18thC Antique 2 1/3ct Rose Quartz Medieval Gem of Venus Eros Roman-Assyrian Love

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Seller: ancientgifts ✉️ (5,440) 100%, Location: Lummi Island, Washington, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 381831858644 18thC Antique 2 1/3ct Rose Quartz Medieval Gem of Venus Eros Roman-Assyrian Love.

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Antique 18th Century Genuine Natural Two and One-Third Carat Hand Crafted/Polished Indian Rose Quartz Semi-Precious Gemstone Oval.

CLASSIFICATION: Polished Indian Rose Quartz Cabochon.

ORIGIN: 19th century India.

SIZE: Length: 10mm. Width: 8mm. Depth (Thickness): 4mm. Measurements approximate.

WEIGHT: 2.32 carats.

NOTES: Upon request we can set your gemstones as a ring, pendant, or as earrings(click here for more information).

DETAIL: From Antiquity through the Middle Ages ancient populations believed that the cosmos was reflected in gemstones. Rose quartz was associated with the Goddess of Love, Venus. The ancient Greeks associated the gemstone with the God Eros, who according to legend felt pity for humans when he saw the pain and loneliness caused by anger, so he created rose quartz in the hope that its beautiful color and gentle energy would arouse love and desire among people. For the ancient Assyrians and Romans rose quartz was a traditional gift expressing love or affection. The Romans also used rose quartz to carve intaglios for signet rings, as well as cut and faceted to provide gemstones for jewelry. In ancient Egypt masks cut from rose quartz were used to beautify the skin. The ancient sources for rose quartz were mines in Namibia. Rose quartz beads have been found in Mesopotamian burials that date back to at least 7000 B.C. Jewelry produced by the ancient Assyrians around 800 B.C. featured rose quartz.

Here's a very nice quality 18th century antique hand crafted/shaped/polished bright rose quartz semi-precious gemstone from India. This is an exceptionally nice, high quality specimen, with beautiful, pastel, delicate rose colored gemstone. Rose Quartz gemstones and jewelry were extremely popular throughout the ancient Mediterranean, and maintained its immense popularity through Renaissance and into Victorian Europe. During the Roman Empire carnelian, closely related to rose quartz, was widely used to carve cameos and signet/intaglio rings. The Romans acquired their taste for both carnelian and rose quartz from the Phoenicians, who traded extensively in both forms of quartz. As well rose quartz was also an important trade good in ancient India.

Since before recorded history evidence suggests that various forms of quartz (including rose quartz, amethyst, carnelian, and aventurine) were amongst the most favored gemstones for at least the past 10,000 years. This particular specimen is of very nice quality, very beautiful, and is gemstone quality and at least to the eye, without blemish. However close examination of the gemstone reveals that the gemstone has been hand shaped and hand finished. The slight irregularities which are the hallmark of a handcrafted gemstone are generally regarded as appealing to most gemstone collectors, and is not considered detrimental. Unlike today’s computer controlled machine finished gemstones, the cut and finish of a gemstone such as this is the legacy of an artisan who lived two centuries ago. Such antique hand-crafted gemstones possess much greater character and appeal than today's mass-produced machine-produced gemstones.

This gemstone has great luster and color, and to the eye is seemingly without blemish, but it is not absolutely flawless. True, the blemishes it possesses are virtually invisible to the naked eye, and the gemstone can be characterized, to use trade jargon, as "eye clean". To the view of the casual admirer the gemstone is seemingly without blemish. However in the accompanying photo enlargements you can see slight blemishes within the stone. Of course the same may said about almost any natural gemstone. An absolutely flawless gemstone simply is not the rule in nature. Most absolutely flawless gemstones will upon close examination be revealed to be synthetic, as perfect gemstones are the realm of laboratory-produced gemstones, not Mother Nature.

You might also notice under magnification occasional irregularities in the cut and finish. Of course, these characteristics are not only expected of hand-finished gemstones, you must also consider that two centuries ago the mining techniques even possible then, let alone in practice, did not allow the ultra deep mining operations which are so commonplace today. Keep in mind two centuries ago mankind was more or less limited to surface deposits or near surface deposits of gemstones. Higher quality gemstones which today are routinely mined from beneath hundreds of meters, even kilometers beneath the earth's surface, were simply inaccessible then.

