Description
Madagascar, also known as Malagasia, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island and a country located east of mainland Africa, separated from it by the Mozambique Channel. It is the fourth-largest island in the world, after Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo. Gemstones are rare minerals, commonly cut and incorporated into jewelry and decorative objects. Gemstones possess the following characteristics: Beauty. This includes visual aspects such as color, luster, fire, transparency, and light effects. Durability. This considers hardness, fragility/cleavage, and chemical resistance. Rarity. This considers how often a product occurs in nature. Gemstones can be cut into many different shapes. The basic distinction is between cabochon, in which the gemstone is cut into a convex shape, and faceted, in which the surface of the gemstone is cut into multiple facets. When cutting, various properties of the stone are considered, including color, color distribution, inclusions, special light effects, dispersion, and fracture and cut surfaces. They are then processed into necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and many other jewelry items, but the gemstones are also used in industry for processing. Well-known gemstones include diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, aquamarines, topazes, tourmalines, amethysts, citrines, carnelians, opals, onyxes, turquoises, lapis lazuli, and garnets. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it was fashionable to create jewelry incorporating a person's name or initials. The first letter of the gemstone's name was the guide to the choice of gemstones, thus creating the gemstone alphabet. Similar acrostic jewelry, expressing sentiments in gemstones, was also created during the 19th century. The most well-known is the English 'regard' ring, an engagement ring in which the word 'regard' was formed by the gemstones ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst and diamond.
