"Hierarchy of precious substances In popular culture, sets of precious substances may form hierarchies which express conventional perceived relative value or merit. Precious metals appear prominently in such hierarchies, but as they grow, gems and semi-precious materials may be introduced as part of the system. The sequences can provide interesting examples of the arbitrariness of semiotic signs. Jubilees have a hierarchy of years: silver (25 years), ruby (40 years), golden (50 years), diamond (60 years), and platinum (70 years). Wedding anniversaries extend the jubilee hierarchy with various sequences of substances filling in many of the gaps between the same major"
"the early 17th century, and Shakespeare alludes to it in ""Pericles"", 1607. First water In the gemstone trade, first water means ""highest quality"". The clarity of diamonds is assessed by their translucence; the more like water, the higher the quality. The 1753 edition of Chambers' Encyclopedia states ""The first water in Diamonds means the greatest purity and perfection of their complexion, which ought to be that of the clearest drop of water. When Diamonds fall short of this perfection, they are said to be of the second or third water, &c. till the stone may be properly called a coloured"
"First water In the gemstone trade, first water means ""highest quality"". The clarity of diamonds is assessed by their translucence; the more like water, the higher the quality. The 1753 edition of Chambers' Encyclopedia states ""The first water in Diamonds means the greatest purity and perfection of their complexion, which ought to be that of the clearest drop of water. When Diamonds fall short of this perfection, they are said to be of the second or third water, &c. till the stone may be properly called a coloured one."" The comparison of diamonds with water dates back to at least"
"Philosopher's stone The philosopher's stone, or stone of the philosophers () is a legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (, from the Greek χρυσός ""khrusos"", ""gold"", and ποιεῖν ""poiēin"", ""to make"") or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus"
"they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone.."" (KJV). The term used in the Latin Vulgate Bible in this citation is ""lapidus sapphiri,"" the term for lapis lazuli. Modern translations of the Bible, such as the New Living Translation Second Edition, refer to lapis lazuli in most instances instead of sapphire. Lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli (), or lapis for short, is a deep blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. As early as the 7th"
"and video games. Philosopher's stone The philosopher's stone, or stone of the philosophers () is a legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (, from the Greek χρυσός ""khrusos"", ""gold"", and ποιεῖν ""poiēin"", ""to make"") or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as"
"the stone such as color zoning (the uneven distribution of coloring within a gem) and asteria (star effects). The Greeks, for example, greatly valued asteria gemstones, which were regarded as powerful love charms, and Helen of Troy was known to have worn star-corundum. Aside from the diamond, the ruby, sapphire, emerald, pearl (not, strictly speaking, a gemstone), and opal have also been considered to be precious. Up to the discoveries of bulk amethyst in Brazil in the 19th century, amethyst was considered a ""precious stone"" as well, going back to ancient Greece. Even in the last century certain stones such"
"and a distinctive absorption spectrum. Material or flaws within a stone may be present as inclusions. Gemstones may also be classified in terms of their ""water"". This is a recognized grading of the gem's luster, transparency, or ""brilliance"". Very transparent gems are considered ""first water"", while ""second"" or ""third water"" gems are those of a lesser transparency. There is no universally accepted grading system for gemstones. Diamonds are graded using a system developed by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in the early 1950s. Historically, all gemstones were graded using the naked eye. The GIA system included a major innovation:"
