Emerald and Other Beryls

By John Sinkankas
Chilton Book Company, Radnor, Pennsylvania, USA
1981 ISBN 0-8019-7114-4

Chilton Book Company writes:

This consummate portrait of Emerald and Other Beryls is a permanent reference for jewelers, gemological historians, mineralogists, geologists, and mineral collectors. John Sinkankas, a widely respected authority on the earth sciences, here provides a scholarly yet eminently readable monograph on every facet of beryl: cultural and natural history; structure and composition; lapidary and synthesis; and world occurrences, including gems, collector’s specimens, and the ore of the rare metal beryllium.

Beginning with Egypt 5500 years ago, the author traces the story of the dazzling emerald—from the fabled Table of Solomon to Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation jewels—and its less renowned relatives, the pink morganite, the golden beryl and the blue aquamarine. The role of beryl in ornament, magic and medicine is a fascinating tale interwoven with history’s most compelling people and events. Together with a unique nomenclature appendix of synonyms in all languages for beryl and its varieties, this cultural archive is of special interest to historians, archeologists, linguists and students of curios lore.

In the second part, Sinkankas explores the natural history of emerald and beryl and the advances in mineralogical knowledge from antiquity, through the Christian Era, the Middle Ages, and into the highly technological modern era of exotic used for a mineral that was once considered suitable only for ornamentation. The author culled and synthesized the extensive literature of every language to bring to one volume all the significant material on crystal structure, chemical composition, physical and optical properties, and causes of color. A chapter is also devoted to cutting emerald and other beryls into jewelry stones.

Unmatched anywhere in the literature, the third part is an encyclopedic guide to major beryl deposits, with special notes on sources of fine crystal specimens and gem materials. Sinkankas has compressed a colossal amount of information into a readily accessible reference for mineralogists, geologists, mineral collectors, and gem cutters. Superbly rendered maps by the author augment the locality data.

In addition to photographs in color and black and white, the text is enhanced by line drawings and a series of unique watercolor paintings of actual crystal specimens done expressly for this book by the author.

About the Author
John Sinkankas has published eleven books on mineralogy, gemology, prospecting, and lapidary art, among them the critically acclaimed Gemstones of North America in two volumes and the popular Mineralogy for Amateurs. He has written more than 100 articles for popular and scientific journals, contributing regularly to Gems and Gemology, Journal of Gemmology, Rocks and Minerals, Gems and Minerals, Lapidary Journal and American Mineralogist.