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The Great Globe at Swanage is one of the largest stone spheres in the world and stands at Durlston Castle within Durlston Country Park, a 113-hectare (280-acre) country park and nature reserve. [1] It is constructed of Portland stone, weighs about 40 tonnes and is 3 metres (10 ft) in diameter. [2] The Great Globe with Durlston Castle in the rear
Peridot is one of the few gemstones that occur in only one color: an olive-green. The intensity and tint of the green, however, depends on the percentage of iron in the crystal structure, so the color of individual peridot gems can vary from yellow, to olive, to brownish-green. In rare cases, peridot may have a medium-dark toned, pure green ...
One significant item is a gemstone globe, collected and looted by the Iranian monarchy. For many centuries the Iranian Crown Jewels were kept in the vaults of the Imperial Treasury. However, in the early 20th century, the first Pahlavi Shah transferred ownership of the crown jewels to the state as part of a massive restructuring of the country ...
Nearly all gemstones had to be imported from outside Europe, though Insular jewelry used native stones. Amber , jet , freshwater pearls and coral could be found within Europe. The modern facet -cut style of gemcutting was only developed at the end of the period, and before that stones were all cut and polished in variations of what is now ...
In 1986, California named benitoite as its state gemstone, a form of the mineral barium titanium silicate that is unique to the Golden State and only found in gem quality in San Benito County. [ 80 ] ^ Colorado is the only state whose geological symbols reflect the national flag's colors: red (rhodochrosite), white (yule marble), and blue ...
A 17th century English lapidary text. The etymological root of the word lapidary is the Latin word lapis, meaning "stone". [6] In the 14th century, the term evolved from lapidarius, meaning 'stonecutter' or 'working with stone', into the Old French word lapidaire, meaning 'one skilled in working with precious stones'.
Hue refers to color as we normally use the term. Transparent gemstones occur in the pure spectral hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. [25] In nature, there are rarely pure hues, so when speaking of the hue of a gemstone, we speak of primary and secondary and sometimes tertiary hues. Ruby is defined to be red.
Thailand's "Queen Sirikit Navaratna" necklace.. Navaratna (Sanskrit: नवरत्न) is a Sanskrit compound word meaning "nine gems" or "ratnas".Jewellery created in this style has important cultural significance in many southern, and south-eastern Asian cultures as a symbol of wealth, and status, and is claimed to yield talismanic benefits towards health and well-being.