Origin of name
The Sacred Emerald Buddha is one of the largest carved emeralds in the
world, sculptured and presented to the world in the year 2006, by its owners
Primagem, a Thailand-based company, founded by an American gemstone dealer
Jeffrey Bergman. The origin of the name Sacred Emerald Buddha is self
explanatory, as the sculpture in emerald represents the figure of Lord Buddha, the
enlightened one, venerated by millions of Buddhists around the world, in the
standing posture, known in the Thai Language as "Harm Yhard" which according
to tradition symbolizes his admonition to his family members to stop
quarrelling among themselves.
Thailand is also the home of another internationally renowned "Emerald
Buddha" which perhaps may be the most revered Buddha Image in the world,
that was believed to bring legitimacy and prosperity to anyone who possessed
it, and thus became the symbol and source of power of the monarchy in the
Indochina region particularly in Thailand, and Laos. The Emerald Buddha had
provided legitimacy and protection to the kings of the Chakri dynasty, the
rulers of modern Thailand. Today the sacred emerald Buddha the object of
veneration of the entire Thai nation, is housed in the temple complex of Wat
Phra Kaeo (the temple of the emerald Buddha), which is part of the Thai
Grand Palace, built in 1782 by King Rama I, who founded the new capital city
of Bangkok. The sacred emerald Buddha previously thought to be made of
emerald, and later jade, is now known to be actually made up of green
jasper, and represents the Buddha in the sitting posture, widely known as
the "Lotus Position" in which the legs are crossed, and measures 48.3 cm across the lap, and 66 cm high from base to top.
Characteristics of the emerald and the
sculpture
The finished emerald sculpture that weighed 2,620 carats was carved from a
much larger natural emerald crystal that weighed 3,600 carats and discovered
in one of the emerald producing countries of Africa in the year 1994. The
country of origin in Africa is disputed, but could be anyone of the
following emerald producing countries :- Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania,
Nigeria, South Africa, Madagascar or Mozambique. Out of these the most significant
producers of emeralds are Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe emeralds are
generally smaller in size, less than 0.5 carat, but larger stones are
heavily flawed. Zambian emeralds are larger, with good clarity, but much
darker with a distinct bluish-cast like the emeralds produced in the Chivor
mines of Colombia. The "Sacred Emerald Buddha" too has a distinct
bluish-cast, and thus Zambia might be the possible source of the
enormous emerald crystal.
Photo of the Sacred Emerald Buddha (External Link)
History
Source of the 3,600-carat emerald crystal
Zambia, which is the 3rd largest source of emeralds in the world after
Colombia and Brazil, is the most probable source of the 3,600-carat emerald
crystal from which the 2,620-carat Sacred Emerald Buddha was sculptured. The
discovery of other larger crystals in Zambia, including the world's largest emerald
ever discovered seem to lend credence to this belief.
World's largest emerald crystal discovered in
Zambia
The largest emerald crystal hitherto discovered in the world was found in
the Mbuva-Chibolele mine located in Zambia, and operated by Gemfield
Resources PLC, a company based in the United Kingdom. The emerald which is a
10cm long hexagonal crystal, the natural crystal habit in which emeralds
occur in nature, weighs a whopping 10,050 carats equivalent to 2.01 kg, and
was found about 40 meters below the surface in a wall of pegmatite, in this
open-pit mine.
The discovery of this enormous crystal in Zambia, lends support to the
belief that the 3.600-carat emerald crystal from which the Sacred Emerald
Buddha was sculptured might also originated from the emerald mines of Zambia.
Characteristics of Zambian emeralds
Emeralds have been discovered in Zambia in the Miku mine, the Kafubu mine,
the Kamakanga mine, Kagem mine and the Mbuva-Chibolele mine. These emeralds
have the following characteristics :-
1) They have deep green colors with a bluish cast similar to emeralds from
Chivor in Colombia, but the bluish hue is greater than the Chivor emeralds.
The green color of Zambian emeralds is caused by chromium but the bluish hue
is attributed to a higher concentration of vanadium.
2) They have excellent clarity having less inclusions. Zambian emeralds have
redefined the notion that the best emeralds are invariably included.
3) The crystals have fewer stress fissures or fractures radiating through
the stones, and therefore routine treatment with fillers carried out on
emeralds from other sources do not become necessary for Zambian emeralds.
4) The presence of fewer inclusions and fractures make Zambian emeralds less
brittle than other emeralds.
5) Solid inclusions found in Zambian emeralds are apatite, hematite,
magnetite, dravite, mica, orange-red rutile and chrysoberyl.
6) The specific gravity of Zambian emeralds is 2.75 and the refractive index
is 1.583 for the extraordinary ray and 1.590 for the ordinary ray.
