BRIEF HISTORY
The history of ENGRAVED GEMS has been addressed by experts in the field for millennia. Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, devoted a whole section, chapter 37, of his NATURAL HISTORY, to it. but that’s not the usual starting place for newcomers, at least it wasn’t ours. A gentleman by the name of C. W. King wrote several books about engraved gems, or glyptics as he called it, in the late 19th century, we didn’t start there either. These volumes are not the usual starting place for beginners, but, in fact, they are a great place to start.
Don’t do a deep dive, a beginner will quickly get bored, not understanding a lot of what is presented. It’s best to just scan them, finding an interesting factoid or antidote here and there – that’s fun. Then come back to them every now and then, either for research or just more fun. Each time they’ll make more sense and be more meaningful, one is hooked!
So, we provide links to these writings as well as, in some instances, a quick summary.
Short
An excellent very short history can be found at Wikipedia
Medium
A very good medium length 11 page history is found in Fred L. Gray’s “ENGRAVED GEMS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE.” Gems & Gemology, Winter 1983, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 191-201.
(VERY) Long
“In the beginning….”, Well sometime after THE beginning, C.W. King tells us in his HANDBOOK OF ENGRAVED GEMS, 1885 p.7, “The actual invention of the true art of gem-engraving (the incising a gem by means of a drill charged with the powder of a harder mineral) is undoubtedly due to the seal-cutters of Nineveh, and that at a date shortly preceding the times of Urukh; that is as early as the year B.C. 2000.” He goes on for a total of 133 pages with his history of the glyptic art – a tough assignment for a beginner, but certainly worth a look and a great tome to keep in your library for reference.