At sotheby's Auction in Hong Kong on July 19, a set of Chopard's sleeves caught a lot of attention.
©️ Sotheby's
Colombian emeralds weighing over 160 carats are eye-catching.
The matching heart-shaped emerald was even more difficult to find, and the final transaction price was HK$11,144,000.
But today's protagonist is not it.
Instead, I wanted to talk to you about the Andean crown.
01
-
Andean Crown
The Crown of Andes is considered one of the most important surviving goldsmiths' works of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Why?
An Andean crown that encompasses a history of Viking plunder, Columbrian goldsmith craftsmanship, theft, the liberation of the entire continent, papal distribution, and the rescue of a bunch of orphans.
According to a jewelry expert at Christie's, the crown is not a temporary product.
Instead, it is built in three parts:
- First, in the 16th century, the cross and sphere on the crown were cast;
- This was followed by the creation of a crown circle in the mid-17th century;
- More than a century later, four bow arches were added, spanning three centuries to form the face seen today.
The "Andean Crown" is a sacred image of the Immaculate Conception enshrined in the Popayan Cathedral of the former Spanish viceroy of Granada (now Colombia).
©️ Metmuseum
Pear-shaped emerald pendants hang below them, topped by a cross-shaped sphere symbolizing Christ's reign over the world. Nearly 450 emeralds were inlaid in the crown, the largest of which was a 24-gram emerald called "Atahualpa emerald emerald".
Before we start to talk to you about the Andean crown, it is necessary to talk to you about some historical background before this, so that we can better understand why the Andean crown was born.
That was the effect of smallpox and the plague on that time.
The Black Death and its periodic recurrence in the mid-14th century continued in Europe until the 17th century and in the Middle East until the 19th century.
This may be the most famous plague in history, but by no means the only one.
When it began to weaken in Europe, the Spaniards crossed the Atlantic to the New World, bringing to the latter a plague pandemic of a similar scale, arguably more catastrophic.
Columbus Navigation Chart ©️Google
Less than a year after Columbus first arrived on the American continent, infectious diseases began to rage on the island of Haiti, the first foothold of Europeans in the Americas. The indigenous population of the island of Haiti has declined from perhaps hundreds of thousands to 60,000 in 1508, 33,000 in 1510, 18,000 in 1519, and less than 2,000 in 1542.
Multiple epidemics swept across the Caribbean and soon spread to the mainland.
The first smallpox pandemic of 1518 destroyed the islands.
In 1519, a large number of Aztecs and Mayans died in Central America.
Its impact was so great that the survivors of the Aztecs later calculated their dates from the time of the disaster. They realized that this was a major event that ushered in a new era of terror.
Groups that have never been infected with these viruses have been hit to the maximum extent because the disease is transmitted through contact and treatment measures are lacking. In its uncontrolled outburst, the outbreak paved the way for the Spaniards to conquer the region.
San Martín's army crossing the Andes ©️the National History Museum
As Bernardino de Sahagun said, they occupied the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.
Within a few years, smallpox reached the Andes of the Incas in the 20th century.
There, smallpox led to a massive decline in population, which may have included its ruler Hana Kapak.
A second smallpox pandemic, which began in 1532, this time caused by measles, stretched from Mexico all the way to the Andes, also led to a massive death of the population.
A particularly severe epidemic (possibly typhoid fever) devastated Central Central America in 1545–1548. Later, for example, in the late 1550s and early 1660s, a number of diseases also appeared from time to time, which appeared to be influenza outbreaks.
More and more disasters were reported, culminating in the outbreak of a compound epidemic of 1576-1591. A massive outbreak at that time decimated the remaining population, first typhoid fever, then simultaneous smallpox and measles (1585-1591), one of the worst catastrophic events to date.
Popayán ©️ Google
In 1590, a devastating plague of smallpox spread east from Ecuador to Colombia.
How serious is this plague?
The three major American civilizations— the Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations— were affected by diseases such as smallpox brought by the Spaniards, which greatly reduced the population of the Americas and killed thousands of people in neighboring towns.
But in the ancient Inca city of Popayán Popayan, a border town that was established during the Spanish Gold Rush at the foot of The Plus Volcano in southwestern Colombia, no one was infected. This is no less surprising than the epidemic we are facing now, there are cases in all parts of the world, except for one small town that is completely uninfected, let alone the people of the 16th century.
This is said to have originated at an altitude of 5,700 feet above sea level in Popayán.
But the ancients didn't think so, and many people thought that this 5,700-foot town was a miracle given to them by the Lord.
