red sandalwood
Red sandalwood is a kind of precious wood, which is generally divided into two kinds: Ye Tan and lobular sandalwood. The lobular rosewood is a fine product in rosewood, which is often called "rosewood" (hereinafter referred to as "rosewood" is lobular rosewood). Red sandalwood has high density and small brown eyes, and is mostly produced in tropical and subtropical virgin forests, with Indian red sandalwood as the best. As the saying goes, ten sandalwood are empty, and the largest rosewood is only about 20 cm in diameter, so its preciousness can be imagined. Rosewood was first discovered in tropical forests and islands in India and distributed in tropical Asia. Mahogany grows in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines, Africa and South America. It is also cultivated in the south of China.
Red sandalwood is hard in texture, ranging in color from dark black to purplish red, varied and delicate in texture. Rosewood is particularly heavy, and its specific gravity is almost twice that of water. There are many kinds of rosewood, such as Venus rosewood, chicken blood rosewood, horn rosewood, rosewood, ebony, rosewood and so on.
2. Tanzanian blue
Artificial tanzanite blue (gem)
Tanzanian blue is a valuable material, and its natural ingredients are expensive, so only a few people can wear it, which leads to the formation of artificial Tanzanian blue. There are three colors: light, medium and dark, which are simple and simple, so they are bought by jewelry wearers. The unique Tanzanian sapphire is inlaid in a similar way to ordinary gemstones and used in various inlaid products.
3. Emerald
The ancient Greeks called emeralds "shining gems". Emerald, the English name of emerald, originated from ancient Persian, and later evolved into Latin Smaragdus, which became today's English name around16th century. Emerald is also called "green" and "emerald".
Emerald is a silicate containing beryllium and aluminum, which belongs to the noblest member of beryl family and belongs to hexagonal system. Crystal simplex is hexagonal column and hexagonal bipyramid, mostly rectangular column. Aggregates are granular, blocky, etc. Generally, it is emerald green, glassy, transparent to translucent, with refractive index of 1.564~ 1.602, birefringence of 0.005~0.009, and no obvious multicolor. Emerald is generally anisotropic, with hardness of 7.5 and density of 2.63 ~ 2.90g/cm3. Under the irradiation of X-rays, emeralds emit very weak pure red fluorescence.
4. Hetian jade
Hetian jade is the treasure of the Chinese nation and the "national stone" of China. As early as the Neolithic Age, the ancestors at the foot of Kunlun Mountain discovered Hetian jade and transported it to the east and west as a treasure and a medium of friendship, forming the oldest transportation channel of Hetian jade in China, which was the predecessor of the Silk Road.
Hetian jade is distributed on the northern slope of Kunlun Mountain, stretching 1.500 km from shache, Kashi, Hotan, Khotan and Qiemo counties in Xinjiang, with 9 producing areas. Hetian jade is sandwiched between rocks at an altitude of 3500 to 5000 meters. After a long period of differentiation and stripping, it split into pieces of different sizes, collapsed on the hillside, and then flowed into the river by rain. When the river dries up in autumn, the jade pieces collected in the river bed are called seed jade, and those mined in the rock stratum are called mountain materials. The earliest Hetian jade has been found from Fu Hao's tomb in Yin Ruins. After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Hetian jade became the main jade material, collecting seed material, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that the mountain material was mined. Dayu was made during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty to control the water in Yushan. Sapphire weighs more than 5000 kilograms, which is taken from Maitreya Mountain.
5, suet white jade
Sheep fat jade, also known as "white jade" and "sheep fat jade", is the best of nephrite and extremely precious.
Sheep fat white jade is a kind of hornblende jade, which is the most precious of white jade. As can be seen from the name, the suet white jade must be white at first. Like white sheep fat (commonly known as sheep fat), if there are other colors, it is not white sheep fat jade If the white is slightly pink, some people call it "sheep fat jade". But this point has not been recognized by jade experts and scholars. Sheep fat white jade mainly contains tremolite (95%), actinolite and epidote. White jade is white, fine in texture, glossy and moist, and looks like solidified fat. The old saying "white jade is flawless" refers to white jade.
