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The Talismanic Use of Special Stones: Burton

The great Oriental traveller, Sir Richard Francis Burton, had a large star sapphire or asteria, as it was called. He referred to it as his talisman, for it always brought him good horses and prompt attention wherever he went; in fact, it was only in those places where he received proper attention that he would show it to the natives, a favor they greatly appreciated because the sight of the stone was believed to bring good luck. The fame of Burton's asteria travelled ahead of him, and it served him well as a guiding-star. De Boot, writing in the seventeenth century, states that such a stone was called Siegstein (victory-stone) among the Germans.

The remarkable asteria, known as the "Star of India," in the Morgan-Tiffany Collection in the American Museum of Natural History, has a more or less indefinite historic record of some three centuries, but after its many wanderings it has now found a worthy resting-place in the great Museum. Its weight is 543 carats. (The subject of the origin, development and reform of the caratweight has been fully treated by the author in the Trans. of the Soc. of Min. Engineers, 1913, pp. 1225-1245, "The New International Metric Diamond Carat of 200 milligrams.") The asteria, or star sapphire, might be called a "Stone of Destiny," as the three cross-bars which traverse it are believed to represent Faith, Hope, and Destiny. As the stone is moved, or the light changes, a living star appears. As a guiding gem, warding off ill omen and the Evil Eye, the star-sapphire is worn for the same reasons as were the oculus mundi and the oculus Beli. One of the most unique of talismanic stones, it is said to be so potent that it continues to exercise its good influence over the first wearer even when it has passed into other hands.

Sard The sard was regarded as a protection against incantations and sorcery, and was believed to sharpen the wits of the wearer, rendering him fearless, victorious, and happy. (Marbodei, "De lapidibus," Friburgi, 1531, fol. 50, note of Pictor Villengensis.) The red hue of this stone was supposed to neutralize the malign influence of the dark oynx, driving away the bad dreams caused by the latter and dispelling the melancholy thoughts it inspired. Serpentine The Italian peasants of to-day believe that pebbles of green serpentine afford protection from the bites of venomous creatures. These stones are usually green with streaks or veins of white, and the name was derived from their fancied resemblance to a serpent's skin. In addition to their prophylactic powers, if any one has been bitten by such a creature, the stone, when applied to the wound, is supposed to draw out the poison. Here, as in the case of coral, the hand of man must not have shaped the amulet; it should be in its natural state. As a general rule, however, the belief that the touch of any iron instrument, such as the tool of the gem-cutter, destroys the magic efficacy of the substance, is less firmly held in regard to stones than in reference to coral. (Bellucci, "Il feticismo primitivo in Italia," Perugia, 1907.) Topaz See Chrysolite.

Turquoise While there was a tendency to attribute the virtues originally ascribed to one particular stone to others of the same or similar color and appearance, certain stones were regarded as possessing special virtues not commonly attributed to others. A notable instance of this is the quality supposed to inhere in the turquoise. This stone was known in Egypt from a very early period and is later described by Pliny under the name of callais. For Pliny, and for all those who derived their information from him or from the sources he used, the turquoise only participated in the virtues assigned to all blue or greenish-blue stones; but from the thirteenth century, when the name turquoise was first employed, we read that the stone possessed the power to protect the wearer from injury by falling, more especially from horseback; later, this was extended to cover falls from a building or over a precipice. A fourteenth century authority, the "Lapidaire" of Sir John Mandeville, states that the turquoise protected horses from the ill-effects resulting from drinking cold water when overheated by exertion, and it is said that the Turks often attached these stones to the bridles and frontlets of their horses as amulets. They are also so used in Samarcand and Persia. We might therefore be justified in supposing that the turquoise was originally used in the East as a "horse-amulet," and the belief in its power to protect from falls may have arisen from the idea that it rendered the horse more sure-footed and enduring. As the horse was often regarded as a symbol of the sun in its rapid course through the blue heavens, the celestial hue of the turquoise may have caused it to be associated in some way with the horse. We can only hazard this as a plausible conjecture.

Probably the earliest notice of the peculiar superstition in regard to the turquoise-namely, that it preserves the wearer from injury in case of falling--is contained in Volmar's thirteenth century "Steinbuch," where we read:

Whoever owns the true turquoise set in gold will not injure any of his limbs when he falls, whether he be riding or walking, so long as he has the stone with him. (Volmar, "Steinbuch," ed. by Hans Lambel, Heilbronn, 1877.) Anselmus de Boot, court physician of Emperor Rudolph II, tells a story of a turquoise that, after being thirty years in the possession of a Spaniard, was offered for sale with the rest of the owner's property. Every one was amazed to find it had entirely lost its color; nevertheless De Boot's father bought it for a trifling sum. On his return home, however, ashamed to wear so mean-looking a gem, he gave it to his son, saying, "Son, as the virtues of the turquoise are said to exist only when the stone has been given, I will try its efficacy by bestowing it upon thee." Little appreciating the gift, the recipient had his arms engraved on it as though it had been only a common agate and wore it as a signet. He had scarcely worn it a month, however, before it resumed its pristine beauty and daily seemed to increase in splendor. Could we accept this statement as true we would have here an altogether unique instance of the recovery by a turquoise of the blue color it had lost.