Gems of the Iberian Peninsula
When we started to cut gems we realized that there was gemological material in the Iberian Peninsula that was not used, but that had all the qualities, so that it could be used as a gem, we will start cutting sphalerite and variscite, and little by little the number of minerals was expanding, at the same time we learned that there had been a lapidary tradition and a use of material from the Iberian Peninsula since prehistory.
We liked all this, in addition to the aesthetic value of the gemological material itself, the cultural, historical and anthropological components gave us added value, this made us expand the field of study of the material used since ancient times,
Interested in the topic and as there was no complete study, neither in theory nor in practice, we decided to begin the work of searching, identifying and stoning tests of all the material from the Iberian Peninsula, a work that we present at the Museum of natural sciences.
As can be seen by looking at the exhibition, there is a great variety of gems, some of high aesthetic quality, others that are the result of experimentation on materials that have restricted use in gemology. The criteria used for the selection of gemological materials are:
1.Materials of undoubted cultural and anthropological interest, used since prehistory such as serpentine, variscite, flint, soapstone, organic materials, etc.
Costabona Serpentine
2.Gemological materials widely recognized for their use in jewelry or ornamentation such as topaz, amethyst, aquamarine, garnets, etc.
Pereña Aquamarine
3.Materials described in gemological literature as collection stones such as dolomite, cuprite, aragonite, siderite, etc.
Leon Aragonite
Experimental materials of which we have no evidence that have ever been stoned, such as vonsenite, inesite, aerinite, etc. Some with great results, others with more dubious results. A few of these materials have turned out to be gems with a lot of interest from collectors since they are rare materials that are not easily found such as cobalt, calcite, aerinite, sphalerite, inesite, pyromorphite, natroalunite, etc.
Gualba Inesite(Montseny)
5.Other materials with which stoning tests have been carried out and which are not exposed because, despite there being material on the Peninsula, samples of sufficient size or sufficient quality have not been obtained, such as axinite, scheellite, zircon, etc. ; Other materials have not been worked due to their high fragility such as sulfur, rock salt, etc.
6.This is an open work due to the great variety of gemological materials and the variation in colors, textures, etc., of each of them. We are sure that each town, region and community has a series of materials that, when worked properly, can give interesting results.
Search for material: Collection and selection of material. Much of the gemological material from which the exposed gems have been cut has been collected by ourselves on different trips or excursions throughout the Iberian Peninsula: Mallorquinas, Costabona, Costa de Almería, Santander, Córdoba, etc. Other materials have been donated to us by different collectors or institutions. Finally, they have been purchased from different suppliers and at different fairs on the Peninsula: Expominer, Union Fair, St. Celoni Fair, etc.
The size. All the gems in the exhibition have been cut by Josep Mª Serrano and Montse Bagué, trying to show at the same time the different types of materials and the maximum number of possible types of cutting: cabochons, faceted and carved.
Treatments. The gems often receive treatments of many types: dyeing, heating, impregnations, radiation, etc. All the gems in the exhibition, without exception, are natural and without any type of treatment.
Technique. Techniques used for gem sizing. A wide variety of methods have been used to cut the gems in the exhibition: by hand, with a cabochon cutter and with the traditional faceting system that was used in Barcelona: invention and divider. Also high precision machines in terms of angles and distribution of facets. Regarding the design of the cuts, the traditional drawing system has been used as well as computer-aided design software, specialized in gem cutting.
HELP AND PRECEDENTS of this work on materials with gemological interest from the Iberian Peninsula: SR. Robert Celades, SR. García-Guinea, SR. Jaume Serrate.