Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Engaging Precious Minerals
Andrew Walsh, Elizabeth Ferry, and Annabel Vallard

Part One: Engaging Mineral Sources

Introduction to Part One: Scrappers, Miners, and Hunters
Susan D. Gillespie

1. "Check Out That Gold-Plated Board!" Scrapping Cellphones and Electronics in North America
Joshua A. Bell

2. What Is "Artisanal" about "Artisanal Mining"? Reflections from Madagascar’s Sapphire Trade
Andrew Walsh

3. The Value and Social Lives of Alpine Crystals
Gilles Raveneau

Part Two: Mineral Connections

Introduction to Part Two: Making Preciousness: Distinction and Refraction
Elizabeth Ferry

4. When Stones Become Gems: Valuations of Minerals in Thailand
Annabel Vallard

5. Transparent Minerals and Opaque Diamond Sources
Filipe Calvão

6. Gold, Ontological Difference, and Object Agency
Les W. Field

Afterword: Facets of Preciousness
Andrew Walsh, Elizabeth Ferry, and Annabel Vallard

Contributors
Index

About the Author

Elizabeth Ferry is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University.
Annabel Vallard is a researcher at The National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS, France).
Andrew Walsh is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Western University.

Reviews

"Collectively, the processes of mineral valuation and circulation of precious minerals illustrate that ‘preciousness’ should be defined relative to complex and dynamic cultural, political-economic, and semiotic value systems. Compelling, thoughtful analyses of affect and materiality."
*CHOICE*