Precious: The History and Mystery of Gems Across Time

Helen Molesworth has been captivated by precious stones since early childhood, but when she tried to join the gemstone industry as a fresh-faced university graduate, she was turned away, having no connections in a patriarchal field dominated for centuries by a few family-run companies. She persevered, finding a job at a jewelry market stall in London while studying gemology at night. Two-plus decades later, Molesworth is now an international authority, hired to appraise the extraordinary jewelry of rich clients, including the British royal family. Her story is packed with inside stories about jewel-owning celebrities, from Cleopatra (emerald) to Catherine, Princess of Wales (sapphire); from Marilyn Monroe (pearl) to Beyoncé (garnet); from Marie Antoinette (pearl) to Elizabeth Taylor (pearl, ruby, and emerald!); from Jackie O (pearl) to Lady Gaga (diamond.)

As Molesworth tells it in this intriguing personal account, the history of gemstones is the history of humanity. And so she journeys the world, trudging through African diamond mines, Colombian emerald mines, and the sapphire-rich rivers of Sri Lanka to study gems at their source. She has selected ten of nature's most dazzling jewels to trace from their first discovery and first trades to when each cut-and-polished masterpiece adorned empresses and kings, fell out of favor, then resurrected to raise eye-watering sums in later age. From the priceless emerald watch hidden under floorboards for centuries to the common quartz fashioned into a world-famous royal necklace and diamonds selling for multi-millions, Precious explores archaeology and geology, psychology and romance, fine art, high society, and high finance.