History of the discovery of emeralds in
Zambia
The Republic of Zambia is a landlocked country in south-central Africa,
which until independence in 1964 was known as Northern Rhodesia. The country
is blessed with abundant mineral resources and mining is the main industrial
activity. Zambia is the world's leading producer and exporter of copper and
cobalt, which are mined along its northern border with the Democratic
Republic of Congo around Kitwe and Ndola in the so-called copper-belt. Most
of the emerald-producing mines in Zambia are also situated closer to the
copper-belt region. The Miku emerald mine is situated about 56 km south-west
of Kitwe, and the Kafubu emerald mines south-east of the Miku mine. The
first discovery of Beryls in the Kafubu area was made by the Rhodesian Congo
Border Concession Company, at the Miku locality in 1928, during the British
colonial period. However quality-wise the stones uncovered initially did not
seem to be encouraging, yet sporadic exploration work continued by companies
like Rhokana and Rio Tinto, during the 1940s and 1950s. After independence
in 1964, the claim was passed to Miku Enterprises Ltd. which was
subsequently taken over by the government-owned company Mindeco Limited in
1971. Detailed geological surveys and mapping of the Kafubu area, by the
Geological Survey Department had verified the Miku deposits, and since the
1970s, the Kafubu area became a significant producer of good-quality
emeralds with great economic potential. Additional deposits were discovered
in the area such as Kamakanga, Pirala, Mitondo, and others, followed by
large scale illegal mining, leading the government to declare the area as a
restricted zone.
In the 1980s a new government-controlled agency, known as the Reserved
Mineral Agency stepped in, and acquired the prospecting rights for the major
deposits and their surroundings. Kagem Mining Ltd. the company that operated
the Kagem emerald mines, in which the Reserved Mineral Agency had a 55%
stake, the remaining 45% being owned by an Israeli-based company, was
assigned the task of exploration and mining in he Kafubu area on behalf of
the state, with the participation of other private companies. Mechanized
mining methods were introduced by the company in the Kagem, Kamakanga and
Grizzly mines.
The emerald deposits of Zambia are of contact-metamorphic origin, as a
result of interactions between intruding granitic pegmatites and/or
hydrothermal quartz, or feldspar or mica veins, with pre-existing mafic or
ultramafic rocks, the fluids providing the beryllium and the rocks providing
the chromium that gives the green color to the emeralds.
Zambian emeralds change the perception of the
hitherto accepted qualities of emeralds
The discovery of Zambian emeralds has completely changed the perception of
the qualities of emeralds. Previously the presence of inclusions in emeralds
known as "jardin" was considered to be a characteristic feature of all
natural emeralds, and gemstones without these inclusions were suspected to
be synthetic. But, the discovery of Zambian emeralds has shown that clean
emeralds with the minimum of inclusions do occur in nature, in substantial
quantities, given the fact that the Zambian deposits are the 2nd or 3rd
largest emerald deposit in the world. This has led to consumers demanding
emeralds that are almost as clean as other gems. Secondly, the presence of
cracks and fissures in emeralds was considered to be commonplace and the
treatment of emeralds with oils and other fillers to cover such deficiencies
was accepted both by the trade and the consumers. But, the discovery of
Zambian emeralds without any cracks and fissures have dispensed with the
need for oil treatment, and today consumers are demanding for emeralds that
are untreated. Thirdly, the presence of cracks and fissures make emeralds
brittle, and are therefore cut only in one particular style that reduces the
strain on the stones while cutting and polishing, known as the
"emerald-cut," specially invented for this purpose. But, the Zambian
emeralds are much harder and less brittle than other emeralds due to the
absence of inclusions, and are therefore cut in a variety of shapes as any
other gemstone, giving the consumers a wide spectrum of cut and shapes to
choose from. Fourthly, the bluish-green color of Zambian emeralds compares
very well with the color of emeralds produced in the Chivor mines of
Colombia, but the presence of a hint of grey, probably caused by vanadium,
is the only disadvantage in the Zambian emeralds, that may depreciate its
value in comparison to the best Colombian emeralds.
Zambian emeralds capture a large share of the
market for mainstream emeralds
Established gem and jewelry dealers initially resisted the new emeralds
entry into the market, and even suspected that they were synthetic. Later
they were more accommodative and considered them as cheap alternatives to
the highly-priced Colombian emeralds. Their reaction to the new product is
perfectly understandable as their minds were conditioned to accepting
standards that were set at least five centuries ago. Thus the presentation
of a product that does not meet these traditional standards was highly
unacceptable. It was only the Israeli gem and jewelry dealers who stood by
the new product and promoted it in the gem and jewelry markets, as
they were deeply involved in prospecting for the emeralds with the Zambian
government, mainly in the Kagem mines, and later processing them in Israel.
In 1989, Tiffany's accepted the Zambians emeralds as a fitting competitor to
the Colombian emeralds and began advertising the product as genuine
emeralds. Today, the Zambian emeralds have captured a large share of the
market for mainstream emeralds, as emeralds from other sources find it
difficult to meet the quality standards of the Zambian emerald.
