{"product_id":"buried-treasure-9780340830123","title":"Buried Treasure","description":"\u003cp\u003eThroughout history  precious stones have inspired passions and poetry  quests and curses  sacred writings and unsacred actions. In this scintillating book  journalist Victoria Finlay embarks on her own globe-circling search for the real stories behind some of the gems we prize most. Blending adventure travel  geology  exciting new research  and her own irresistible charm  Finlay has fashioned a treasure hunt for some of the most valuable  glamorous  and mysterious substances on earth.  With the same intense curiosity and narrative flair she displayed in her widely-praised book Color  Finlay journeys from the underground opal churches of outback Australia to the once pearl-rich rivers of Scotland; from the peridot mines on an Apache reservation in Arizona to the remote ruby mines in the mountains of northern Burma. She risks confronting scorpions to crawl through Cleopatras long-deserted emerald mines  tries her hand at gem cutting in the dusty Sri Lankan city where Marco Polo bartered for sapphires  and investigates a rumor that fifty years ago most of the worlds amber was mined by prisoners in a Soviet gulag.  Jewels is a unique and often exhilarating voyage through history  across cultures  deep into the earths mantle  and up to the glittering heights of fame  power  and wealth. From the fabled curse of the Hope Diamond  to the disturbing truths about how pearls are cultured  to the peasants who were once executed for carrying amber to the centuries-old quest by magicians and scientists to make a perfect diamond  Jewels tells dazzling stories with a wonderment and brilliance truly worthy of its subjects.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45274505412661,"sku":"ByrdShop_0340830123","price":96.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780340830123.jpg?v=1780496343","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/buried-treasure-9780340830123","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}