Umina In the Peruvian city of Manta, about the time of the Spanish Conquest, an emerald the size of an ostrich egg was worshipped and adored as a goddess, bearing the name of Umina. The emerald was only brought out and worshipped on high feast days and, according to her priests, the best way to honor the ‘mother emerald’ was to bring smaller emeralds, or ‘daughters’, to her. An immense store of emeralds was thus built up at the shrine, only to be seized by the Spaniards who overran the city. The priests managed to hide Umina. She was never found by the Spanish, though her daughters fell into the rough hands of the Conquistadors. They wrongly identified them as “like a diamond” and felt the best test of an emerald was to see if it could withstand being smashed on an anvil. Many beautiful stones were thus destroyed by this ‘testing’. Wrapped in 18k Gold, Platinum, Titanium, and Sterling Silver Measures 2.7 x 4.7 cm -Emerald 4.795 cts (Cosquez, Columbia) -Amethyst .355 cts (Karir, India)
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:59:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015