For these reasons antique gemstones must be appreciated as antiques first, gemstones second. The relatively superlative quality of contemporary gemstones routinely mined from deep beneath the earth's surface today were simply not accessible two centuries ago, or at least, only rarely so. However for most, the unique nature and character of antique gemstones such as this more than makes up for miniscule blemishes and cutting imperfections which are inherent in antique, hand-cut gemstones, and which are by and large, are only visible under high magnification.

HISTORY OF ROSE QUARTZ: Aside from pearls, which were "discovered" as gemstones by prehistoric man, various forms of quartz (such as carnelian, amethyst, and rose quartz), turquoise, and lapis lazuli are the oldest gemstones utilized in the manufacture of jewelry. "Rose quartz" is the rarest of these various quartz varieties. Transparent, gemstone-quality rose quartz is very rare and is usually so pale that it does not show very much color except in large sizes. The pink shades of rose quartz are due to the presence of titanium. The ancient sources for rose quartz were mines in Namibia. Rose quartz beads have been found in Mesopotamian burials that date back to at least 7000 B.C. Jewelry produced by the ancient Assyrians around 800 B.C. featured rose quartz. The Romans also used rose quartz to carve intaglios for signet rings, as well as cut ands faceted to provide gemstones for jewelry. Both the ancient Assyrians and Romans regarded rose quartz as a traditional gift expressing love or affection.

In ancient Egypt masks cut from rose quartz were used to beautify the skin. The ancient Greeks associated the gemstone with the God Eros, who according to legend felt pity for humans when he saw the pain and loneliness caused by anger, so he created rose quartz in the hope that its beautiful color and gentle energy would arouse love and desire among people. In antiquity and through into the Middle Ages it was believed that the cosmos was reflected in gemstones. Rose quartz was associated with Venus. A large deposit from rose quartz was discovered in 1756 A.D. in southern Bavaria near Germany's border with the Czech Republic, an area called the Bavarian Woods. The material was so intensely colored that it was said to resemble spinel. Between its discovery in 1756 and 1880, 16,000 tons of rose quartz was quarried and used to produce crystal tableware such as plates, bowls, glasses, etc.

Throughout the history of the ancient world, gemstones were believed capable of curing illness, possessing valuable metaphysical properties, and providing protection. Found in Egypt dated 1500 B. C., the "Papyrus Ebers" offered one of most complete therapeutic manuscripts containing prescriptions using gemstones and minerals. Gemstones were not only valued for their medicinal and protective properties, but also for educational and spiritual enhancement. Due to its soft color, rose quartz was long been regarded in the ancient world as a soothing, calming crystal that promoted love and healing. It was also associated with femininity. Placing a rose quartz under one’s pillow at night was believed to promote peaceful sleep and creative inspiration. Its medical uses included its use as a cure for skin disorders (including healing scar tissue, burns, and blisters), stress, heart and circulatory related health problems, including its perceived value in releasing excess fluids and impurities in the cells of the body. Rose quartz was also used to prevent wrinkles, to treat asthma, eyesight problems, migraines, fever, bruises and aching in bones, fatigue, menstrual pains and tenderness.

On the metaphysical plane, rose quartz was believed to help clear negative emotions such as jealousy, anger and fear, and also to ease heartache and psychic traumas. It was also believed to enhance intuition, confidence, creativity, love, and romance; and was also believed to increase fertility. It was also believed to enhance the wearer’s awareness of the beauty and magic in the world, and to aid the wearer in maintaining a peaceful, harmonious environment. Wearing rose quartz was also believed to be therapeutic for those individuals who suffered from depression, low self esteem or self-hatred. Rose quartz was perceived as being associated with the healing power of forgiveness, and thus was helpful in opening the heart, healing the pain of past upsets, and releasing guilt and old grudges. It was also believed effective as an aid to balancing the masculine and feminine aspects within both men and women.

