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Facts and Fancies About Precious Stones: Lacroix

The following description of the labrets was communicated to M. Lacroix by M. Lucien Fourneau, Administrator of the Colonies:

These objects, called bagueres, consist of hyaline quartz, perfectly transparent; they are very regularly cut, and measure from four to seven cm. (two to three inches) in length. Some have the form of a very elongated and pointed cone, without any protuberances, the greatest diameter being about one cm. (about half an inch); the others, thinner and sharper, have at the base a rim destined to hold them in place; in all cases a pad of thread constituting a kind of permanent plug, assures and completes their stability. Some women wear as many as three of these singular ornaments, thrust, point downwards, into the same lip.

The most regular quartz crystals are selected, and these are chipped off and roughly shaped by blows struck with a hard substance; the quartz is then set in a wooden handle, and the final shaping and polishing are accomplished by friction upon a round slab of quartzite or sandstone. These slabs show grooves along which the crystals have been rubbed. On an average the time required is four or five days of five hours. The completed ornament is valued at nine pounds of red wood worth about $1.20; sometimes one can be secured for three chickens, worth sixty cents. Those who cannot afford quartz labrets substitute wood, glass, or pewter. M. Lacroix draws our attention to the fact that a study of the processes employed in shaping and polishing these pieces of quartz is of great importance for the elucidation of the methods in use during the Stone Age.

A nose-jewel from the New Hebrides consists of a crystal of hyaline quartz reduced to a cylindrical form, one extremity having been pointed, while the other retains the natural faces of the crystal. This was passed through the septum of the nose, and was most likely worn as an amulet. Rock-crystal has been used extensively in the past year with ornaments of ribbon-like or plaque-like effects. Sometimes all the parts are made into the exact shape of a bowknot, with a bordering of platinum and diamonds, or of platinum and diamonds with a calibre-cut onyx; that is, the rock-crystal material is cut into minute square or oblong stones, which are run into double triangular edges that hold them. The crystals are dulled, and frequently have the appearance of moonstones. At times, indeed, moonstones are used in their place. Sometimes these panels, or bits and pieces of rock-crystal, are drilled, diamonds set in platinum are inserted into the drill-holes, and the ornament is engraved in classic designs of Watteau-like effects. The origin of Burmese rubies is thus explained in a Burmese legend current in the region of the Ruby Mines. According to this legend, in the first century of our era three eggs were laid by a female naga, or serpent; out of the first was born Pyusawti, a king of Pagan; out of the second came an Emperor of China, and out of the third were emitted the rubies of the Ruby Mines. Dealing in precious stones was by no means an unusual occupation in Europe more than four hundred years ago, as is shown by the fact that a certain Peter, one of the secret agents of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the throne of England in Henry VII's reign, was called in the secret correspondence of the conspirators, "The Merchant of the Ruby." Such dealers frequently travelled from place to place, and usually offered their wares to princes and nobles; hence the statement in a letter that the Merchant of the Ruby "was not able to sell his wares in Flaunders" might not seem suspicious if the letter were intercepted and read, although the meaning was that the emissary had been unable to obtain succor in Flanders for the cause of the pretender. Probably this designation also contained a covert allusion to the Red Rose of York, for Perkin Warbeck gave himself out to be Richard, Duke of York. A sixteenth-century traveller, the Portuguese Duarte Barbosa, after saying that "the rubies grow in India," proceeds to state that those of finest quality and greatest value were for the most part gathered in a river called Peygu and were named nir puce by the Malabars. As a test of their fineness, the Hindus would touch them with the tip of the tongue, the coldest (densest) being the best. When a superior ruby was thus picked out, the examiner would attach a little wax to its finest point, and so pick it up and look through it against a bright light; by this means any blemish would immediately become apparent. These rubies came not only from the river of Pegu but from other parts of the land of the same name, often being discovered in deep mountain clefts. However, they were not cut and polished in that country, but were merely cleaned and sent for cutting to "Palecote and the country of Narsynga." The balas-ruby (originally a spinel from Badakshan) was one of the most admired precious stones in medieval times, before the diamond was helped to its proud preeminence by having its beauties revealed through the exercise of the diamond-cutters' skill. Almost all the large "rubies" of which we read, those of Europe at least, were balas-rubies, as were also by far the greater part of the so-called rubies in Oriental royal collections of that and later times. The great Italian poet Dante uses this stone (balascio) as a symbol of the glowing radiance of divine joy in the following lines from the Divina Commedia (Paradiso, ix, 67-69):

L'altra letizia, che m'era gia nota Preclara cosa, mi si fece in vista Qual fin balascio in che lo sol percota.

