ascending the kunlun mountain to feast upon the essence of jade, with longevity of heaven and earth, and brightness of the sun and the moon. the verse composed by qu yuan, the earliest renowned chinese poet, and it was the first time that crystal was ever mentioned in poetry. essence of jade and water jade were synonyms of crystal in the early times. legend has it that the ancient immortal chisongzi used to swallow crystal and instructed shennong, and jumped into the flame to attain immortality. the pure clarity and the spiritual implications of crystal is where the inspired soul of heaven and earth dwells, where the grandeur of the universe flows and the cultural fineness of the ancient civilization crystallizes. crystal chants and inspires the poetic minds of the ancient literati. crystal is a common theme in poems in the kingdom of chu as well as latter dynasties of han, tang, song and yuan and has inspired many magnificent poetic verses in the chinese history of literature. it is divinized in scriptures of mountain and sea and narrations of mystery, and is spiritulized in han fei zi and unauthorized biography of taizhen. rough statistics show that as a culture, there are 300 poems related to crystal in the chinese history, including nearly 100 poems of the tang dynasty, over 100 in the song dynasty and over 100 from the jin, yuan, ming and qing dynasties to modern times. famous poets including qu yuan, sima xiangru, li bqai, du fu, wei yingwu, wang jian and luo weili all travelled to kunlun mountain, while the youngest daughter of emperor yan swallowed crystal before burning herself in hopes of becoming an immortal. viewing crystal is the most representative natural crystal with viewing artistic value which is not seen in any other gem, as the value of jade and emerald is not reflected until meticulously carved, yet viewing crystal characteristics of natural crystal are as follows: 1、naturalness naturalness is the basic feature of viewing crystal. generally speaking, integral crystal mineral has high aesthetic value without much processing or decoration; yet viewing crystal inclusions need proper polishing to better view the inclusion inside. 2、peculiarity viewing crystal tends to be peculiar in morphology, texture and internal features, as mysteries of the nature are well represented in crystal inclusions. 3、rarity natural crystal is a non-renewable resource. with the progress in development, reserves of natural crystal are decreasing. for sustainable development,china’s major production area for crystal—donghai county, jiangsu province has developed the policy to protect local resources and encourage overseas crystal resource exploration. however, overseas resources are also on decrease and many countries have consequently raised the threshold for exploiting and exporting natural crystal, with prices soaring for overseas crystals entering donghai market, and the price hike is sharper with viewing crystal compared to normal crystal. 4、resistance the chemical component of crystal is mainly sio2 with high chemical stability; besides, crystal features a hardness of 7 in moh’s scale of mineral hardness. therefore crystal is free from degradation or deterioration and can be preserved over long periods of time, hence an ideal gem for collection. categories of crystal inclusions the various mineral inclusions inside crystals usually form visible images, and such crystals are known as viewing crystal inclusions. as crystal itself is a gem, viewing crystal inclusion is recognized as viewing stone of gem nature. based on the timing of inclusion formation, viewing crystal inclusions can be categorized into three types as follows: the first type is full inclusion, with these substances enveloped in the crystal during crystallization. scenes formed in such inclusions normally remain as they were at the time of crystallization, i.e. the original scene has been preserved for hundreds of millions of years with little influence by natural environment. the second type is semi-inclusions, with some external substances permeated into the crystal through cracks formed by the impact of earth gravity; part of such substances is enveloped in the crystal while the rest is exposed. the crack from which the permeation took place is usually known as channel. the scene formed by such inclusions is relevantly influenced by natural environment and time, therefore less valuable. the third type is surface scene, where paragenetic minerals or intruding substances are attached to the surface of the crystal; or erosion on the surface of crystal due to the influence of natural environment has formed certain images or scenes on the surface. crystal inclusions are colorful and diversified, with gas, liquid, minerals, and even gems possibly hiding inside. effects produced by various inclusions are even more variable and thus intriguing. crystal inclusions can be categories in the following right types according to the content of inclusion: 1）crystal opal: titanium crystal opal, copper crystal opal, quartz crystal opal and green rutilated quartz opal are the most precious. 2）star crystal: including star titanium crystal, star pink crystal and star quartz. 3）titanium crystal flower: formed with three clusters of titanium crystals interwoven in the same dimension, very beautiful and rarely seen. 4）water drop crystal: including gas, liquid and solid states as well as coexistence of multiple states. colorless in most cases with occasional existence of red, green, yellow, blue, black, etc. 5）rutilated quartz: including titanium crystal, copper quartz, green rutilated quartz, black rutilated quartz, silver rutilated quartz and mixed-color rutilated quartz, among which titanium crystal is the most precious as some may be as valuable as diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald. 6）rabbit-hair crystal: color may be red, yellow or white, consisting mainly thin hair-like structures. 7）ghost crystal: including green ghost, red ghost, white ghost, etc., with chlorite as the main composite. green ghost is a precious variety. 8）scene crystal: crystal with special scenes or images formed by inclusions, resembling landscape, figures, characters, animals, plants or objects, etc. original crystal literally speaking, original viewing crystal is appreciated in its original form, i.e. crystal inclusion and its original color after polishing and peeling. crystal is valuable for viewing and collecting even without carving or resembling other figures. such viewing crystal features high value for viewing and collection, and is highly demanding for the texture of the crystal. transparent and pure texture, bright color and distinctive and profound implications are the criteria for high value, which, like diamond, is the value of the stone itself. original viewing crystal fully represents the essence of natural crystal. the transparency, exquisiteness and brilliance of polished original viewing crystal together with its ingenious design fully reflect the charm of crystal. for crystal lovers, original viewing crystal would be an ideal choice with its originality and undisguised naturalness. crystal cluster a cluster of numerous monocrystallines, this type of viewing crystal is known as crystal cluster, which is renowned for its transparency and unique shape. appreciation and evaluation of such viewing crystal clusters mainly focus on the integrality of the crystal, preciousness of the variety (such as purple crystal, cairngorm, rutilated quartz, etc.), particularity of shape, inclusion of precious crystal (such as cinnabar, antimonite, etc.). crystal clusters grow in geodes with few perfect ones, and remaining intact and impeccable when picked up would be more difficult and usually at higher prices, which explain for the high prices of premium crystal clusters. geode geodes include purple geode and heirographen, usually with quartz crystalline structures inside. no agreement has been achieved by geologists on the formation of geodes up to now. yet it is believed that geode may form in any buried cavity which may be bubbles in pyrolith, hollow caves under the tree, or even burrows dug by animals. the external surface of the cavity hardens with time, while dissolved silicates or calcites sediment onto the inner surface over the time, and the slowly permeating minerals result in crystallization inside the cavity as time passes. |