In daylight, rich green colors reflected from itsĭark background, while at night, under artificial light, Schists had the strange ability to change color under prevailing Photo provided By: Helmut LeithnerĮntirely new gemstone discovered in Tokovaya’s mica Fersman, Geochemische Migration der Elemente, 1931. Tokovaya mine the earliest known photograph, c. Value hidden away and the director was sent to prison. The empress sent an officer to search the lapidary director’s The wearer confided that they came from Siberia. Some time later, the prince’s wife, wearing her emeralds,

Instead arrived in Germany where they were sold to a prince. Petersburg.įor some reason, a small collection of the best emeralds Then send finished stones to the palace in St. Receive the best available gems, cut or carve the gem material, Nicholas decreed that the imperial lapidary in Ekaterinburg In the American Museum of Natural History is 11 by 6 centimeters.Ĭzar Alexander II, after whom alexandrite was named. Museum vault measures 12 by 8.5 centimeters, and another SomeĬrystals reportedly reach dimensions of 40 by 25 centimeters.Ī choice, rich green emerald crystal in the Fersman Mineralogical Russian emeralds do come in grand sizes, however. Crystals do not form with the perfection ofĬolombian emeralds and, therefore, command much less attention. Emeralds of lighter hue tend to containįewr flaws. Illustration © Pala International.Ĭollection: British Museum of Natural History.Ĭollection: Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Moscowįrom the Urals generally have fine dark green color butĪre so flawed and interspersed with mica that usable stonesĪre very rare. The Russian alexandrite deposit is located about 91 km. Here phenakite, aquamarine, fluorite, apatite, and rutile In many ways the new Tokovaya gemstone deposit geologically resembled the age-old Cleopatra emerald mines at Sikeit in Egypt’s Zabara Mountains, except that the Egyptian mines produced only emerald. The stones were identified as emeralds, and in 1831 the mica-schist deposit was developed as a mine. In the exposed roots he found a number of green stones which he took to the gem cutting works in Ekaterinburg, then controlled by Czar Nicholas. In October 1830, a peasant charcoal-burner was making his way through the forest along the banks of the Tokovaya River when he came upon a large tree felled by a storm. This 1.29-carat Russian alexandrite displays the change-of-color that has made stones from this deposit so famous. Prices were relatively low and street merchants annoyed visitors with offers of stones for sale. Cutters were expert at faceting, engraving seals, and carving gemstones. Russian coins were minted there, and large and efficient lapidary shops constituted a major industry. Most of the city’s residents were connected in some way to mining.

Some are exceptional.īy the early 1800s, Ekaterinburg was already a fair-size city on the great road from Russia to Siberia It was named for Empress Catherine II, whose love affairs rated at least equal billing in Ekaterinburg along with stones from the new gem finds.

Nearly all gem varieties and species found there occur in fine crystals. Over the years the Ekaterinburg sector’s pegmatites and metamorphosed zones have been rich in amethyst, aquamarine, blue topaz, quartz, phenakite, chrysoberyl, emerald, and alexandrite. Factories in and about Sverdlovsk manufacture politically sensitive articles, and visitors are discouraged from entering the region though travel is physically easy. The little group of mines, located on the Tokovaya River which gently flows into the Pyshma on the Asiatic slope of the Urals, is about 91 kilometers east of Ekaterinburg, as the town was known until the Soviets named it Sverdlovsk. O ne of the best gem mines on earth is the seldom-visited Tokovaya. Editor’s Note: We are pleased to reprint this selection from Peter Bancroft’s classic book, Gem and Crystal Treasures (1984) Western Enterprises/Mineralogical Record, Fallbrook, CA, 488 pp.

Russian amethyst gemstone