In very ancient times as well as at the present day (if we admit that the anthrax of Theophrastus really was ruby and not a pyrope garnet), the ruby was the most valuable of all precious stones, the Greek writer stating that at the time he wrote, about 260 B.C., an exceedingly small specimen would sell for as much as forty gold pieces. His statement that these stones came from Carthage and Marseilles should not induce us to prejudge the question as to their real character, as many articles of Asiatic commerce were distributed from these parts, more especially from the great Carthaginian seaport. A variety of sapphire, having, to a certain extent, the coloration of the ruby, was called by natives of Ceylon in the sixteenth century nilacandi; this might be rendered sapphire-ruby. These stones are purple-red by daylight, but artificial light kills the blue and they appear red. They are frequently called phenomenal sapphires or alexandrite sapphires. Indian poetic fancy has connected the creation of sapphires in Ceylon with the fair maidens of that island.

When the young Cingalese maidens sway, with the tips of their fingers, the stems of the lavali blossoms, then do the two dark blue eyes of the Daitya fall, eyes with a sheen like that of the lotus in full bloom. Hence it is that this island, with its long sea-coast and its interminable forests of ketskas, abounds in magnificent sapphires, which are its glory. The following pretty bit of Oriental imagery occurs in a Cinghalese poem on the deeds of Constantino de Sa, a Portuguese Captain-General. Here the poet, writing of a river that flowed through the island, calls it "that lovely stream, the Kaluganga, which meandered as a sapphire chain over the shoulders of the maiden Lanka." Lanka is a Cingalese name for Ceylon. The depth of the coloration of sapphires and other stones was believed to indicate their degree of "ripeness," the pale stones being "unripe." As an illustration of this, Cardano instances a sapphire he had examined, a small part of which was blue, while the rest resembled a diamond. Specimens of this kind exist in several collections. The writer has seen many that are dark blue when viewed from above, and almost white when viewed through the back. The Cinghalese lapidaries had very cleverly cut a crystal that was white, with a thin coating of blue, so that the blue was at the back, fully realizing the wonderful dispersive power of the sapphire, and that it would appear dark blue if viewed from above. The value was naturally only trifling compared with that of a perfectly even-colored gem.

Al-Beruni (973-1048 A.D.) gives as the hues of the "red yakut" (ruby), pomegranate-colored safran (henna), purple, flesh-colored, rose-colored, and of the shade of a pomegranate blossom. Other colors of the yakut (corundum crystals) were yellow (Oriental topaz), gray, green (Oriental emerald), white (white sapphire), and black. A henna-colored yakut, if weighing one mitqal (about 24 carats), was valued at 5000 dinars ($12,500), if its weight was half as much, or about 12 carats, it was esteemed to be worth 2000 dinars ($4500), but for one weighing as much as 2 mitqals (48 carats) no definite price could be given, probably because of its great rarity and costliness. The Sanskrit name for the topaz, pita, signifies "the yellow stone." This Sanskrit word is thought by many to be the original of the Hebrew pitdah, a stone of the high priest's breastplate. Another Sanskrit name is pushparaga, "flower-colored." It must be borne in mind, however, that these names refer not to our topaz but to yellow corundum, or Oriental topaz, as it has often been called.

A topaz of exceptional size is that known as the "Maxwell-Stuart Topaz" from the name of the owner. It was brought from Ceylon to England with a lot of inferior rubies and sapphires for use in watchmaking, and was believed to be simply a piece of quartz. So little was it appreciated that when sold at auction it only brought pound 3 10s. ($17.50). When on closer examination its true quality became apparent, the owner decided to have it cut in brilliant form. The operation required twenty-eight days' consecutive work, the diamond-wheel being used, and resulted in the production of a fine cut stone of a pure white hue, weighing 368 31/32 carats. When the cutting was partially completed, a "feather" became apparent that would have spoiled the table, but as it was still possible to reverse the position of table and culet, this was done, and the "feather" removed. At this time, in 1879, this topaz could lay claim to being the largest cut stone in existence, although its size is considerably surpassed now by that of the largest Cullinan diamond, 516 1/2 carats.