Gems of the Americas

[Music] the earth only slowly reveals its secrets hidden deep within our treasures born under the awesome and dynamic forces of the earth crystals that man would one day call gemstones set apart in the mineral kingdom by their beauty durability and rarity they have been called the Rosetta stones of Earth history among the purest distillates of the laws of nature the physics of the universe ultimately to come within our grasp [Music] we shall tell the story of a few gemstones found in the Americas and through them reflect on all gems described by the ancients as the flowers of the mineral kingdom [Music] [Laughter] [Music] throughout all time and all the ages gems have held a special fascination for man and a unique and enduring place in his history today from Fifth Avenue to Paris from Rome to Rio de Janeiro they continue to attract us seduces and captivate us in ways that no other objects of nature ever had subjects of fable and folklore superstition and wonder since ancient times they have been objects of reverence of adawn symbols of wealth and majesty influencing the lives of multitudes of men gems have been called the greatest investment in the smallest amount of space and like glittering stars from primitive times to the 20th century they continued to engendered very special response oh I love it [Music] yet to truly understand gems we must explore the story of their creation as the rarest and most exquisite end products of the ongoing history of it [Music] our story of gemstones begins in a remote corner of space where nearly 5 billion years ago earth was formed [Music] evolving through time the surface features of our planet provide dramatic testimony the processes taking place within rugged mountain ranges standing high are but reflections of much larger forces a continents are traveling like passengers on great plate like portions of the Earth's outer layers driven by primordial heat sources deep within the earth itself slowly yet inexorably these plates moving only centimeters a year provide for every feature in an ever-changing landscape here the Red Sea area where plates are pulling apart and a new ocean is being born here the earthquake-prone San Andreas Fault in California or the plate carrying most of North America slides past the Pacific plate [Music] violent volcanic eruptions are result of plates colliding head-on yet they too are only surface expressions of events occurring beneath events at the heart of the story of gem polish [Music] perhaps resembling the movements in this lava but on a much grander scale one plate is overwritten and slides beneath carrying with it mineral rich sediments and rock material with heat drops of molten liquid form and migrate upwards through cracks accumulating and vast reservoirs of magma surrounded by cooler country rock most of the magnet crystallizes into huge bodies of granite the residual liquid can escape along fractures to form distinctive bodies called pegmatite composed primarily of large crystals of quartz feldspar and mica the plate metate contains remaining pockets of liquid enriched in exotic mineral elements these pockets are among the birthplaces of gems with elements such as lithium beryllium fluorine cesium now sufficiently concentrated to stamp their imprint on events conditions in some pockets provide for new well for minerals to crystallize magnificent gemstones yet incandescent with their own needs [Music] gemstones like these are the end product of a long and torturous sequence of events rare materials indeed and in their very nature documenting their incredible history [Music] millions of years may pass as crystals like this aquamarine by passively in their pockets the mountains in which they reside are uplifted exposed to erosion at the surface providing for the possibility of human discovery in gem rich Minas Gerais Brazil granite domes remnants of once larger mountains dot the landscape it is an ideal place to start tracing man's quest for gems the SOOC in brazil as in other places in the world it's human beings against the face of earth history here garimpeiros or prospectors carry on the search with age-old methods their tools as simple as a pick a shovel and a carbide the miners search is consonant a garimpeiros invest not money but their very existence against the mountain here in a place called Cruzeiro they are working in soft water pegmatite the locator pegmatite might only take months to find pockets bearing gem crystals may take years in another part of Minas Gerais garimpeiros work a stream and the shadow of a major mining operation the place is kept on adjacent to the colonial city of ouro preto famous for a gem species known as Imperial topaz here Cristal's free both from the weathering effects of nature man's mining activities are carried in stream gravels the rewards are usually small and the greatest interest of the garimpeiros are is the color rich enough is the stone clear enough to be considered gem quality [Applause] before [Music] the major mining operation at Capone uses more sophisticated technology and at a much higher cost here the risk-taking is one of capital as giant bulldozers cut into the earth the Imperial topaz crystals found here are an pegmatite like veins formed when mineral Laden fluids moved to higher levels in the Earth's crust every working day more than 900 tons of decomposed rock his bulldoze for delivery to nearby line fix [Music] [Applause] [Music] at the line the material is washed and upper to a lower pit and subjected to the force of water cannons [Music] the harvest called heavies is the remaining rock material most of the world's Imperial topaz is recovered in this area the treasure lies mixed with worthless gang within a sieve box less than six feet wide a final rinse removes any last remaining soil [Music] the sorting itself is done by hand each day out of 900 tons of material processed less than 20 pounds some nine kilos of Imperial topaz is recovered at this only a small percentage is actually of gem quality in the search for gems the effort persists often moving into a hard unweathered rock deeper within the mountain here mining reveals the spectacular mineral bearing nature of pegmatite in turn encouraging the pursuit of gems which may live within to explore for the possibility of treasure the process is brutal in mechanical but once a gem pocket is found force gives way to great caution and care crystals like this quartz have survived for nearly a billion years hidden in the pocket of its birth a pocket that may contain yet more precious journals [Music] it is maybe in their form and symmetry that color and their beauty that crystals like this exquisite aquamarine epitomized the order of nature and give insight on all history [Music] rio de janeiro were many of the finest brazilian gemstones are fashioned into jewels in the story of gems few activities better exemplify their unique qualities a master cutter requires an inner understanding of these qualities and how they relate to the gem the stone itself defines how it