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.(And so far no one has compared the Federally Administered Tribal Areasto Paradise.) Most of the stones there are classified as green beryl ratherthan emeralds.Some of the stones are colored by vanadium, others by chro-mium.The Bajaur region also has emeralds, although they are of no commercialsignificance.They are colored by chromium and iron.The Gilgit Regionhas emeralds that are full of inclusion and often fractured, few being of gemquality.They are pale or medium in color and colored by chromium and iron.Most range between 1 and 3 centimeters in diameter.In 1981 the Guarkili deposit was discovered, and while it does not releaseactual production numbers, it seems to be doing well.Its entire stock is soldon the American market, and its crystals are an attractive dark green, usuallybetween 1 and 10 carats in size.Most of the mining is done by the people living in the region; there iscurrently little government involvement.The Pakistani government is ratherdesperately trying to develop its mining industry and attract foreign investors,but without noted success so far.For one thing, government-sponsored surveysand analysis reports have gained a reputation for unreliability.That neverhelps.Rather obviously, Pakistan s weak infrastructure, ill-educated workforce,and pervasive violence have hindered any real foreign investment in the place.However, Pakistan s establishment (in 2001) of the Gems and GemologicalInstitute, in Peshawar, may one day change things for the better.Emeralds of Europe and RussiaThe alpine land of Austria has some emeralds in the Legbach ravine ofHabachtal, near the Salzburg Alps; they occur in mica schist.This is thelargest emerald deposit in the Alps, although that s not saying much.It s beenThe Mystique of Origins and the Great Emeralds 131worked locally since 1865, although emeralds were first reported there in1797.These emeralds are no longer commercially mined because of theirpoor quality (heavily included and fractured), although occasionally somenice collectors specimens turn up.They are colored by chromium and iron.Solid inclusions are typically phlogopite, chlorite, epidote, quartz, plagioclase,K-feldspar, rutile, tourmaline, apatite, talc, actinolite, phenakite, ilmenite,pyrite, scheelite, and molybdenite.It is rumored that the Romans got some of their emeralds from Austria,but this hasn t been substantiated.I should mention that in Room 7 of theWinter Palace of the Austrian emperor there s a 2,680-carat emerald that wascarved into a salt cellar in Prague in 1641.As you have probably deducedby now, the emerald is not from Austria.It s Colombian.In addition, thefamous Austrian Rudolphian crown is topped by a blue-green emerald whichis supposed to symbolize heaven.While emeralds mined in Austria have not attained fame, some Colombianemeralds owned by Austrians certainly have.The Maxmillian Emerald Ring,for example, features a 21.04-carat step-cut emerald, donated to the Smith-sonian Museum by Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1964.The present designis by Cartier and includes six baguette diamonds.Not very surprisingly, thering is worth more than a million dollars.In a different setting this emerald was worn by Archduke FerdinandMaximilian Joseph (1832 1867), the ill-fated emperor of Mexico.Maxwas a descendant of another Archduke Maximilian who in 1477 startedthe very expensive tradition of giving out diamond rings as engagementtokens.Our present Maximilian was originally just an Archduke of Austria, but hewas crowned emperor of Mexico in 1864 because of some political intriguein Europe.He was actually tricked into becoming emperor, being told thathe would be the  redeemer of Mexico, and that the Mexicans just couldn twait to have him come over right away and rule them.He showed his political naiveté by supporting land reform, educatingpeasants, and encouraging disaffected American Confederates to move toMexico.Although cruelly called the  Archdupe by critics, he showed a fairamount of courage at his inevitable execution, 3 years after becoming emperor.He was executed by firing squad, and his last words were: I forgive everyone, and I ask everyone to forgive me.May my blood whichis about to be shed, be for the good of the country.Viva Mexico, viva laindependencia!(Edouard Manet painted a picture of the event, a painting that has beencalled the  beginning of the modern movement [Bataille].But there havebeen so many of those.)132 From Satan s Crown to the Holy GrailMaximilian s wife Carlota didn t have a very good time of it either.Shehad the sense to get out of Mexico in 1866, ostensibly on a trip to pleadfor her husband s life, but things didn t work out quite as planned, mostlybecause she went mad and had to be confined to a castle near Brussels.Beforeher confinement, she did manage to gain an audience with the Pope, duringwhich she began screaming that Napoleon was plotting to poison her and thathe (the Pope) was possessed by the devil.It also turns out that Carlota waspregnant, but probably not by Maximilian, who was having his own affair.The father was rumored to be a Belgian officer in Maximilian s army, and thebaby grew up to be General Maxine Weygand who surrendered the Frencharmies to Hitler in 1940, paving the way for the collaborationist Vichy regime [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]