During the Spanish conquest of the New World, vast amounts of emeralds were seized and shipped to Spain. In 1519, Hernán Cortés embarked on his mission to convert the Aztecs in Mexico to Christianity. Upon hearing of ten “ghost” ships off the coast, Aztec Emperor Moctezuma mistook them for the return of gods and commissioned the creation of gifts for the newcomers, including a turquoise mask and a gold necklace set with emeralds and other gemstones. These were presented to Cortés, who later obtained a collection of exceptional emeralds when he looted Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. Some of these exquisite emeralds were even set aside as a gift for his future wife, Doña Juana de Zuniga.
The Crown of the Andes, worn by the last Inca king, Atahualpa, is said to have been adorned with over 450 emeralds. When Pizarro captured the king in 1532, the crown, along with many other emeralds, was seized. The European market was soon flooded with these prized gemstones after the discovery of emerald deposits in Colombia in 1537. According to historian Finlay (2006), the missionary Joseph d’Acosta reported that in 1587, a ship returning to Spain carried two chests containing half a million carats of emeralds (roughly 200 pounds).
In another instance, the wreck of the ship La Nuestra Señora de Atocha off the coast of Florida in 1622 yielded over 6,000 emeralds, along with intricate emerald jewelry. When you consider the hundreds of ships making similar voyages, it is clear that a vast number of emeralds were being imported into Europe.
The Topkapi Dagger, an exquisite artifact displayed in the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul, is one of the most notable examples of emerald-encrusted treasures. In 1747, a new dagger was crafted as part of a chest of gifts sent from Ottoman Sultan Mehmed I to Persia’s ruler, Nadir Shah. However, following Nadir Shah’s assassination, Ottoman ambassadors returned to Istanbul with the dagger.
The influx of emeralds into Europe in such large quantities significantly impacted their market value. Finlay (2006) explains that, in earlier times, emeralds were considered more valuable than diamonds, rubies, and sapphires due to their rarity. However, the vast shipments from the Americas caused the value of emeralds to plummet. The English lapidary writer Thomas Nicols recounts a tale from 1652, where a Spaniard showed an Italian jeweler a beautiful emerald, initially valued at 100 ducats. Upon presenting a finer, larger emerald, the value rose to 300 ducats. But when the jeweler saw the Spaniard’s full casket of emeralds, he dismissed their worth, stating they were only worth a crown apiece.
The emerald trade also reached the Far East, with Mughal emperors in India and rulers from Turkey, Arabia, and Persia paying enormous sums for these stones. Austrian Jesuit Johannes Grueber, who visited the courts of the Manchu emperors in the late 17th century, noted that “great lords” wore various precious stones, often combining pearls with rubies, emeralds, or jasper beads, since only rulers were permitted to wear a single pearl in their headdress.
In his 16th-century work De Natura Fossilium, the Father of Mineralogy, Agricola, made significant contributions to gemology. He discussed various gemstones’ properties, including emeralds, and also warned of the prevalence of glass imitations. Agricola highlighted ways to distinguish real gems from fake ones, noting that glass, being soft, could be scratched easily, while true gemstones like emeralds would not be affected.
The Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612) was an avid collector of gemstones, including emeralds, and believed in their healing and mystical properties. His court housed a remarkable collection curated by Anselmus Boetius de Boodt, a physician and mineralogist who described over 600 minerals in his Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia. He also noted the distinction between “oriental” emeralds, typically green sapphires, and the “occidental” emeralds, true emeralds. As a physician, de Boodt emphasized the medicinal potential of gemstones, including emeralds.