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rose quartz - the love stone
There are few ancient references to rose quartz. Rose quartz beads have been found in Mesopotamia that date back to at least 7000 BC, and in jewelry linked to the Assyrians around 800-600 BC.
In the ancient Near East, as well as Rome, rose quartz, like many other quartzes, was popular for making intaglio-carved seals with an incised design.
Numerous sources also cite Russia's mineralogically rich Urals as a source of rose quartz in the nineteenth century.
The earliest 'scientific' mention of the stone -- referring to rosen rother quartz ("rose-red" quartz in German) -- was not until 1774.
 the 'bavarian woods'
Modern references to rose quartz don't begin until about 250 years ago, when rose quartz was discovered at Hühnerkobel near the town of Zwiesel in southern Bavaria near Germany's border with the Czech Republic -- an area called the Bavarian Woods.

This region was already known for its glass making industry (which reached its peak in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries), using local quartz in the manufacturing process.
In an article titled "What About Rose Quartz?," published in the Lapidary Journal, October 2001, the author states:

"A certain Johan George Wissger found that some of the quartz he was quarrying there was of such clarity and such a beautiful pinkish-reddish color that it could (optimistically) resemble balas ruby (balas ruby is an old gem name for red spinel, which resembles ruby)."

The Hühnerkobel area -- known to be so mineralogically prolific that it hosts at least 48 species -- had such a large deposit of rose quartz that just between 1756 (when it was discovered there) and 1880 alone, 16,000 tons of the stone were quarried there for glass-making.
The most famous of Ludwig's castles was Neue Burg Hohenschwangau, now known as Neuschwanstein -- the "New Castle" � said to be the model for Disney's Magic Kingdom.
Although Neuschwanstein's construction lasted 23 years -- until long after Ludwig's death -- the king did spent eleven nights in his dream castle while it was under construction.
Ludwig identified himself when still a boy with Lohengrin, the Swan King. A major patron of the composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin , which he wrote in 1850 was dedicated to Ludwig.
Extremely pious, Ludwig also identified himself with Parzival, the legendary medieval figure who became the Grail King through his purity and faith.
The Grail legend was the subject of Wagner's last work Parsifal, which he began in 1877.
Wagner and his circle privately referred to the king as "Parsifal," and Neuschwanstein -- originally a monument to the minnesingers of medieval times -- was reinterpreted as the Castle of the Holy Grail.
After his was deposed, Ludwig was interned at another of his homes, Berg Palace, south of Munich on the banks of Lake Starnberg. The following day he died in mysterious circumstances in Lake Starnberg, together with the psychiatrist who had certified him as insane. No autopsy was performed and the means of his death remain conjecture.
mad about the stone
A hundred years later, the anachronistic King of Bavaria, Ludwig II would put rose quartz on the map.

neuschwanstein, bavaria

Also known as Ludwig the Mad, the king is best known for building a number medieval- and gothic-styled fairytale castles in Bavaria -- "fantasies in stone" that include Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsse, Nymphenburg, and Linderhof (said to be his favorite), as well as the castle his father, Maximillian II (r.1848-1864), restored, Hohenschwangau.
ludwig of bavaria (r. 1864-1886)
Spending the summer months of his childhood with his parents at the romantic neo-Gothic style Hohenschwangau Castle, it was his favorite place to stay -- and a major influence on his later life. Built and decorated in a style that combined an idealized view of the Middle Ages with local tradition, the castle was decorated with romantic murals depicting medieval German fairy tales, sagas and poetry.

Whether the king -- who began his building frenzy soon after becoming king at the age of eighteen -- was truly mad, eccentric or just preferred living in a fantasy world of his own creation may long be debated: in only two decades on the throne, new and ever bolder -- one might even say 'crazy' -- building plans continued to emerge.

But he certanly was mad about ornamental stone for his fantastic palaces. At some point, the mining of Bavarian rose quartz came under his direct supervision, thereby gaining in popularity much faster than it would have without his involvement.

Unfortunately for the king, the new settings he was constantly devising for himself were simply beyond his private means. (Contrary to popular legend, Ludwig's building projects did not bankrupt the Bavarian treasury. Neuschwanstein, like Ludwig's other castles, was financed entirely from the king's own funds.)

From 1885 on foreign banks continually threatened to seize his property. The king's refusal to react rationally -- he continued to work with architects on even more grandiose plans such as renovating his newly purchased Falkenstein Castle ruins, as well as creating the Hubertus Pavilion near Linderhof, a new bedroom in Linderhof, a Moorish room in Neuschwanstein and more -- led the government to declare him insane and depose him in 1886.
The precocious self-educated Kunz was appointed vice-president of the famous New York City jeweler, Tiffany & Co. at the age of 23, a position he held for much of his life.
China's Qing dynasty -- also known as the Ch'ing dynasty and the Manchu dynasty -- followed the Ming dynasty and preceded the Republic of China. One of its most well-known rulers was Empress Dowager Cixi, the demonized de facto ruler of China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
A lessor concubine of the Emperor Xianfeng (r. 1851-1861), she was most fortunate in inproviding the Emperor with his only son. Masterfully gaining the title of co-regent two years after the Emperor's death, she remained so for most of the period from 1861 until her death in 1908, several days after successfully installing Puyi (r. 1908-1912)as the last Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
 the 'marriage sword'
According to George Kunz, the famous gem expert for Tiffany's & Co., rose quartz also had allure in the Far East. In his book The Magic of Jewels and Charms, he says:

"At all important Chinese marriage ceremonies, the priest carries what is known as a 'marriage sword.' This is usually about twelve or thirteen inches in length and the sheath is often studded with various pink stones cut en cabochon.

"The stones most favored for this decoration are pink tourmaline, rubellite from the Shan Mountains, or rose quartz, and the natural color of these gems is often intensified by placing a pink paste or foil beneath them...

"At the marriage ceremony, the bridegroom is given the sword to hold, and the bride the sheath; as the wedding ring is placed upon the bride's finger, sword and sheath are brought together."

empress dowager cixi
photo: cixi

Is this a true depiction? Much of what Kunz reports is hearsay, 'lore' and romantic myth. Or, rather than being a "Chinese" custom, is it possible the 'marriage sword' was a custom of the Qing ruling dynasty (1636-1912) of China?
It's a well documented fact that Empress Dowager Cixi (1835 - 1908) was mad for pink stone. At the turn of the twentieth century, she was said to be so fascinated by tourmaline's pink beauty and color that she had over one ton of the gem stones in her royal collection.