> Joerg
>>The main question is whether anybody but the >>Mostali works as gemcutter. Given a place name like "New Crystal City" >>sort of suggests the craft, though. Close enough to Gemborg, the source >> of >>the technology can be guessed.
> I think it probably exists in Fonrit; there's a Gargandite who deals
> with jewelry. And if you consider coral to be a gem, there are
> definitely coral-cutters in Fonrit.
Amber, coral and pearl (and mother of pearl) may be regarded as precious materials, but are really soft materials, perfectly workable with flint implements (for instance). I was talking about the harder gem material - quartz-based (amethyst, rose quartz), corund-based (emerald, ruby), zirkon, and diamonds. Ancient Egyptian jewelry has plenty of these used pretty much as mined. Cut diamonds come a lot later IIRC, and the art of diamond cutting took some time to take off.
The art of gemcutting (or lapidary, if you want to google for it) appears to have been developed in ancient India, with literary mention about 2400 years ago. (Source of the famous Kohinoor diamond, for instance).
More useful stuff on gemcutting:
http://www.gemsociety.org/info/igem3.htm
End of Glorantha Digest, Vol 11, Issue 326
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