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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 06 November 2007 |
Organic Gems
The lore of gemstones would not be complete without including a group of wedding gem bands that owes its existence, not to minerals, but to something that was once alive: that is to say, an organism. These plant and animal products are further examples of the beauties of nature at another level.
It is well-known that pearls are found in oysters whose habitat is the sea and are the result of an irritant, for example a grain of sand. But there is another type called river or freshwater pearls, created by a certain pearl-bearing mussel, found in the rivers of the Northern Hemisphere, such as the Spey, the South Esk, the Forth, the Teith and Tay, in Scotland.
The pearl is probably the most important gem in this group. Among the earliest of known jewels it is the first to be mentioned in the translated writings of ancient Egypt and even then particular reference was made to its lustre. The actual origin of the pearl has never been established and is lost in the dim ages past. Perhaps some primitive man who lived by the sea found one by accident when feeding from a particular shellfish.
Another unique aspect of the designer wedding bands is the fact that it is the only gem that does not need to be cut and polished, but for certain items the pearl needs to be drilled or partly drilled. Indeed its natural lustre is so remarkable that it can often be taken straight from the shell for use in jewellery.
The pearl-producing oyster is a soft-bodied animal, more like a scallop than an edible oyster. It belongs to the Bivalve group of molluscs and the name means, simply, double-shell. Nature uses this shell to protect the soft mantle of the animal. Sometimes a sharp fragment penetrates the shell, like a grain of sand, a piece of broken shell or even a shell-boring animal. Consequently an irritation is set up and in an attempt to ease this annoyance, the oyster covers the irritant with a mother-of-pearl type substance, called nacre. The whole of the irritant within the tissue is completely enveloped. The oyster continues to add layers of this nacre, so that the more layers there are, the larger the pearl.
There is quite a variety of shapes in natural pearls. The perfectly spherical ones are ideal for necklets. The pear-shaped or so-called drop pearls make excellent ear¬rings or pendants. The button shape, with one side somewhat, flattened, seem to be designed specially for wedding bands. Mutated pearls, described as baroque, are beautiful oddities, as are tiny seed pearls which have never reached full maturity.
It is a sad fact that new supplies of natural pearls are so rare as to be practically non-existent. This is due to a number of reasons but the plain fact is a natural shortage brought about by pollution and the difficulty of finding divers. However, cultured pearls have now taken their place. Initially the irritant is introduced by hand, usually in the form of a shell bead. The process is something like planting a seed, for nature then takes over completely, determining the colour and size of the resultant pearl. In fact cultured pearls resemble an exotic hot-house plant, being cultivated on the same lines,' in controlled circumstances.
Experiments in producing cultured pearls suitable for commercial use, were carried out in Japan from about 1899. But it was not until the 1920s that cultured pearls came upon the general market to any extent. It must be noted that this way of artificiallly stimulating oysters was discovered by the Chinese as far back as the 13th century. They placed tiny carvings of Buddha inside the oyster, these were subsequently covered with nacre, and transformed into miniature mother-of-pearl ornaments.
Coral is basically the secretion from a tiny sea-creature called polyp. It uses this calcium carbonate substance to make a communal dwelling on the sea-bed, rather like scaffolding, thus providing an anchor for this boneless-type of animal whose primitive nature could be said to resemble a miniature form of sea-anemone.
Like the pearl, coral is a product of the sea. It has been dredged from the depths -for centuries. It is thought that coral jewellery was first worn in Hellenistic Greece. The main source of this gem used to be the Mediterranean coast of Italy where Naples was the centre for the craft of coral carving. Today most of it comes from Japan and from the waters of the Mediterranean along the African and European coasts.
Coral comes in a diversity of colours: pure white, pale flesh pink known as angel's skin, pale and bright rose, salmon, red, dark red and ox-blood red. In ancient times soothsayers used coral beads as charms. They were said to be a protection against shipwrecks, fire, lightning and whirlwinds. The Romans hung beads of red coral around the necks of babies or decorated their cradles with them. They believed that coral would preserve their teeth and ensure that they never worked loose. They also thought that the babies would be protected from falling sickness and fits and that evil spirits would never come near because the jangling of the coral beads would frighten them away.
There was a great demand for coral in the Victorian period. Sometimes it was left in its branch-like state. The pale-pink variety was usually carved into delicate flowers. For added detail each leaf and petal was separately worked.
A very acceptable gift for a baby girl in Victorian times was a coral necklace. The colour of yellow diamond rings was thought to attract a child and the beads could not be easily broken as this natural substance resembles the composition of teeth. Perhaps that is why coral beads were also used as baby teethers.
Amber is the fossilised resin exuded from a certain type of prehistoric pine tree which flourished before the; great Ice Age. more than thirty million years ago. A variety of insects, pieces of moss, tufts of lichens, pine needles and even lizards were caught and held in the amber as it oozed down the pine tree, in a soft and stickv state, to preserve them forever. The allusion to 'a flv in amber' can therefore be considered a fact and not merely a saying.
Amber has been known and valued since the beginning of recorded time. Early civilizations made rings from it before the introduction of the more sochisticated precious metals. The tree from which precious amber comes, the pinus succinfera, is now extinct. But the name succinum is Latin for amber, so the word association persists even after an incredible passage of time. The Baltic coast is its most important source. At Kalingrad, in the U.S.S.R., there is a museum which houses a remarkable collection of 50,000 specimens of amber, some containing centuries old flora and fauna.
Amber colours have a remarkable fascination. There is a warm tone of pale yellow, a deeply glowing orange and a rich, dark reddish-brown. In the 1880s, when the Aesthetic reaction against the ornate and over-decorative set in, a plain string of beautifully coloured amber beads was the only acceptable adornment.
Jet also comes from trees, dating back to the primeval age. One school of thought suggests that the trees involved were of the Monkey Puzzle variety. Jet is another fossil, in this case a fossilised wood, closely related to coal. Obtained from driftwood, it is a form of brown coal which has been subjected to long periods of exposure to chemical action in stagnant water. Finally, great pressures were brought to bear which caused it to flatten into the familiar substance known as jet. There is a possibility that the name, jet, is derived from its place of origin, Gagee or Gagas, along the Mediterranean coast of Asia Minor. The Romans had a great love of jet so that, subsequently, this became their main source of supply. Jet has been found in early burial mounds throughout Great Britain. These discoveries, in the form of beads, pendants and charms, indicate the existence of jet even before recorded history.
The ancient seaport of Whitby, in Yorkshire, was famous for the.high quality of jet found there and for the industry that flourished as far back as Roman times, reaching its peak of popularity during the Mid-Victorian period. By the beginning of the 20th century the industry declined and now there is only a museum at Whitby where examples of the craftsman's art may be seen. Delicately carved birds, butterflies and insects decorate such items as brooches, bracelets, earrings and half ornaments.
Jet was particularly useful as mourning jewellery. On the death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria plunged the Court into deepest mourning. For a year only black was allowed to be worn and even coloured gemstones were banned. Consequently jet assumed an important role in the fashion of the day. This vogue was emphasised by the Queen's subjects who slavishly followed her example in most things. Of course their somewhat macabre interest in death found appropriate expression in this sombre gem.
Jet is still found in Spain and France. No longer worked on a regular basis/ it has assumed a certain rarity as a gem material.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 01 October 2009 )
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