Images from ©️ Google and Metmuseum composites
Therefore, the bishop advised Popayán to do something to thank the Lord for his salvation. (Catholic at this time in the 16th century) The town's top brass agreed to make a suitable gift for the Virgin Mary.
The request for this gift was to surpass the crown of all the reigning monarchs in the world in terms of beauty, sacredness and value. The local villagers listened and even spontaneously donated in the form of "cash and in kind", so a large amount of gold was melted into gold nuggets, and the crown frame was designed and made from these gold nuggets.
After all, what could be more important than God's protection of life!
They also provided a large amount of rough emerald and were cut into flat gemstones, a cutting style that was popular at the time.
Image from ©️ Google Compositing
The crown is inlaid with a total of 453 emeralds, and the 24-carat Atahulpa emerald in the middle comes from the last King of the Inca Empire, Atahualpa Atahulpa, the most famous emerald at that time, with a total weight of 1521ct;
The 17 teardrop-shaped grandmothers hanging from the support arc were donated by the Hurtado family; Other emeralds were gifts from The Olanos and the populace.
The production of the crown began in 1593 with 24 goldsmiths from Spain designing and producing the crown.
After six years, in 1599, the bishop of popayan organized a thanksgiving prayer ceremony in the cathedral on Thanksgiving Day, and everyone in the town took part in this unprecedented event.
During the prayer ceremony, the Catholic bishop of Poppa Rock crowned the crown on the head of the Virgin Mary of the Virgin Mary of the Church.
The crown takes its name from the Andes Mountains.
Image from ©️ Google Compositing
Such prayer services are still possible for us today during holy week's typical Catholic celebrations, Holy Week.
Many countries, such as Spanish-speaking countries, Italy, Poland, have week-long parades.
In such a large and crowded activity, it is conceivable that it will inevitably lead to the frequent influx of pirates, mercenaries, thieves, treasure hunters and other various dwarfs into the town.
So the volunteers of the church formed a secret society to protect the precious wealth of Popayán.
When one of these undesirables appears, the members of the Immaculate Conception will quickly split the crown into several parts and hide it in the jungle.
In 1650, Corona de los Andes was captured by the British privately.
According to legend, the Confederacy and the town took it back after 3 days of street fighting.
It's really a street fight!
Image from ©️ Google Compositing
In late 1812, Simon Bolivar of the Sadame Libertador newspaper Simón Bolivar seized the crown, which was returned to Papayán by Simon as a spoil of war to liberate South American slaves from the Spaniards.
Through these events: The League decided that it was necessary to adjust the protective measures for the crown so that it would not fall into the hands of others. Thus the Andean crown was assigned to different guardians, scattered in different safes, and combined only once a year at a gathering during holy week.
These secret precautions were also the only reason the Andean crown survived into the 20th century.
Image from ©️ Google
Other jewels of that era were destroyed due to years of war.
Thus, the Andean crown became one of the most famous relics representing the level of Spanish gold craftsmanship in the 16th century; One of the most fascinating artifacts of the early days of Spanish colonial Latin America, expressing a celebration of survival and virtuosity.
But in 1914, The Christian Fraternity asked the Pope for permission to sell church relics.
Why did Papayán sell the crown, the symbol of this historic wonder?
©️1995 Christie's auction
For the establishment of orphanages and hospitals.
It was a descendant of the Olano Orano family with the Pope proposing to sell the priceless crown.
According to Olano, the profits were used to build a geriatric hospital and an orphanage.
In fact, neither building was built.
But the Vatican gave the green light to the deal in 1914, and as with many corrupt incidents in history: the use of the crown in exchange for benefits, embezzlement of public funds, hospitals that were never built, orphans and homeless, history has always been similar.
This vicious circle has also led to the crown extending an olive branch to international buyers.
Tsar Nicholas II Image from ©️ Google
Legend has it that Tsar Nicholas II aroused great interest, but because of the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, the Tsar was executed and the sale of the crown was lost.
In 1915, during the widely publicized Tsarist sales negotiations, the crown first caught the attention of Warren J. Piper. But because of the stock market crash, Piper's first attempt to buy the crown in the 20s failed.
The crown was later sold for $85,000 to a man named Guillermo Rodríguez Fonnegra. Since then, Crown has also become an obsessive target for American gem exporters and wholesalers.
Since the deal failed, Piper has been carefully planning to buy the crown, and after twenty-one years of recruitment, forming a syndicate to raise funds and negotiate prices, Piper finally paid $125,000.
Image from ©️ Google Compositing
In June 1936, the Syndicate presented the Andean crown at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.