"Nefertem Nefertem (; possibly ""beautiful one who closes"" or ""one who does not close""; also spelled Nefertum or Nefer-temu) was, in Egyptian mythology, originally a lotus flower at the creation of the world, who had arisen from the primal waters. Nefertem represented both the first sunlight and the delightful smell of the Egyptian blue lotus flower, having arisen from the primal waters within an Egyptian blue water-lily, ""Nymphaea caerulea"". Some of the titles of Nefertem were ""He Who is Beautiful"" and ""Water-Lily of the Sun"", and a version of the ""Book of the Dead"" says: Nefertem was eventually seen as"
"history reportedly found over 1,000 names for it), among them Amrit Ras or Amrita, Aab-i-Hayat, Maha Ras, Aab-Haiwan, Dancing Water, Chasma-i-Kausar, Mansarover or the Pool of Nectar, Philosopher's stone, and Soma Ras. The word ""elixir"" was not used until the 7th century A.D. and derives from the Arabic name for miracle substances, ""al iksir"". Some view it as a metaphor for the spirit of God (""e.g."", Jesus's reference to ""the Water of Life"" or ""the Fountain of Life""). ""But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a"
"Yogos was given to First Ladies Florence Harding and Bess Truman; in addition, many gems were sold in Europe, though promoters' claims that Yogos are in the crown jewels of England or the engagement ring of Princess Diana are dubious. Today, several Yogo sapphires are part of the Smithsonian Institution's gem collection. Yogo sapphires were not initially recognized or valued. Gold was discovered at Yogo Creek in 1866, and though ""blue pebbles"" were noticed alongside gold in the stream alluvium by 1878, it was not until 1894 that the ""blue pebbles"" were recognized as sapphires. Sapphire mining began in 1895"
"an essential component of true bronze and is comparatively rare. Herodotus refers to a king of Tartessos, Arganthonios, presumably named for his wealth in silver. The people from Tartessos became important trading partners of the Phoenicians, whose presence in Iberia dates from the 8th century BC and who nearby built a harbor of their own, Gadir (, , present-day Cádiz). Several early sources, such as Aristotle, refer to Tartessos as a river. Aristotle claims that it rises from the Pyrene Mountain (which we can identify as the Pyrenees) and flows out to sea outside the Pillars of Hercules, the modern"
"in its branding, thus becoming Holywell Malvern Spring Water. It has been drunk by several British monarchs. Elizabeth I drank it in public in the 16th century; Queen Victoria refused to travel without it. The quality of Malvern water is attributable to its source. Malvern Hills are amongst the oldest and hardest rocks found in the United Kingdom, with their geology responsible for the quality of Malvern's spring water. The hills consist of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rock, the oldest of which are about 670 million years old. The rocks are characterised by low porosity and high secondary permeability via"
"other extraordinary objects and beings) the amṛta. Amṛta is sometimes said to miraculously form on, or flow from, statues of Hindu gods. The substance is consumed by worshippers and is alleged to be sweet-tasting and not at all similar to honey or sugar water. Amṛta was the last of the fourteen treasures that emerged from the churning of the ocean and contained in a pot borne by Dhanvantari, the physician of the devas. Amrit () is the name of the holy water used in the baptism ceremony or Amrit Sanchar in Sikhism. This ceremony is observed to initiate the Sikhs"
"translates it as ""emerald"", and the Vulgate translates it as ""jaspis"" – meaning jasper. There is a wide range of views among traditional sources about which tribe the stone refers to. In a Christian New Testament parable (""Matthew"" 13:45–46), Jesus compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a ""pearl of great price"". ""Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly (fine) pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."" The twelve gates of the New Jerusalem are reportedly each made of a single"
"and is also the origin of the word ""citron"". Sometimes citrine and amethyst can be found together in the same crystal, which is then referred to as ametrine. Citrine has been referred to as the ""merchant's stone"" or ""money stone"", due to a superstition that it would bring prosperity. Citrine was first appreciated as a golden-yellow gemstone in Greece between 300 and 150 BC, during the Hellenistic Age. The yellow quartz was used prior to that to decorate jewelry and tools but it was not highly sought-after. Milk quartz or milky quartz is the most common variety of crystalline quartz."