HISTORY OF QUARTZ CRYSTAL: There are many varieties of quartz which are not generally recognized as quartz. Purple quartz is known as amethyst; yellow quartz as "citrine", green quartz as "adventurine"; and ametrine is a variegated gemstone possessing a color somewhere between amethyst and citrine. More readily recognized varieties of quartz include smoky quartz, rose quartz, onyx, agates, chrysoprase, and rutilated quartz. Quartz (“rock crystal") caught the eye of various ancient cultures with its brilliant transparency and gorgeous tones. To the ancient Greeks it was "krystallos", from which the name "crystal" is derived. To the ancient Slavic cultures it was, "kwardy", from which eventually the name “quartz” was derived.

The clearest form of quartz is rock crystal, used since ancient times to manufacture “crystal balls”. Colorless quartz crystals have always been popular in jewelry since even ancient pre-recorded history due to mystical legends concerning the "power" of quartz crystals. In the ancient world quartz was used as an ornamental stone, to fashion gemstones for jewelry, and as well for making tools and weapons. Quartz was also ground by ancient cultures to produce primitive forms of glass and ceramics. Faience jewelry and amulets were mass produced in ancient Egypt fashioned from ground quartz and various minerals added to produce color (such as copper ore for blue-green; iron ore for red and orange, etc.). Similar ceramic jewelry and amulets were also produced by the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian cultures.

According to one ancient legend, the sun and universe were contained within an enormous crystal. Quartz was also long thought by ancients to be petrified ice. Five thousand years ago the Sumerians cut and engraved various quartz stones as cylinder seals and used them later as ring seals. As the Sumerians invented writing, quartz is probably one of the first gem stone materials to be written on, and also to be used as a stamp to make a written impression in clay. Ancient Persians believed that quartz amulets placed on a baby ensured the infant’s proper nutrition. There are many examples in various museums throughout the world of carved quartz stones that were popular in Greece and Rome as intaglios for signet rings. One particularly popular style showed the upper half of the body of a man with a hand upraised, pronouncing judgment. These pieces are said to have been especially effective as a talisman during a lawsuit. The ancient Celts used rock crystal amulets to give the water of healing wells a magical potency. Running brooks produced healing water as well. Quartz “star stones” were collected from a running brook, placed in boiling water from the same brook, and then the water, imbued with the curative power of the crystals, was then given to the patient. It was also believed that quartz crystals could cure infertility. Quartz crystal has also been used in religious and shamanistic ceremonies for thousands of years. In the ancient Greek world quartz was utilized in the Eleusinian mysteries, initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece, to produce the sacred fire by concentrating the heat of the sun to ignite wood chips. Native American shamans are said to have used quartz crystals as divining and hunting charms, believing they were inhabited by spirits who had to be fed periodically by rubbing the quartz crystals with deer's blood. The Cherokee were known to use quartz crystals for divining stones. Australian aborigines Aboriginal tribes regard quartz crystal as a rain-stone, and use it in ceremonies meant to bring rain. And of course through the ancient world, for thousands of years, large pieces of quartz crystal were cut and polished into spheres, a scrying tool which enabled practitioners to foretell the future by peering into their crystal balls.

In the 14th century Medieval World of Europe, it was common for the quartz crystal to be engraved with the image of a man in armor holding a bow and arrow. The resulting talisman then would guard both the wearer and the place where it was situated. Quartz is very popular in the production of jewelry due to the fact it is very hard and durable. Some of the most popular varieties of quartz include amethyst (purple quartz), citrine (yellow quartz), and aventurine (green quartz). Other popular varieties include “tigerseye”, the relatively rare rose quartz, onyx, and various forms of agate (such as jasper). "Rose quartz" is the rarest of these various quartz varieties. The ancient Assyrians and Romans were among the first to use rose quartz, carved and faceted to provide gemstones, the Romans also using them to carve intaglios for signet rings. Rose quartz was regarding a token of love amongst both the ancient Romans and Assyrians.

Smoky quartz is brown, transparent quartz that is popular for large and unusual faceted crystals. Smoky quartz from Mount Cairngorm, Scotland, is known as "cairngorm", and since ancient times has been a favorite ornamental gemstone with Scots and Celts. Even today smoky quartz is worn in brooches with traditional Highland costumes. Tiger's Eye quartz contains brown iron which produces its golden-yellow color. Cabochon cut stones of this variety show the chatoyancy (small ray of light on the surface) that resembles the feline eye of a tiger, and have been enormously popular in various Asian cultures for thousands of years. It was a very important trade good in ancient India. And of course, the transparent colorless variety of quartz is still known as rock crystal. Although colorless quartz is relatively common, large flawless specimens are not. In the ancient world rock crystal was often been used in jewelry, particularly carved pieces.