The New York Times reported on the process by which the syndicate was awarded the Andean crown and arranged for Piper to be interviewed by the media, saying that the purpose of organizing the syndicate to buy the crown was to remove the emeralds from the crown and sell the emerald gems, but he declined to disclose the purchase price of the crown at the time.
When asked about the valuation of the crown, he said the emerald was selling for $3,000 per carat, and the crown had a total of 1521ct emeralds.
Can you think about the value of this crown emerald?
You can also imagine why Piper wanted to buy this crown, in order to sell it.
But it is a joy and wonder: the famous Andean crown, which has been toured in many places, has escaped the fate of being dismantled.
Image from ©️ Google
For example, in 1937 and 1940, both in Chicago were exhibited.
In addition, syndicates believe that exhibiting this crown in industry is a very beneficial thing, which can increase visibility and better promote sales.
Therefore, the syndicate agreed to lend the crown to such an exhibition.
In November 1937, General Motors borrowed the crown and presented it at the launch of the new Chevrolet car in Detroit.
What does it mean that during the week-long display time, it attracted about 225,000 visitors? That is, 15% of Detroit's population came to this exhibition to see the crown.
Image from ©️ Google Compositing
In 1939, the crown was exhibited at the World's Fair in New York
In 1959, it was exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada
As a result, the original intention to remove the emeralds from the crown for sale was not concretely implemented.
In 1963, the Syndicate decided to sell the Andean Crown and commissioned sotheby's auction house in London to auction it; But there were not many bidders, buying only $1.54 million for an anonymous third party by Asscher Diamond Company in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
In 1995, the Andean Crown reappeared at Christie's, auctioned at a reserve price of $3 million, but without success.
©️1995 Christie's auction
The album describes the crown in great detail, from the production, story, and pattern. Therefore, many times you can learn a lot by looking at the album, not just the jewelry itself.
This is off-topic.
Since December 2015, the crown has been in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
It is said that the popayan people and the Colombian government have always wanted to get it back, but I don't think the Metropolitan will let it go easily.
From this crown, we can see how the plague has changed the historical pattern, the role of gemstones in different historical contexts and cultural values, and different gemstones have also given different meanings.
©️1995 Christie's auction
From more than 1500 BC to the 16th century AD, the ancestors living in the Andean region created a splendid civilization, those exquisite pottery, unique sculptures, spectacular architecture, bright fabrics and dazzling metals show the wisdom and aesthetic interest of the various cultures in the Andean civilization.
And speaking of one of our key points today: emeralds, we will tell you what problems grandmothers should pay attention to.
02
-
Emerald purchase
There have been many famous emeralds in the auction, and we will talk about it in this section today
A brief history of emeralds, and what are the most important value factors for emeralds?
The relationship between grandmother clarity and value? and the optimal treatment of emeralds.
This illustration from Frederic Cailliaud's 1817 expedition report shows that the ancient emerald mining area is close to the Egyptian Wade Sikait, which the Romans called "Mons Smaragdus" (Emerald Hill) ©️GIA
The earliest emeralds in the world to be discovered did not come from The famous Columbia, but from ancient Egypt. Archaeologists have confirmed that emerald trails were found in the upper Nile about 4,000 years ago, and the tunnels and remains of emerald mining in ancient Egypt can still be seen today.
Emerald was one of the gemstones known to the Ptolemaic Egyptians and later the Romans, who called it "Smaragdi Emerald".
Emeralds have been described in their works by many writers, such as the natural history of Pliny circa 79 AD, and the French poem "Lapidarium" by Abbot Marbod circa 1070 and 1080.
Egypt's Ptolemaic period (about 332–30BC) ©️Getty Image
Among the jewelry pieces that have been preserved since roman times and contain emeralds, emerald crystals are usually used in their natural form or slightly polished (usually opaque to translucent), where they are drilled and worn on necklaces or earrings, and some are polished into cabochons or round beads.
The earliest documented emerald jewelry works date back to the Greco-Roman period (circa 50 BC to 395 AD). For its owner, an emerald may be both a work of art and a symbolic or religious significance.
Getty Image, a portrait of a young Egyptian woman from the ©️1st century AD
The South American Incas revered emeralds as a sacrifice to the gods, and would rather torture or sacrifice their lives than reveal the source of the gem. Nevertheless, the Spanish conquistadors eventually found out the location of the mines and successfully introduced emeralds to Europe.
Around the middle of the 18th century, as Egyptian emeralds dried up, South America took its place as the world's leading producer of emeralds.
©️INCREASE
Colombia's emeralds have almost monopolized more than 50% of the market for high-quality emeralds over the past few centuries, and its main mining areas include Muzo, Cosquez, Chivor, La Pita and other regions.
