptible to heat and temperature changes, like tanzanite, moonstone, iolite, kunzite, tourmaline,opal, topaz, turquoise, zircon and others

What’s more, the vibration generated by the ultrasonic cleaner can sometimes shake gems loose or chip gems that are set with their girdles touching.

If you have one, use it with your diamond and sapphire jewelry. For everything else, this type of cleaning is best left to jewelry professionals who know about different gem materials and understand when and how to use the ultrasonic cleaner safely.

To learn more about caring for your gems and jewelry, visit the Education Center and FAQ on our website or just contact us.

Around 1920, Justo Daza, an experienced mine worker, and Fritz Klein, a mining engineer, were scrambling over the steep mountainside terraces of Chivor, a legendary emerald site in northeast Colombia. They were breaking rocks apart with long iron poles and explosives packed into drill holes. They were hunting for new emerald veins and not finding any.

Let’s move on, Mr. Klein said. This area is dead.

No, no, no, Mr. Daza insisted. There’s emerald here, I know it.

Mr. Klein shrugged. O.K., one more shot — but that’s it.

They upped the dose of explosives and blasted open a gaping hole that revealed promising glints of a mineral vein. Mr. Klein thrust his arm into the hole and began rummaging around. He fished out bits of quartz, feldspar and apatite — a phosphate mineral like that found in bones and teeth.

Justo Daza, the miner who discovered the Patricia Emerald with Fritz Klein in Chivor, Colombia, around 1920.Creditvia Gonzalo Jara

 

The prospectors had unearthed what would come to be called the Patricia Emerald: a dazzling 12-sided crystal roughly the size of a soup can, with a weight of 632 carats — more than a quarter of a pound — and a verdant color so pure and vivid you’d swear the stone was photosynthesizing.

Mr. Klein sold the find for tens of thousands of dollars, while Mr. Daza, predictably enough, “was given ten dollars and a mule,” said Terri Ottaway, museum curator at the Gemological Institute of America.

Yet the public arguably got the best deal of all: the stone was later donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Today, the Patricia remains one of the largest uncut emeralds in the world, and will be a featured star when the overhaul of the museum’s gem and mineral halls is finished in 2019.

In its raw, columnar beauty, the Patricia encapsulates an often overlooked feature of gemstones, especially the ones we deem “precious” — diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. We may covet the stones for personal adornment and status flashing; we may imbue them with romance, exoticism, the titillation of the Hollywood jewel heist.

But their real power lies in what they reveal about the dynamo that forged them: Planet Earth.

For scientists, a gemstone is a message in a bottle. Except the message is the bottle, a glittering clue to the extreme physical, chemical and tectonic forces at work deep underground.

Moreover, many of the qualities that helped loft the Big Four to prominence in the first place — their exceptional hardness, the depth and brilliance of their coloring, their rarity — are also key to the jewels’ scientific value.

Precious gems are born of strife, of shotgun marriages between hostile chemical elements, and they’re tough enough to survive cataclysms that obliterate everything around them.

“Earth is an incredible, giant chemical laboratory, and it’s a dirty place to grow crystals,” said Jeffrey Post, curator of the Smithsonian’s National Gem and Mineral Collection. But those impurities grant gems their color and character “and give us vital information about the crystal structures themselves.”

The rules of gem science are not cast in stone. Researchers lately have been astonished to discover that some of the world’s largest and most valuable diamonds, which can sell for hundreds of millions of dollars, originated 250 miles or more below the surface, twice the depths previously estimated for Earth’s diamond nurseries.

Some diamonds turn out to be surprisingly youthful, a billion years old rather than the average diamond’s two billion to three billion years of age. Other researchers have linked ruby creation to collisions between continental landmasses and propose that the red jewels be called “plate tectonic gemstones.”

A team at the University of British Columbia analyzed newly discovered sapphire deposits in Canada’s Nunavut territory and concluded the stones there were generated by a novel three-part geochemical “recipe” unlike any described for sapphire formation elsewhere in the world.

You start with limestone sediments containing just the right mineral impurities — nepheline is a must! — and you squeeze and heat the rocky mass to 800 degrees Celsius (1472 degrees Fahrenheit). You add fluid and allow to cool. Finally, just when the growing mineral assemblage shows signs of instability, you inject another shot of fluid and lock the crystal into place. Total cooking time: about 1.75 billion years.

“If one step is left out,” said Philippe Belley, a geologist at the University of British Columbia, “you don’t get sapphires.”