The sculpturing of the 3,600-carat emerald
crystal
The 3,600-carat emerald crystal discovered in Africa, eventually reached
Thailand, the hub of the gem and jewelry trade in southeast Asia, by
September 1994, in search of a suitable buyer. Several dealers saw the
massive emerald and were impressed by its size and quality, and offered to
buy the gemstone with a view of cutting it into smaller pieces, and
producing several processed emeralds. However, one dealer who saw the stone
realized that it was a special crystal, and wanted to maximize its
potential, by preserving it as a single piece. He went after the stone and
after several months of intense negotiations was successful in beating his
competitors and acquiring the stone for himself. He studied the crystal for
a long time and finally decided that the best way to bring out the full
potential of the stone was by carving it into a desirable shape. After
almost an year long quest for the best subject matter for the carving,
during which many suggestions were considered and rejected, it was finally
decided after taking into consideration the shape of the crystal, and the
present destination of the crystal, Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist
country, that the best subject matter for the carving would be a standing
Buddha image. Then followed a period of research studying the different
postures of the standing Buddha, and finally the standing Buddha posture
known as the "Harm Yhard", which signifies Lord Buddha's admonition to
family members to stop quarreling among themselves, was chosen.
The next step was to look out for an experienced gemstone carver who could
transform the gemstone into the selected subject matter. It was realized
that the potential sculptor should not only have the dexterity to carry out
the task, but also have previous experience in carving Buddha images. Thus
it became necessary to search within the Asian sub-region where carving of
Buddha statutes in different media such as granite, jadeite, sapphire and
other material had been practiced over the centuries. There were many
experienced jadeite Buddha image carvers in China and Burma, two ancient
sources of Jadeite in the world, but both locations seem to have complicated
security issues. Eventually it was decided that the best solution would be
to look for an experienced jadeite Buddha carver in Thailand itself. The
owners of the emerald made an extensive search covering all the jadeite
carving factories, situated in the different gemstone processing centers of
the country such as Chanthaburi, Mae Sai, Chiang Mai, and Mae Sot, and
finally chose two of the most experienced jadeite carvers, whose abilities
were further tested by making them carve prototype images in jadeite and low
grade aquamarine, which belongs to the same class of minerals called beryl.
Finally, it was decided to entrust the task of carving the Buddha image, to
36-year old Aung Nyein, a Burmese national who had been living in Thailand
for almost 16 years, and a master carver with over 20 years experience in
carving jadeite Buddha images.
Aung Nyein set about his assignment with great enthusiasm and dedication
after several weeks of intensive study of the emerald crystal under high
intensity lights, taking measurements, and drawing sketches. After more than
a week of sculpturing, that involved measuring, marking, cutting and
grinding, a distinct Buddha image began to take shape from the rough green
crystal. The sculpturing continued until the finer details of the statute
were brought out one by one, which was indeed a tedious and time-consuming
job. Having finished the sculpturing with maximum perfection up to the
minutest of details, the next formidable task was the polishing of the rough
statute, in order to bring out its brilliance. The polishing started with
extra fine sandpaper then medium-grade diamond powder and finally the
finest-grade diamond powder, which resulted in a high-gloss finish on the
surface of the image. Aung completed his assignment in February 2006, and
the finished product was indeed a masterpiece in sculpturing with perfect
and well proportioned artistic features and aesthetic beauty. Primagem the
proud owners of this artistic masterpiece then obtained independent
laboratory certification for the product, from the Gemological Institute of
Thailand (GIT) and Gem Research SwissLab (GRS). The completed "Sacred
Emerald Buddha" image had a weight of 2,620 carats.
Profile of the founder of Primagem
Primagem, the Thailand-based gem and jewelry company, located in the heart
of Bangkok's wholesale gem district, was founded around four decades ago, by
Jeffery Bergman, an American gemstone dealer. Jeffery Bergman has over 37
years experience in mining, cutting, wholesaling and retailing of gemstones
and fine jewelry. He cut his first gemstone at the age of 14 years, and his
chosen career that spanned over four decades, has taken him to over 50
countries around the world, in search of the valuable treasures mother earth
has to offer. His articles have been published in several renowned gem and
jewelry periodicals around the world, and he has been interviewed on several
occasions by renowned TV channels like BBC, CNN, ABC and NBC. He has also
been quoted by well known periodicals such as the Time magazine, USA today,
the National Geographic magazine, and Gems & Geology magazine. Jeffery
Bergman had also been invited on several occasions as guest speaker at
gemological association conferences, and gem lab seminars, and is
undoubtedly a foremost authority on gemology and mineralogy in the World
today.
Related :-
1)
Patricia Emerald
2)
The Moghul Emerald
3)
The Duke of Devonshire Emerald
4)
The Gachala Emerald
5)
The Spanish Inquisition Necklace
6) Crown of Andes
Emerald Studded Crown
External Links :-
1)
Sacred Emerald Buddha - by Jeffery Bergman.
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References
1.Web article on the Sacred Emerald Buddha - by Jeffery
Bergman.
2The New Mexico Facetor, Lets
Talk Gemstones, Emerald - by Edna B. Anthony.
3.Emerald
Mineralization in the Kafubu Area in Zambia - Bulletin of Geoscience, Vol.
79, No.1, 2004. Czech Geological Survey.
4.Website of Primagem, Bangkok,
Thailand.
5.The origin and significance of the Emerald Buddha - Eric Roeder - A
Journal of the Southeast Asian Studies Student Association. Vol. 3, 1999.