The beryl family represented by emerald tails is a very large family of gemstones, including aquamarine, morganite, and beryl, all of which belong to the beryl family.
The color of emerald is caused by trace elements chromium, alum and iron, and the presence and relative content of the three in the crystal determine the color, hue and chromaticity of the emerald crystal.
Emerald crosses and gold rosaries salvaged from the shipwreck of Nuestra Señora de Atocha. ©️GIA
Before 1963, chromium was identified as the only color factor in emeralds, until the emergence of alum-colored Brazilian emeralds, people realized that these "green beryls" were originally emeralds, a discovery that made Brazil and other producing countries begin to re-emphasize and examine their ores, and also opened a new round of business opportunities.
In general, the higher the content of chromium and alum, the more vivid the green; The iron content affects the composition of the blue color, and when the iron content is higher, the emerald will appear bluer green; When the iron content is low, it tends to be purer green.
As emeralds have become more and more popular in the Chinese market over the years, the price of emeralds has also risen rapidly.
So how should emeralds be purchased?
Of course, no gemstone can escape the "4Cs".
But for colored gemstones, the first requirement is, of course, color.
After all, this is a job that shows people with "color".
©️INCREASE
Emerald can take on a green hue because its coloring elements, chromium and alum, selectively absorb yellow and red and release blue and green hues.
And also because of the color-causing elements chromium and alum content is slightly different, some of the yellow, some of the blue, some of the light and some of the dark. When we evaluate the quality of emerald color, we also follow the criteria of hue, saturation, and brightness to evaluate.
Usually emeralds will not have a ribbon, but there will still be emeralds with uneven colors on the market, which is also important for everyone.
©️INCREASE
When it comes to color, you may think more about Kisa Green, but Kisa is actually just one of colombia's many emerald mines. Of course it is also considered to be the highest quality emerald mine.
In fact, there are many countries that produce emeralds worldwide, such as Colombia, Brazil, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Madagascar and other countries that can produce emeralds.
Including us in China, emeralds are also produced in the Yunnan region, but they are not of high value.
With the popularity of the market, many people know that the quality of Colombian emeralds is generally higher, and it is also the most favored in auctions, accounting for almost 98% of the auction share; It can be said that the emeralds in the Colombian region almost monopolize the high-quality grandmother market.
A place rich in emeralds ©️ in Ancient Berlin
Two of Colombia's most famous emerald mines, known for their high transparency and delicate colors, are the Muzo mine and the Chiver mine, respectively; Emeralds from other regions are also constantly showing high quality: Panjshir from Brazil, Zambia and Afghanistan, as well as Bakis Swat Wharton green, are also gradually becoming recognized by the market.
However, we should pay attention to the distinction between the name of the place of origin and the color.
For example, GRS Laboratories defines "Kisa Green" as the highest grade color representative that is widely promoted to the market, but such a color rating only represents the quality of the color, and has nothing to do with the place of origin, just like the GRS rating of pigeon blood red and royal blue only represents the color grade, not the place of origin.
Brazilian Emerald ©️GIA
Reference certificates for emerald color evaluation are on the one hand, but more importantly to combine physical objects; The best case scenario is to compare several or more different emeralds, which can better help make the choice.
For example, when buying emeralds, you can wear one to compare the color with the one you will buy.
However, if you are not sensitive enough to color, it is still recommended to listen to the opinions of the jewelers around you.
The difficulty of colored gemstones is that each color has a uniqueness, so the report can not be like a diamond has a very clear color division, even if the three major institutions of Colored Treasure International: Gubelin Guberlin and SSEF and AGL They only have a Green color rating, which is also a difficult point when everyone buys, and it also tests their grasp of color.
We started by talking about different amounts of chromium and alum that give emeralds a yellowish and blue hue, which is one of the points that distinguish Muzo from Chivor colors, as shown above
Muzo is generally darker green with a slightly yellowish hue (left)
Chivor has more blue hues (right)
To summarize some of the characteristics of emeralds in each region:
- Colombian emeralds appear emerald green, and the green is delicate as green, and this emerald green represents the vitality; But there are more inclusions
- Emeralds from russia's Ural Mountains are less saturated, but the crystals are clean and the grains are large, but they are rarely seen on the market
- Brazil's package will be more than Zambia, but also more with brown ash, so when you go to the exhibition will find a lot of cat eyes or starlight in Brazil, pay attention to the time, in the eyes of many foreigners especially Brazilians, "Brasilian emeralds" is also the meaning of green tourmaline, don't buy wrong
Images ©️Google
- Zambia's emeralds are cool blue-green, often accompanied by dark tones, which is one of the reasons why its overall price is low, and everyone yearns for light
- Many of the Swat emeralds on the market are stuffy and a little dark in color. Because of the small particles, few cracks are often used to make high-end watches and so on
The emerald of Panjshir in Afghanistan is legendary, and according to the research of Vincent Pardieu, a renowned GIA field gemologist, its blue-green color and inclusions are most similar to those of Colombian emeralds. It is estimated that the emerald production in this area is actually not small, but the political instability has been just a typical feature of each production area, that is, a high probability event, but each production area will have its high quality emeralds.
