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An exceptionally fine I" -high emerald crystal in typical matrix from 

 Chivor, Colombia. Photo by Van Pelt. 



In 1592, the first recorded grant for working the 

 Chivor deposits was given to Francisco Maldonado de 

 Mendoza by the president of the new kingdom of Gra- 

 nada. To protect Indian mine workers against cruel 

 treatment, the president issued a decree in the follow- 

 ing year. This was followed in 1602 by orders from 

 Spain's Phillip III, further enforcing the law, but by 

 then the labor force had already been seriously 

 reduced. The loss of workers, together with stricter 

 regulation of mining procedures, resulted in a sharp 

 drop in emerald production. In 1650 in the Muzo dis- 

 trict mines were declared property of the crown, 

 and production declined even further. By 1675 the Chi- 

 vor mine was abandoned, and for the next 200 years its 

 location remained a mystery. Muzo was worked off 

 and on until 1871, when the government declared it the 

 National Emerald Domain. Then, production all but 

 ceased, and lawlessness prevailed, a situation that has 

 ameliorated only recently. 



Soon after Muzo was placed under government con- 

 trol, Chivor was rediscovered, thanks to a description of 

 the location written almost 300 years earlier. In 1888, 

 Colombian mining engineer Don Francisco Restrepo 

 found an early seventeenth-century manuscript contain- 

 ing the description in a Dominican convent in Quito, 

 Ecuador. Written by Fray Martin de Aguado, it de- 

 scribed the Chivor mine as the only place in the Andes 

 from which one could see through a mountain pass to 

 the plains of the Orinoco. Following this lead, Restrepo 

 located the legendary mine in 1896. Legal problems 

 with the government hampered Restrepo's early min- 



ing activities, but his subsequent partnership with Ger- 

 man mining engineer Fritz Klein coincided with the 

 lifting of government restrictions and improved pro- 

 duction. When World War I broke out, however, Klein 

 returned to Germany. Restrepo died at Chivor and, 

 with Germany's defeat, Klein lost all right to the mine 

 as the consequence of alien property legislation. In 

 1919 Chivor came into private hands when it was pur- 

 chased by the Colombian Emerald Syndicate, Ltd., an 

 American firm. Since then, Chivor has changed hands 

 frequently, with varying fortunes, and been managed 

 by such mining engineer notables as Peter W. Rainier 

 (author of Green Fire, 1942) and Willis Bronkie. Today 

 the Chivor mines are in the hands of the Quintero fam- 

 ily. 



Chivor emeralds are generally considered inferior to 

 those from Muzo, but they may have fewer flaws and 

 are possibly much "brighter." Chivor emeralds are also 

 not known for great size, but a noteworthy exception 

 to this is the 632 ct Patricia Emerald, the largest known 

 crystal from Chivor. Discovered in 1920, the Patricia 

 was sold the following year for $60,000. Its where- 

 abouts remained unknown until the early 1950s, when 

 it was given anonymously to the American Museum of 

 Natural History. 



In 1953, a new mine was discovered at Gachala, 

 8 km southwest of Chivor, when a woodcutter's mule 

 allegedly uncovered an emerald-bearing rock. 

 Although Gachala has produced only off and on since 

 its discovery, an 848 ct crystal, generally considered 

 one of the finest in existence, was found there in 1967. 

 The 5 -cm hexagonal prism, known simply as the 



The most famous Chivor emerald is the 632-ct "Patricia," now 

 housed in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. 



