Origin of Emeralds in a Late-Eighteenth-Century Pectoral Cross and Ring from St Peter’s Archabbey, Salzburg, Austria

A pectoral cross with nine emeralds and a ring containing one emerald were donated in 1786 to newly elected Abbot Dominikus Hagenauer of St Peter’s Abbey, Salzburg, Austria. Both jewels were examined by microscopy and with a portable X-ray fluorescence unit. The emeralds’ inclusion patterns and chemical properties indicate they are of Colombian origin, although oral tradition has assumed they came from Austria’s Habachtal deposit.