Now the most exposed to the market is the Zambian emerald, which is very obviously different from the Colombian emerald, let's look at this picture
Zambian emeralds are more greenish and bluedish, with fewer inclusions
Colombia, on the other hand, is mostly positive green and has more inclusions
This brings us to the second point: the question of clarity.
Emeralds are also known as the back garden of inclusions because there are so many inclusions in emeralds, which is why emeralds should be optimized for clarity.
However, the large number of rich inclusions inside the emerald also play a very important role in the identification of the origin, such as the common three-phase inclusion of emerald, which was considered unique to Colombia in the early days.
Today, as everyone's research data continues to be enriched, studies have found that this three-phase inclusion can appear in both Afghan and Chinese emeralds.
©️ Christie's
The optimization of emeralds, which is also the most headache problem in the emerald purchase process, this process is also very complicated, simply put, it is filling, or we call it Filling in English. In fact, it is to fill some substances with refractive index similar to emeralds into a large number of cracks in emeralds, thereby improving its permeability and clarity, and of course, improving its color.
Cedar oil, clove oil, paraffin wax, and various brands of resins and mixtures can be filled into emeralds, but the type of oil and the amount of oil directly affect the market price of emeralds.
For traditional colorless oils, they can usually be divided into
- No-oil is oil-free
- Insignificant very slight oil
- Minor micro oil
- Moderate medium oil
- Significant heavy oil
Some labs, such as GRS, have a finer division, such as micro to medium oil Minor to Moderat. It's estimated that more than 90% of gem-quality emeralds on the market today are treated, and there is indeed a premium for untreated emeralds.
Oil immersion treatment ©️SSEF
It is worth noting ⚠️:
The oil gradually seeps out of the emerald over a long period of time, usually over several years. High temperatures or excessive lighting can also speed up this process. Therefore, there is an oil-filled emerald whose cleaning and oiling can be repeatedly alternating.
Therefore, if you look at the test result of the amount of oil given by the laboratory, it only represents the oil level of the stone when it is sent to the laboratory, so when you buy this emerald, pay special attention:
First: The time when the certificate is issued
Second: the amount of oil injected
Third: whether to support re-inspection
This situation is not only for cut loose stones, but also for hair embryos; The oil injection of emeralds can occur before and after cutting, even during the process of cutting the gem.
Cedar oil injection before and after ©️Google
In addition, in emeralds, the amount of oil does not refer to the absolute content of the actual oil in the emerald but refers to the appearance of the emerald; The clarity, permeability and color included in it are mostly affected by the optimization process.
For example, we can see that the oil-free expression of gubelin lab is not "No-oil" or "None", but No indications of clarity enhancement, which refers to the emerald that has no trace of clarity optimization.
For example, the relationship between the oil content and value of emeralds in the following figure of Guberlin.
The X-axis represents the degree of clarity optimization, from oil-free, very minimal oil, slight oil, medium oil to heavy oil; The left side of the Y axis represents the clarity and value, and the right side is the number of cracks.
©️ Old Berlin
From the oil-free emerald represented by the No Indication on the far left, the interior is not completely crack-free, and its value becomes higher and higher as the cracks decrease; The same goes for other oil content.
In addition, there is no instrument in the world that can detect the amount of oil in this emerald with one click. Instead, it is based on microscopic observation, gemologist experience, and laboratory standards.
Each laboratory's judgment of the amount of oil and the standard of the division of the amount of oil are different, so when you buy emeralds, you must ask which laboratory certificate is provided, how much oil it contains, these factors are directly affecting the price.
©️Google
Talking about this insertion of a digression: there are a number of friends who like to look for emeralds in antiques.
But the emeralds in antiques are not necessarily real, for example, this Chatham Created Gem from 1958 successfully synthesized emeralds in 1930 by means of a melting method, and the picture shows their advertisement in the journal at that time.
Copyright notice: The content copyright belongs to the official account personally, if you want to reprint / use it online or offline, please leave a message in the background to contact, please do not reprint without permission.
— welcome with me —