In the past, geologists often dismissed gemstones as baubles and gem science as oxymoronic. “Gems were considered crass commercial materials and beneath the dignity of an academic,” said George Harlow, curator of earth and planetary sciences at the A.M.N.H.

Left, a rough diamond from South Africa. Right, raw diamonds observed under a microscope. Some of the world’s largest and most valuable diamonds, originated 250 miles or more beneath Earth’s surface.CreditLeft, Robert Weldon/Gemological Institute of America; right, Ted Kinsman/Science Source

 

Left and right, rough rubies from a mine in Myanmar. Researchers have linked ruby creation to collisions between continental land masses, proposing that rubies be renamed “plate tectonic gemstones.”CreditLeft, Thierry Falise/LightRocket via Getty Images; right, Robert Weldon/Gemological Institute of America, courtesy of Bill and Jeanne Larson

 

More recently, geologists have seen the refracted light. “My colleagues know that a gem course done as an introductory part of an undergraduate education is a really good hook,” Dr. Harlow said. “When you can show how gems form, or the properties they have, it takes a lot of chemistry and physics to understand that.”

Dr. Post calls it stealth science. “It’s a great way to get people in the door,” he said. “If you put up a sign that says geology, nobody comes. But if you say, ‘This way to the Hope Diamond,’ then everybody wants to know more.”

Dr. Harlow suggested that precious gems gained their reputation in part by their association with gold. As insoluble stones, the gems ended up concentrated at the bottom of stream beds, often in the vicinity of similarly insoluble gold. Long prized for its ductility, beauty and resistance to oxidation, gold was considered the property of rulers and kings, so why not the glittering stones found beside it?

The word diamond stems from the Greek terms for “indestructible” and “that which cannot be tamed,” Dr. Harlow said, “and those attributed metaphysical properties made the ruler seem even more important.”

Diamonds are not indestructible, but they are the hardest substances known, given the top score of 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness — that is, resistance to scratching. Behind a diamond’s untameability is its three-dimensional structure, a repeating crystalline lattice of carbon atoms, each one strongly bonded to four neighbors atop, below and to either side.

(In graphite, by contrast, carbon atoms are bonded together only in two-dimensional sheets, which will flake apart with the simple act of putting pencil to paper.)

Persuading large numbers of carbon atoms to lock limbs in all directions requires Stygian whips of high heat and pressure, as until recently could only be found underground. In theory, the earth’s mantle, which is thought to hold about 90 percent of the planet’s carbon supply, is practically glittering with diamonds at various stages of formation.

Getting those jewels to the surface in bling-worthy condition is another matter. Diamonds must be shot up from below quickly — say, through a volcanic eruption — or they’ll end up as so much coal in your stocking. Researchers have discovered diamonds that had blundered crustward slowly enough for their carbon bonds to expand, leaving a stone with the shape of a diamond but the consistency of graphite.

Gareth Davies, a professor of geology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and his colleagues have recapitulated the reversion process in the laboratory. “Yes, we get diamonds and turn them to graphite for research,” he said. “And my wife wonders why I’m such an idiot.”

Researchers can also fabricate diamonds in the laboratory, although the results are more often destined for industry than Tiffany. Nor can scientists create anything remotely as celestial as the Hope Diamond, the world’s largest deep-blue diamond, with a back story to match.

The diamond was discovered in India, sold to King Louis XIV of France in 1668, stolen during the French Revolution, reappeared 50 years later in the collection of the Dutch banker Henry Philip Hope — hence its name — sold by Hope’s bankrupted heir and then passed from hand to sometimes unfortunate hand, picking up an aura en route of being “cursed.”

After the jeweler Harry Winston donated the diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958, blithely sending the massive jewel from New York to Washington through the mail, the diamond’s fame exploded. When Jackie Kennedy, then the First Lady, arranged a one-month loan of the diamond to the Louvre in Paris, Washington’s National Gallery of Art got Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa” in return.

Researchers have since plied the 45-carat diamond with every noninvasive tool in their arsenal, seeking to understand the precise distribution of boron atoms that lend the Hope its steely blue tint and why the diamond will glow, or phosphoresce, a spectral shade of blood orange when exposed to ultraviolet light. Dr. Post suspects the phosphorescence is the result of interactions between boron and nitrogen impurities in the diamond’s near-flawless carbon frame.

Coloration mechanics figure more prominently still in the genesis of colored gemstones. After all, sapphires and rubies are built of the same basic mineral, corundum, a crystallized collaboration of aluminum and oxygen that would be transparent and colorless if not for some artful chemical doping.