"pearl: saltwater and freshwater pearls come in many different colors. While white, and more recently black, saltwater pearls are by far the most popular, other color tints can be found on pearls from the oceans. Pink, blue, champagne, green, and even purple saltwater pearls can be encountered, but to collect enough of these rare colors to form a complete string of the same size and same shade can take years. The Hindu tradition describes the sacred Nine Pearls which were first documented in the Garuda Purana, one of the books of the Hindu mythology. Ayurveda contains references to pearl powder"
"the Creature of God which is called the Primal Matter, especially concerning its efficacy and mystery, that they have given to it many names, and almost every possible description, for they have not known how to sufficiently praise it."" Waite lists an additional eighty four names. Prima materia In alchemy, Prima materia, materia prima or first matter, is the ubiquitous starting material required for the alchemical magnum opus and the creation of the philosopher's stone. It is the primitive formless base of all matter similar to chaos, the quintessence, or aether. Esoteric alchemists describe the prima materia using simile, and"
"""water-silver"" (hydr- = water, argyros = silver) — since it is liquid like water and shiny like silver. The element was named after the Roman god Mercury, known for speed and mobility. It is associated with the planet Mercury; the astrological symbol for the planet is also one of the alchemical symbols for the metal. Mercury is the only metal for which the alchemical planetary name became the common name. The heaviest known group 12 element, copernicium, was first created on February 9, 1996, at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany, by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al."
"Turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula CuAl(PO)(OH)·4HO. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue. In recent times, turquoise has been devalued, like most other opaque gems, by the introduction onto the market of treatments, imitations and synthetics. The gemstone has been known by many names. Pliny the Elder referred to the mineral as ""callais"" (from Ancient Greek ) and the Aztecs knew it as ""chalchihuitl"". The"
"metal argent (silver) is symbol of peace, friendship, labour, prosperity, purity, religiosity. The three heraldic fountains argent (silver) reminds in the escutcheon the three mineral water fountains existent in the city, one of them with sulphurous waters, gift of nature that constitutes the main municipal wealth, reason of its autonomy to the progressist evolution, origin of the toponym that the city boasts (""""Águas"""" means """"Waters"""" in Portuguese). As supporters, two cornucopias sprinkling coins, all in Or (gold) symbolizing abundance, richness, and the wealth that comes from the soil with its fountains with miraculous waters. In a scroll azure (blue) in"
"not stick to carnelian. Sard was used for Assyrian cylinder seals, Egyptian and Phoenician scarabs, and early Greek and Etruscan gems. The Hebrew ""odem"" (also translated ""sardius""), the first stone in the High Priest's breastplate, was a red stone, probably sard but perhaps red jasper. In Revelation 4:3, the One seated on the heavenly throne seen in the vision of John the apostle is said to ""look like jasper and 'σαρδίῳ' (sardius transliterated)"". And likewise it is in Revelation 21:20 as one of the precious stones in the foundations of the wall of the heavenly city. Although now the more"
"list of Natural Mineral Waters. The water, at least in the beginning of the 20th century, was naturally sparkling. Although it still preserves its original mineral composition, nowadays carbon dioxide is added during bottling. The water is estimated to come from a container approximately 150 m underground. It owes its excellent quality to the rock formations at Mount Anthemounta which consist of semi-metamorphic, metamorphic and igneous rocks. Water flowing in the substrate is slow-moving and as it passes through the various rocks it is filtered and enriched with beneficial elements giving it its unique mineral composition and distinctive taste. Water"
"valued above all other gems. The opals were supplied by traders from the Bosporus, who claimed the gems were being supplied from India. Before this the stone was referred to by a variety of names, but these fell from use after 250 BC. In the Middle Ages, opal was considered a stone that could provide great luck because it was believed to possess all the virtues of each gemstone whose color was represented in the color spectrum of the opal. It was also said to grant invisibility if wrapped in a fresh bay leaf and held in the hand. Following"
"stone comes from the head of a serpent or is made by the sting of an adder. The third is more modern (and much easier to attain). It details that the stone can be any rock with a hole bored through the middle by water. Human intervention (i.e., direction of water or placement of the stone) is not allowed. Adder stone was held in high esteem amongst the Druids. It was one of their distinguishing badges, and was accounted to possess the most extraordinary virtues. There is a passage in Pliny’s ""Natural History"", book XXII, describing the nature and the"
