Gems of Ceylon

Most tourists who visit Ceylon would like to take away a precious or semi precious stone, or a jewel set with one or more of them as a memento. Colombo has the largest number of reputable jewellery shops in Ceylon. You may care to step in to one of these. Avoid any shops into which a tout tries to drag you. Young travel agent or officials of the tourists board will give you the names of reliable shops.

The gem of Ceylon have been famous since very early times. Fa-Hien in the fifth century A.D speaks of “the great ruby” above the temple of the tooth at Anuradhapura which shines like a bright star by night. Marco polo, the venetian traveler, mentions a ruby which belonged to the king of Ceylon which was “a span in length, without a flaw & brilliant beyond description” this would, of course, be a exaggeration.

In Rathnapura (Gem town) & Ruwanwella (Gem travel) & the area around them, mining for gems has gone on for many centuries. Some gems are got from river travels. On the road to Rathnapura (90.12km from Colombo) one can often see in a paddy field a derrick-like structure erected to raise the gem gravel from pits dug through the alluvium. The gravel is brought up in baskets & washed in a stream. The rough stones are hand-picked by an expert. The cutting & polishing is almost entirely in the hands of Moorish craftsmen. The medieval Chinese called Ceylon gems “ mohammedan stone" it is a speculative business, & it is only when a gem is cut & polished that its real value can be assessed.

Gems found in Ceylon include, sapphires,rubies,cat'seyes,alexandrites,aquamarines,amethysts,topazes,tourmalines,zircons,garnets & moon stones. Diamonds, emeralds, opals & turquoises do not occur naturally in Ceylon : but they have been bought in the past,& are on sale in the shops, pearls, which used to be an important export from Ceylon, are no longer available. They are not of course gems as the term is generally understood, but organic products.

Large sapphires, generally of a deep blue color, are commoner than rubies, Ceylon rubies are not so plentiful or so rich in color as the burmese pigeon- blood rubies. A point to remember is that a species cannot be identified by colour alone. A good colour sense & considerable experience are needed before one can recognize a gem by its characteristic shade of colour. It has to emphasized again that gems should be bought only from reputable merchants, as there is much scope for faking in the business

Some rubies & sapphires have " stars". The phenomenon which produce the star is called asterism. The effect of asterism is brought out when the stones are cut en cabochon ( i.e with a dome-shaped surface) Those stones, when viewed in the direction of the crystallographic axis, display six narrow lines of light, radiating at 60 degrees from centre, in a manner suggesting a star. The whi tish  sheen seen is some rubies & sapphires, due to the vast number of microscopically small canals reflecting light is called "silk"
The cat's- eye in a form of chrisoberyl. When cut en cabochon is shows a very changeable band of light across the done. 

Alexandrite, also a form of chrisoberyl, are green by reflected light & deep red by transmitted light. The aquamarine belongs to the beryl family which also includes the much rarer & more valuable emerald, which is not found in Ceylon. The usual colour in which the aquamarine is found in pale blue & pale green
 
The amethyst is a quartz with a superb purple or violet colour. The topaz is the most popular yellow stone in jewellery. The rose- tinted spinels over shadowed by the ruby. The tourmaline occurs in a wide variety of colors: red,yellow,brown,green,indigo  & jet black. Some are opaque. Moon stones, which are popular in inexpensive jewellery, are less common than they used to be.

The distinction between precious stone & semi precious stones is arbitrary & often depends on the commoner Ceylon gems

Colorless: conundrum( white sapphire) , garnet( rare), quartz,spinel( very rare), topaz,tourmaline,zircon( sometimes called matara diamonds)

Yellow or orange: conundrum( yellow sapphire), garnet, quartz,spinel, topaz, tourmaline, zircon

Brown: garnet,tourmaline,zircoqn

Red & pink: conundrum( ruby & pink sapphire), spinel,garnet,quartz,tourmaline,zircon

Purple & violet: quqartz( amethyst), corundrum( violet sapphire) ,spinel,tourmaline

Blue: corundrum( blue sapphire),aquamarine,spinel,topaz,tourmaline,zircon

Green: aquamarine, conundrums ( green sapphire) ,garnet,topaz,tourmaline

Black: tourmaline,spinel

The government has formed a gem corporation which buys & sells Ceylon gems. Its chief show-room is in York street, the premises formerly occupied by macan markars, the well known gem merchants, just opposite national & grindlay' s bank in the fort colombo.