The Hooker Emerald Brooch is an

emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...

brooch designed by Tiffany & Co. The brooch is on display in the

Janet Annenberg Hooker Janet Annenberg Hooker (formerly Kahn and Neff; October 13, 1904 – December 13, 1997) was an American philanthropist. She was born in Chicago to Sadie Cecilia ( Friedman) and Moses Annenberg; Moses was the founder of a publishing empire based on ...

Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

in Washington D.C.,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Description

The Hooker Emerald Brooch consists of an open-ended circular band of

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

. The two ends of the band curl outwards into scrolls, and are connected by a

round brilliant A brilliant is a diamond or other gemstone cut in a particular form with numerous facets so as to have exceptional brilliance. The shape resembles that of a cone and provides maximized light return through the top of the diamond. Even with mode ...

cut

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

. 108 other round brilliant cut diamonds are studded along the band. Spokes cross the band, converging to form the

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

for the Hooker Emerald at the centre of the brooch. Ten pairs of baguette-cut diamonds project between the spokes from behind the emerald towards the platinum band. The Hooker Emerald itself weighs .Catalog Number: G7719
''GeoGallery'',

(2008). Retrieved March 31, 2010 It measures to a side and is remarkably free of inclusions for its size.Morgan, Diane (2007); ''From Satan's crown to the holy grail: emeralds in myth, magic, and history'', Praeger Publishers Inc., The gem's cut gives the appearance of a series of concentric squares within the gemstone (known as a beveled square emerald cut.) In total, the brooch contains approximately of diamonds.

History

The Hooker Emerald was extracted from an unidentified mine in Colombia in the 16th or 17th century. The rough emerald was sent to Europe by Spanish conquistadors to be cut and polished, before being sold to the ruling family of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. The emerald was made part of the crown jewels of the Empire during the reign of

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

Abdul Hamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

, the last Ottoman Sultan to rule with absolute power; he wore it mounted into a belt buckle. In 1908, many of the Ottoman crown jewels were smuggled on behalf of Abdul Hamid II to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Included in the collection were the Hooker Emerald and, supposedly, the Hope Diamond. The Sultan feared a potential coup by the Young Turks, and hoped that the proceeds from the sale of the gems would allow him to escape to a comfortable life in exile should a revolution come to pass. However, the money raised by the sale of the gems—to a dealer by the name of Salomon or Selim Habib—fell to the succeeding government following the Young Turk Revolution. In 1911, Habib auctioned the collection received from Abdul Hamid II to cover debt repayments. The winner of the auction was American

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

company Tiffany & Co., who initially set the emerald in a tiara. The tiara remained unsold for several decades, so in 1950 the stone was removed and re-set into a brooch. The brooch was featured with matching earrings in that year's Christmas catalogue. It remained with the company until 1955, when it was purchased by

, a philanthropic heiress and the emerald's namesake, for an undisclosed price. In 1977, Hooker donated the brooch, then valued at

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

500,000, to the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The brooch was the first gift by Hooker to the museum, and was followed by the donation of the Hooker Starburst Diamonds, and by a cash donation of $5,000,000 towards the construction of a new gallery for the display of gems and minerals.Nemy, Enid;
Paid Notice: Janet A. Hooker, Philanthropist, Dies at 93
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', December 16, 1997. Retrieved March 21, 2010. The Hooker Emerald Brooch is, as of 2010, on display at the gallery, which has been named in Hooker's honour.

References

{{Colombian emeralds Individual brooches Individual emeralds Colombian emeralds Jewellery in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution Tiffany & Co.

Description

History

See also

References