Russian Gems and Gemstone Jewellery
Written by Vadim on April 16, 2011 – 4:14 pm -
Mining makes up a major part of the Russian economy, and indeed it is easy to see why. Russia is home to a variety of precious gems that are prized throughout the world for their quality and size. Russia produces about 25% of the world’s diamonds and a large portion of other precious gems, such as emeralds, garnets, and alexandrite, as well as lesser gemstones such as agate, charoite, malachite, and amber.
In 1830, a peasant walking the banks of the Takovaya River in the Ural Mountains discovered a fallen tree with green stones in its exposed roots. These were confirmed to be emeralds, and the area was immediately developed as a mine to supply Russian nobles with high quality stones. The mine yielded not just emeralds, but other gemstones such as aquamarine and alexandrite. Since then, mining for gemstones has been a major industry in the Urals and throughout Siberia.
(more…)
Tags: alexandrite, charoite, gem, gemstones, jewellery, jewelry
Posted in General | No Comments »
