Jewels

Each of the twelve puzzles in The Secret incorporate a different jewel (also referred to as “wonderstones” in the text) which is featured in each of the paintings. These correspond to twelve actual jewels, which were purchased by Byron Preiss to serve as rewards for successful treasure hunters. According to the rules of the treasure hunt, the finder of a casque can remove the key sequestered within, and redeem it for the corresponding jewel.

Within the lore of The Secret, each of these jewels was brought to the New World by a different tribe of the Fair People, during their migration to North America. The (fictional) provenance of each gem is given in the Litany of the Jewels.

In-book Lore

As described in the Litany, the jewels are treasured cultural artifacts, each brought to the “New Found Land” by a different tribe of Fair Folk:

But of all the desires of the Fair People, there is one thing for which Man shares the same passion: Jewels. To the Fairies, gold is pretty enough stuff. It reminds them of sunlight dancing on water and of the turning leaves in autumn. (Catch a Leprechaun, they say, and demand of him his golden treasure: you'll sleep a hundred years and wake with dead leaves in your pocket—he keeps his word.)

Likewise, they cherish silver, for it puts them in mind of moonlight and icicles.

But precious stones they value for themselves; perhaps because, like them, gems are earthborn, rare, and beautiful. When it comes to jewelry (and the Fairies are great craftsmen of jewelry)—to rings and pendants, bracelets and necklaces, to broaches and inlaid dagger hilts, coronets and combs—the Fair People can be jealous, greedy, vain, quarrelsome, possessive, treacherous—almost, in a word, human.

When the Thirteen Nations of the Fair People came to the New Found Land, twelve tribes brought with them their chief pride and treasure: a gem from the Old World, a remembrance of their history and tradition.

Diamond

Described in the Litany as “Africa’s Diamond, earth-born star/Bright harvest of the midnight rock."