Domestic shipping (insured first class mail) is included in the price shown. Domestic shipping also includes USPS Delivery Confirmation (you might be able to update the status of your shipment on-line at the USPS Web Site ). Canadian shipments are an extra $14.99 for Insured Air Mail; International shipments are an extra $18.99 for Air Mail (and generally are NOT tracked; trackable shipments are EXTRA). ADDITIONAL PURCHASES do receive a VERY LARGE discount, typically about $5 per item so as to reward you for the economies of combined shipping/insurance costs. Your purchase will ordinarily be shipped within 48 hours of payment. We package as well as anyone in the business, with lots of protective padding and containers.

We do NOT recommend uninsured shipments, and expressly disclaim any responsibility for the loss of an uninsured shipment. Unfortunately the contents of parcels are easily “lost” or misdelivered by postal employees – even in the USA. If you intend to pay via PayPal, please be aware that PayPal Protection Policies REQUIRE insured, trackable shipments, which is INCLUDED in our price. International tracking is at additional cost. We do offer U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Registered Mail, and Express Mail for both international and domestic shipments, as well United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (Fed-Ex). Please ask for a rate quotation. We will accept whatever payment method you are most comfortable with. If upon receipt of the item you are disappointed for any reason whatever, I offer a no questions asked return policy. Send it back, I will give you a complete refund of the purchase price (less our original shipping costs).

We travel to Russia each year seeking antique gemstones and jewelry from one of the globe’s most prolific gemstone producing and cutting centers, the area between Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, Russia. From all corners of Siberia, as well as from India, Ceylon, Burma and Siam, gemstones have for centuries gone to Yekaterinburg where they have been cut and incorporated into the fabulous jewelry for which the Czars and the royal families of Europe were famous for. My wife grew up and received a university education in the Southern Urals of Russia, just a few hours away from the mountains of Siberia, where alexandrite, diamond, emerald, sapphire, chrysoberyl, topaz, demantoid garnet, and many other rare and precious gemstones are produced. Though perhaps difficult to find in the USA, antique gemstones are commonly unmounted from old, broken settings – the gold reused – the gemstones recut and reset.

Before these gorgeous antique gemstones are recut, we try to acquire the best of them in their original, antique, hand-finished state – most of them centuries old. We believe that the work created by these long-gone master artisans is worth protecting and preserving rather than destroying this heritage of antique gemstones by recutting the original work out of existence. That by preserving their work, in a sense, we are preserving their lives and the legacy they left for modern times. Far better to appreciate their craft than to destroy it with modern cutting. Not everyone agrees – fully 95% or more of the antique gemstones which come into these marketplaces are recut, and the heritage of the past lost. But if you agree with us that the past is worth protecting, and that past lives and the produce of those lives still matters today, consider buying an antique, hand cut, natural gemstone rather than one of the mass-produced machine cut (often synthetic or “lab produced”) gemstones which dominate the market today.

Our interest in the fabulous history of Russian gemstones and the fabulous jewelry of the Czar’s led to further education and contacts in India, Ceylon, and Siam, other ancient centers of gemstone production and finishing. We have a number of “helpers” (family members, friends, and colleagues) in Russia and in India who act as eyes and ears for us year-round, and in reciprocity we donate a portion of our revenues to support educational institutions in Russia and India. Occasionally while in Russia, India, Siam, and Ceylon we will also find such good buys on unique contemporary gemstones and jewelry that we will purchase a few pieces to offer to our customers here in America. These are always offered clearly labeled as contemporary, and not antiques – just to avoid confusion. We can set most any antique gemstone you purchase from us in your choice of styles and metals ranging from rings to pendants to earrings and bracelets; in sterling silver, 14kt solid gold, and 14kt gold fill. When you purchase from us, you can count on quick shipping and careful, secure packaging. We would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from me. There is a $2 fee for mailing under separate cover. Please see our "ADDITIONAL TERMS OF SALE."

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