SC - Gemstonesy
david friedman
ddfr at best.com
Mon Oct 9 13:58:59 PDT 2000
At 2:22 PM -0400 10/9/00, Jenne Heise wrote:
> > >>> A further consideration is that something labelled "synthetic X" may
>> >>> actually be "synthetic Y in a color that looks like X." Many
>> >>> synthetic gemstones are either corundum or spinel, colored to match
>> >>> whatever they are supposed to be.
>
>Part of that is because a proportion of gemstones ARE corundum (rubies,
>sapphires etc)
I don't think there is any cetera to be et there--in modern usage,
any gem corundum that isn't red is a sapphire. My point was that
corundum and spinel, being easy to synthesize, are used to provide
imitations of things that are not corundum or spinel--emerald,
amethyst, etc.
>classified by the color they are. :) Furthermore, the
>situation in period was even more murky: Red spinel would in fact be a
>period 'ruby' as they didn't have the same sophisticated classification
>schemes and tests we do: hence 'The Black Prince's Ruby', which is a
>spinel.
For which the period term was "ballas ruby" as distinguished from "ruby."
>I would suspect that for our purposes, if the synthetic process resembles
>the process by which the gem is created in nature, it is probably a
>reasonable substitute: cultured pearls for pearls, etc. Since we aren't
>practicing the same kind of symbolic magick based on value the original
>users did, having the same chemical make-up ought to be enough.
I was assuming, in my responses, the point of view of someone who
took the recipe seriously, hence regarded the relevant medical
beliefs as a science he didn't understand very well rather than (as I
actually regard them) superstition that can be ignored for practical
purposes.
Once you abandon that assumption, why do you care about the chemical
make-up? Why not use colored glass for everything?
>
>An excellent period work on gemstones available in translation from
>Scarecrow Press is:
>_Arab Roots of Gemology: Ahmad ibn Yusuf Al Tifaschi's Best Thoughts on
>the Best of Stones_ Samir Najm Abul Huda. Scarecrow Press, 1997. $45.00.
>ISBN:0-8108-3294-1
It's certainly an interesting book, but a rather specialized one,
since it is the translation of a particular Arabic lapidary.
- --
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
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