"in the Avesta the divinities are good to bathe in. As also in the Indian religious texts, the waters are considered a primordial element. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, the waters are the second creation, after that of the sky. Aside from Apas herself/themselves, no less than seven Zoroastrian divinities are identified with the waters: All three Ahuras (Mazda, Mithra, Apam Napat), two Amesha Spentas (Haurvatat, Armaiti) and two lesser Yazatas (Aredvi Sura Anahita and Ahurani). Abans, a crater on Ariel, one of the moons of Uranus, is named after ""aban"". In the seven-chapter ""Yasna Haptanghaiti"", which interrupts the sequential order of"
"primarily by the Persian-Arab alchemist Jābir ibn Hayyān and rooted in the classical elements of Greek tradition. His system consisted of the four Aristotelian elements of air, earth, fire, and water in addition to two philosophical elements: sulphur, characterizing the principle of combustibility; ""the stone which burns"", and mercury, characterizing the principle of metallic properties. They were seen by early alchemists as idealized expressions of irreducibile components of the universe and are of larger consideration within philosophical alchemy. The three metallic principles: sulphur to flammability or combustion, mercury to volatility and stability, and salt to solidity. became the ""tria prima"""
"is referenced in the Bible as brimstone in English, with this name still used in several nonscientific terms. Sulfur was considered important enough to receive its own alchemical symbol. It was needed to make the best quality of black gunpowder, and the bright yellow powder was hypothesized by alchemists to contain some of the properties of gold, which they sought to synthesize from it. In 1777, Antoine Lavoisier helped convince the scientific community that sulfur was a basic element, rather than a compound. Elemental sulfur was once extracted from salt domes where it sometimes occurs in nearly pure form, but"
"as aquamarine, peridot and cat's eye (cymophane) have been popular and hence been regarded as precious. Today such a distinction is no longer made by the gemstone trade. Many gemstones are used in even the most expensive jewelry, depending on the brand name of the designer, fashion trends, market supply, treatments, etc. Nevertheless, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds still have a reputation that exceeds those of other gemstones. Rare or unusual gemstones, generally meant to include those gemstones which occur so infrequently in gem quality that they are scarcely known except to connoisseurs, include andalusite, axinite, cassiterite, clinohumite and red"
"be removed, water can be purified, etc. It is a metaphor for the teachings and virtues of the Buddha. ... Said to be obtained from the dragon-king of the sea, or the head of the great fish, Makara, or the relics of a Buddha. The Kintamani mountainous region in Bali was named after the Cintamani. Cintamani Cintāmaṇi (Sanskrit; Devanagari: चिन्तामणि), also spelled as Chintamani (or the ""Chintamani Stone""), is a wish-fulfilling jewel within both Hindu and Buddhist traditions, said by some to be the equivalent of the philosopher's stone in Western alchemy. It is one of several Mani Jewel images"
"of the front plate is a triangular sapphire which replaces a famous stone, now lost, which was known as the ""Waise"" (i.e., the 'Orphan', because of its uniqueness), probably a large white opal with a wine-red fire or possibly a singularly brilliant garnet or red zircon and the subject of much legendary medieval lore. The medieval theologian and philosopher Albert the Great wrote about it in 1250:The orphan is a jewel in the crown of the Roman emperor. Because the like of it has never been seen elsewhere it is called the ""orphan"". It has the color of wine, of"
"it was mined. Her titles included ""Lady of Turquoise"", ""Mistress of Turquoise"", and ""Lady of Turquoise Country"". In Western culture, turquoise is also the traditional birthstone for those born in the month of December. The turquoise is also a stone in the Jewish High Priest's breastplate, described in Exodus 28. The stone is also considered sacred to the indigenous peoples of the Southwestern United States Zuni and Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest, The pre-Columbian Aztec and Maya also considered it to be a valuable and culturally important stone. The Egyptians were the first to produce an artificial imitation of"
"river during the period of 1780-85. Several of the largest diamonds found in Brazil originated here, though medium or low quality stones are more common. A diamond, known as the Abaeté brilliant, was discovered in the river in 1791 whilst a group of men were searching for gold. In addition to garnets, gold, iridium, jaspers, osmium, and platinum, the gravel contains 30 other minerals. The palladium-free platinum found in the Abaeté River is strongly magnetic and rich in iron. South of the confluence of the river, along the São Francisco River, is the Três Marias Dam, (Três Marias is a"