Gem and Lapidary Materials: For Cutters, Collectors, and Jewelers - Hardcover

Zeitner, June Culp

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0945005180 ISBN 13: 9780945005186

Publisher: Geoscience Pr, 1996

Synopsis

A handbook surveying the history and common materials used in the lapidary arts which include jewelry, carving, and ornamental objects. Zeitner (the "First Lady of Gems") has created an important resource for gem collectors and jewellers, detailing work in quartzes, cabachon, phenomenal gems, metallic and organic gem materials, and man-made varieties such as zircon. The volume features several hundred black and white photographs of gems and the artwork proceeding from them, but we wished more were in color since the stunning facets were lost on the drab camera's eye. Paper edition (unseen), $40.00. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

About this title

Review:

"June Culp Zeitner has a new book in the stores. For her fans, and they are legion, that is enough said. Gem and Lapidary Materials...will doubtless grab the usual Zeitner publication position at the top of the best- reader lists. The book will appeal to gem overs of all types, including cutters, carvers, collectors and appraisers. it is easy to see what drives up sales of Zeitner's books and solicits large crowds at signings: her writing is clear and direct, the material is well-organized and beautifully illustrated. Further Zeitner is a fine teacher who gives her readers a complete tour of the background of gems and lapidary materials with an overview of materials used in lapidary arts throughout history. She is an artisan as well as an artist.

In logical progression, Zeitner guides her reader through transparent faceting materials, cryptocrystalline quartz, pseudomorphs, cabochons and carving materials, ornamental and decorative gem materials, phenomenal gems, metallic gems, rare gems and laboratory-made gems. She combines photos, charts, illustrations, and text to explain all the elements in gem and lapidary materials from how the materials are formed or where they are found, to the differences in their uses by lapidaries. She also explains the varied techniques that jewelry artist use.

June Zeitner has been a prolific writer on lapidary arts, gems, and minerals for Lapidary Journal since the '60s. Zeitner fans who seek out her columns and have read everything she has ever written will not be disappointed in the informational nuggets in her latest book.

....A reading list ends each chapter so those seeking more specific knowledge will know exactly where to find it. Besides covering history, sources and supply for gem and lapidary materials, Zeitner has included useful Refractive Index and Gemstone Dispersion charts, along with complete lists of gem and mineral Educational Associations, and Publications...

This book is an important contribution to the gems/minerals/lapidary field. It is a "must have" for anyone even remotely interested in gems and minerals. -- Lapidary Journal, January 1997

June Zeitner's name is legendary in the lapidary hobby movement. She has been writing articles about gems and minerals, localities and jewelry making since the birth od the American lapidary movement in the 1960s. The book, her largest effort to date. is an attempt to catalog and describe all of the existing geologic materials that lend themselves to the artistry of the lapidarist. Her emphasis is on the idea that gem cutting and carving are true art forms and the resulting products should likewise be considered to be fine art.

....This book is the best work in print for information on regional jasper names and all the bewildering varieties of crystalline and cryptocrystalline quartz....this book is not meant to ba treatise or scientific tome. Rather it is meant to be a survey report that documents the range of minerals and rocks currently being worked by lapidary artists. The book does not try to support terminology of dubious validity, but rather acknowledges the existence and widespread use of this terminology in the marketplace....Although aimed primarily at the hobbyist, it could find a useful place on the shelves of anyone trying to make sense out of the immense range of stone products that ultimately appear in jewelry. -- Economic Geology, Vol.91,no.7,1996

About this edition

• Publisher: Geoscience Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0945005180
• ISBN 13: 9780945005186
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 347