should be cut the B value a crystal must be fine Jemmy material without incipient floors it must be durable enough to have withstood the power of nature and the vicissitudes of human handling [Music] a gem must have hardness be able to resist abrasion it's very cutting is a difficult operation [Music] in the transformation from crystal to finish gem the stone is then given its essential shape it is a shape dictated by the atoms within and how they interact with light the stone is now placed on a dub stick a special wax used to hold it in place so that the cutter will be able to work with it on the wheel even in modern times the techniques are the same as in the remotest areas of the world they only major difference electric power as the faceting takes place the promise of the stones inner beauty becomes apparent once faceting the stone is given a final polish allowing its full duster and brilliance to be revealed among the finest gems of the Americas is this aquamarine yet the story of the rarest most precious gem the Emerald is best told 3,000 miles away in the midst of the Colombian Andes the Emerald revered sought-after in these mountains over the centuries a treasure uniquely bound up in the history of the Americas and the world [Music] this is the Utica River tributary of the muddy kirari here in a gaping Canyon of black shale in a place called Muzo much of the story of the Colombian emerald is told here the Muzo Indians mind along the mountainsides here the spaniards having heard of the valuable green stone waged a vicious war with the Indians who were ultimately enslaved to extract the emerald treasure over the centuries the mountains have been repeatedly ravaged to recover the fabled stone today's modern operations belie musso's turbulent history [Music] Muzo has become synonymous with the finest emeralds in the world the green stones occur in white calcite veins within the black carbonaceous shale after drilling and blasting bulldozers turn over the black shale exposing veins which are then work by hand to reveal the eminence [Music] a story of Muzo however lies not only on the mountains but in the viscous black mud at the otoko river itself called at times the river of death it has been a place where the quest and the competition for the heralded green stone has been played out death by jungle disease by deprivation death and the almost overpowering obsession to find possess become rich by the Emerald in breathless tropical heat the people of Musa who live in shacks along the mountainside work the river in hopes of finding a gem some work downriver from the mining operation but most trek up the otoko every day or along the dirt road that parallels it to dig in the black mud discouraged from the recent mining activity above [Music] [Music] there are nearly 10,000 strong men women and children people with no other source of income no other work searching living on a dream of discovery called what carers they live or subsist digging in the mud days weeks can go by without finding anything they trade in stones illicitly sometimes with considerable risk because of blood feuds which flare up a month in 1972 the feuds claimed over 900 lives and the mines were forced to close [Applause] in a scene reminiscent of the Klondike or California's Gold Rush children grow up knowing only the obsessive dream of their parents and adopting it as their own [Applause] life for the walk eros is arduous their shacks which they call rancheros provide no more than children their food little more than the pigs chickens fruit and vegetables they raise or buy from local vendors who set up at the river working alone or sometimes in small groups the walk arrows are occasionally successful when they hired that marketplace is close at hand a steady stream of buyers come from Bogota men called Esmeralda rose licensed by the government they are tough independent emerald dealers who may also represent larger financial interests the towns they wear are both a badge of office and used to wipe the mud off emeralds [Music] the stones the Esmeraude arrows Bible reap great profits in Bogota for the walk arrows a deal even on a small amount validates and perpetuates a way of life [Music] Bogota City of highest skyscrapers and commerce truly the Emerald capital of the world buyers from all over the globe come to places like this international trading company to purchase emeralds for marketing here Commission Easter's who work on Commission for others wait their turn to offer their emeralds it is a low-key atmosphere or the stakes are very high [Music] today in the milk know no servants this cool little coriander no it's not reversible once I clear a song in single Tonga total feather in Japan the United States provide the largest market for Colombian emeralds and their combined purchases averaged almost 30 million dollars a year some exceptional stones can reach the international market in this way others are sold in jewelry in the elite salons of Bogota the most highly prized are sold in private sessions perhaps no clearer demonstration of the impact of an American gem is possible than on this simple board 14 cut stones from a single emerald crystal total weight 23 carats total value $360,000 the late Willis Braun Kate describes there are two pairs in there the pairs are always more valuable and individual stones because they're so hard to get so you make earrings out of those no two emeralds are like in nature but we approximate they're like this and I use earrings which is bringing a 20% premium over single stones I would like to call your attention to this other large the large stones a lot which is a little bit beauty or a big beauty whichever you want to call it but it would make a perfect match ring to go with that pair of earrings well what is the price of the big stone I'd see it weighs three carat 33 $45,000 for this to complete stone and the price of the earrings this is approximately 18,000 dollars each stone so I wrap him up and well I would like you to but I think I'll only be interested in one [Music] today our appreciation and understanding of gems is greater than ever and firmly rooted in knowledge Babel and superstition have given way to science and to the special wonder that comes with knowing how nature creates out of its own dynamic forces and exotic elements these unique objects microcosms of the universe in which the arrangement of atoms the play of light and color have endured since long before man [Music] throughout human history gems of wielded extraordinary influence yet the bond between man and gems remains wrapped in our sense of beauty tied to I wish to know and understand bound to our desire to possess objects of such timeless value [Music] Jem's the flowers of the mineral kingdom speak to us and we continue to respond [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM)

Views: 9,342

Rating: 4.8911567 out of 5

Keywords: gems of the americas, gems, americas, minerals

Id: ONm21mnFsYk

Length: 29min 32sec (1772 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 09 2019