Faking the Grail
Notes
Peridot is a beautiful stone and a lot cheaper than emerald. I thought I'd get some topaz as well. I liked the idea of incorporating something previously associated with Ra and Jupiter. Imperial topaz is rare and comparatively expensive though. The pale stones are cheaper.
Faceted stones cut from clear topaz were often used instead of diamonds during the middle ages, because
they are softer and much easier to cut and polish.
Uncut diamonds have always been sought after and considered extremely valuable for all sorts
of reasons, but they're not particularly imposing in the rough.
It wasn't really until the Renaissance that they started to
become available as gems.
Enhanced zircons, which used to be called jargoons look very similar to diamonds and were also often used
whenever a large clear, flawless impressive crystal was called for. The word jargon, which comes from jargoon, used to
refer to the kind of Pidgin spoken by jewellers and gem dealers from all over the ancient world attempting to communicate
with each other and confuse everyone else simultaneously.
Enhancing is an ancient art. Improving or even changing the colour of some precious stones isn't difficult and has always been done to increase their value. Very few gemstones have never been enhanced and peridot is one of them. It is extremely easy, however, to change an indifferent purple amethyst into a reasonable Cairngorm stone, which is a dark golden yellow. Identifying gemstones by colour alone is almost impossible.
I added some jargoons and a rough diamond to my raw material list. I'd need the diamond to engrave the glass if I decided to use it. Carving topaz would require diamond tools as as well.
Other things suggested themselves. Moonstones, perhaps, for Isis and Artemis, or pearls, which are called the tears of Aphrodite. Solar heroes and sun gods wore pearls in their hair in Celtic mythology. I added amethysts, aquamarines, garnets, heliodors, hyacinths, jacinths and opals.
Amber, carnelian, coral, jade, jasper, lapis lazuli, obsidian, rock crystal and turquoise were also considered significant enough in ancient cultures to qualify for inclusion on my wanted list. They would add a different dimension to the potential significance of the eventual design of the object, whatever it happened to be.
Whatever it was, it was going to look very old, I decided. Mysterious too, and full of references and allusions designed to intrigue and amuse anyone interested enough to decipher them; resonant, evocative even, rather like the real thing but smaller and less flashy.
I still had no idea what I was going to make but I had realised by this time that whatever it was it was going to have to be scaled down a bit. I'd be lucky if it was bigger than an egg cup. It didn't have to look like an egg cup, though.
Copyright©2005 Alex Murray.