With a Mohs hardness score just a point shy of diamond’s, corundum becomes a red ruby through the timely addition of chromium atoms. Recent research suggests chromium is shoved up to the crust from Earth’s mantle when continental landmasses bang together.

A sapphire is a corundum crystal of any color but red, although many people consider a true sapphire to be blue. In that case, the blue results from electrons bouncing back and forth between near-homeopathic doses of iron and titanium atoms sprinkled throughout the crystal.

Emeralds from Chivor, Colombia, left, and the Yukon Territory in Canada. They are the softest of the precious stones.CreditLeft, Robert Weldon/Gemological Institute of America, courtesy of Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; right, Stephen J. Krasemann/Science Source

 

Left, sapphires from Rock Creek, Mont., and right, one from Myanmar. A sapphire is a corundum crystal of any color but red, although many people consider a true sapphire to be blue.CreditLeft, Wayne Scherr/Science Source; right, Robert Weldon/Gemological Institute of America, courtesy of Bill Larson

 

“It’s called intervalence charge transfer,” said Dr. Harlow. “You almost can’t measure the amount of iron and titanium, but the small effect produces a dramatic color.”

Emerald is the softest of the precious stones, with a Mohs score between 7 and 8, and at its finest it’s a piece of fossilized swamp. Its mineral base, beryl, is mostly aluminum and silicon, with a critical infusion of beryllium, a light, rare and extremely toxic element.

“If you’re thinking of making your own emeralds, don’t,” said Dr. Ottaway. Emeralds form during mountain building, as shale and limestone rocks are uplifted and compressed.

“It’s a giant squeegee effect, moving hot solutions around,” Dr. Ottaway explained. Salt dissolves in the hot sludge, turning it to brine, and the brine gets trapped in pockets that then act like wetlands, absorbing organic matter and toxic metals, including beryllium, which is then incorporated into growing crystals of aluminum silicate.

The coloring agents are trace amounts of vanadium and chromium, which may turn a ruby red but in the context of beryl’s structure reflect green.

For emeralds born in the mountains of Colombia, the green is chromatically, spectacularly clean. Pyrite deposits soak up any iron in the area that might otherwise adulterate the crystal and muddy beryl’s refractive powers.

“That’s why Colombian emeralds are so fabulous,” Dr. Ottaway said. “You can become so absorbed looking at one of these incredible stones.”

Forget about the mule or the money, or three wise guys with myrrh: This piece of evergreen is pure holiday cheer.

 

By Natalia Angier, From the New York Times

“Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence” featured nearly 400 lots spanning 500 years, showcasing the culture of Indian jeweled arts from the Mughal Empire (founded in 1526) and the age of the Maharajas to present day.

It didn’t become the highest-grossing sale ever for the auction house, as some thought it could—that title still belongs to the evening auction of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry in 2011, which totaled $115.9 million—but it does rank as the second-highest auction total for a private jewelry collection, according to Christie’s.

It also is the highest total for any auction of Indian art and Mughal objects, Christie’s said.

Held in New York Wednesday, the auction took 12 hours and was 93 percent sold by volume and 92 percent sold by value, with bidders from 45 countries participating. Three world auction records were set for Indian works for art, and 29 lots sold for more than $1 million.

The jewelry auction’s top lot was the Belle Époque Devant-de-corsage, created by Cartier circa 1912, which sold for $10.6 million to a private collector present in the room.

Additional top lots included the Shah Jahan dagger, which sold for $3.4 million, setting a record price for an Indian jade object and record for a piece with Shah Jahan provenance; and an antique imperial spinel, pearl and emerald necklace, which garnered $3 million.

There were also a number of exceptional Golconda diamonds sold.

The Mirror of Paradise, a 52.58-carat D-color internally flawless diamond, achieved $6.5 million and The Arcot II diamond, a 17.21-carat D IF, garnered $3.4 million.

Meanwhile, the Golconda diamond rivière necklace, from the collection of the Nizams of Hyderabad, sold for $2.4 million, going for well above its pre-sale high estimate of $1.5 million.

And a spinel, natural pearl, diamond and emerald bead “Imperial Moghul” necklace and earrings from Cartier realized $1.9 million.

All contemporary pieces by JAR and Bhagat included in the jewelry auction sold. They included the five-strand natural pearl and diamond necklace from the latter that went for $1.7 million, topping its highest pre-sale estimate, $1.2 million.

An enameled and gem-set model of a parrot from Hyderabad, circa 1775-1825, which was said to have garnered a lot of attention in the pre-sale exhibitions, also went for more than double its pre-sale estimate when it garnered $1 million, and an elephant brooch by JAR sold for $555,000, more than five times its low estimate.