6. Alexander changed the stone
Sri Lanka and Russia produce a strange gem, whose color is like "emerald in the daytime and ruby at night", that is, it will show different colors under different light sources. This gem is an excellent variety of golden emeralds-metamorphic rocks. Because Russian czar Alexander II loved changing stones very much, he was also named Alexander Stone.
Alexander metamorphic rock, also known as golden green metamorphic rock, is one of the five precious stones and belongs to the color-changing variety of golden green jade. Compared with the traditional rubies, emeralds and sapphires, Alexander Bian Shi is a newcomer in the gem field. It was first discovered in 1930s 19 in the Urals Mountains of Russian Tsar era, near the gem center of Svorovsk. A group of workers working in Tokavaga Emerald Mine in Urshan found that some emeralds had strange discoloration, which turned green in the sun during the day and red in the candlelight at night, so they presented them to the czar's government. When Crown Prince Alexander came of age, people found this gem named after him to congratulate him.
7. Cullinan
The top ten diamonds in the world are "Africa Star 1", also known as "Cullinan 1". Because it was cut by Cullinan, the world's largest gem diamond. The total weight of the diamond "Cullinan" is 3 106 carats (metric system), * * is ground into 105 diamonds, and * * weighs 1063.65 carats, of which "Africa Star 1" is the largest, weighing 530.2 carats.
The world's largest gem diamond is called Cullinan, and its discovery is quite accidental. 1905 65438+1On October 25th, a manager named Welsh happened to see something shiny on the ground of the mine. He dug it out with a knife and saw that it was a huge gem diamond. Its weight in the old carat unit is 3024.75 carats (1 carat = 205 mg). Converted to the current metric carat (1 carat = 200mg), it is 3 106 carat, that is, 621.2g. The volume is about 5×6.5×l0cm, which is equivalent to the fist of an adult man. Pure and transparent, light blue tone, it is the highest grade gem diamond. Up to now, it is still the largest gem diamond found in the world.
8. Night Pearl
Since ancient times, the night pearl has been deeply loved by Chinese and foreign people. As a wonderful pen for writing articles, literati will regard the possession of the night pearl as a symbol of power. The luminous pearl is a mineral (mainly fluorite) with luminous effect in nature. Nowadays, people use the luminous mechanism of minerals and adopt high-tech methods to excite the external energy of natural fluorite, and then artistically shape the external form of nature, so as to obtain artificial luminous pearls, luminous jewelry and handicrafts comparable to natural fluorite.
According to historical records, as early as the prehistoric period of the great power of Yan Di, there was a luminous pearl. For example, the king of stone balls in Shennong is known as the "night mine". During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the "hanging plums" and "hanging spines" are priceless, comparable to jade articles. At that time, only two big officials, Tao Laigong (Fan He) and Jia Dun (a big businessman in the Warring States period), could afford it. The state of Jin used to "hang a thorn wall" as bait and "make a false head and worry about changing". Doctors in Chu, Qin, Wei and other countries all use the night pearl to suggest philosophy and discuss state affairs. Qin Shihuang sacrificed the night pearl, and in the mausoleum "changed the ointment candle". Guo Kuang, the younger brother of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, "hangs a bead and falls four times, looking like a star by day and the moon by night", showing off his wealth. Wu Zetian gave the jade dragon in the night pearl to Xuanzong, and Xuanzong returned to his son (Sejong) with the pearl darkroom. When Tang had a car, a night pearl named "Shuizhu" sold for hundreds of millions. During the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the royal family was particularly fond of the Night Pearl. Among them, Genghis Khan's Night Pearl was stolen in Taiwan Province Province and was later solved and returned to its original owner. Yuan Ming sent officials to Sri Lanka to buy rubies and garnet luminous pearls. In the Ming dynasty, there were several emerald luminous pearls in the cupboard, which were as bright as candles.
Some people regard it as a treasure, while others abandon it. In ancient times, some people didn't know about the treasure and abandoned the night-hanging bay in Lebanon. An old farmer of Guo Wei got a pearl with a diameter of one foot. When he saw the darkness, he threw it into a distant field. Some people regard the night pearl as a "disaster" and "hitting the sand". Although some of them are just legends, the night pearl has become a culture of its own in the history of our country by virtue of its beauty, nobility and mystery.