The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-05-11

| about two hours before SHUTDOWN, while en-
ployed In raising gravel. he picked up stone,
.., which a was bright and shiny only ON one
SIDE the other side being covered with crust
o. brown stuff. 1t was about the size OF
guinea egg" He laid 1t out on bank under
:, gum tree intending at night to show IT to
pretty stones which had been found. But
ne forgot oil about 1t. Twelve years later he
learned from experts who took his discrip-
q, tlon OF the stone that his "guinea egg was
diamond, which, Ii pure must have been
worth ABOUT twenty-five millions OF dollars
TWO HISTORIC DIAMONDS.
The Koh-i-noor and the MopuI are two of
the notable diamonds of the world The first
as is well known, belongs to Queen Victoria.
by Inc conquest OF Punjaub In India, who, to
stroyed it's historic value It was found 4s72
years ago this date Is amply verifed) and
when cut by Indian iapidaries weighed only
1863 carats. Il honestly cut, ii would have
taking off slabs from the facets of lao carats
they reduced 1t to q value Of three millions.
Afterwards the Queen, not being satisfied
with the Indian cut OF 1t, had the stone re-cut
t10h carats, and. OF course, totally obliter-
ated Its historic shape. She still values it at
! three Millions when, by the laws OF trade, it
Is not worth half that sum. rough diamond
ting. This depends upon its form of crystal
jzatiou and It's freedom from laws, which are
common The Mogul diamond, the largest
ever found, weighed 1877 carats 1t was cut
down by dishonest workmen TO weigh only
$50 carats and the stolen slabs cut off were
worth far more than the stone. The true
worth OF the stone by the rules Of trade, was
500, 900, but 1t was thus reduced to 81
00O, 600.
THE ORIGIN OF DIAMONDS,
It Is only In the flexible sandstone that the
diamond is found in any country, because the
earth's temperature, when that rock received
its present form of erystalization, was neces-
sary to crystalize carbon.
| For 5000 years this rock was found only in
| Golconda. But in 1927. when these old mines
seventy-ffve years, they yielded from 1000 to
| 1900 ounces per year. They are now aban-
doned. The mines of Brazil have produced
in the last 14O years two tons Of diamonds,
besides the vast number stolen. Agassz
thus explains the long mooted question Of the
origin Of diamonds: This elastic sandstone
which is the matrx OF the diamond, was one
Of the first sediments deposited in quiet,
| deep-sea bed, long before the existence OF ami
mai or vegetable life on the globe This for
nation, with the contemporaneOus strata, was
upheaved by volcanic fOrce,a changed To it's
present crystalized condition; the carbon was
liberated, and by segregation and affinity,
crystalized into the diamond, being In greater
or less size. according to the amount of car
bon within reach of It's af1nities or power OF
attraction. Four-tifths Of all the diamonds
found In any country are less than half O
carat Rarely in all the yield of Brazil were
found more than three or four very large dia-
monds, and never more than ten that weighed
more than thirty earats. 1t is vulgar error
to suppose that to be pure the diamond must
be found deep In the ground. The use OF dia-
mond dust for cutting and polishing was I'M
known till 1475. In this way the artist can
now polish the natural facets and also create
new ones, and thus increase the brilliancy OF
the stone In Persia alone the diamond is held
second to the emerald. The diamond was
not known to the Greeks or Romans until the
/ Augustan age. The "Adamantne Chains In
Eschylus' pictures of Prometheus bound and
his iron finger-ring prove the adamas ioi
the early Greeks to have been nothing but
hardened steel. The Romans never obtained
any diamonds above three carats, by reason
OF a stringent law In India against the expor-
tation of any over that weight All over ten
J carats reverted to the crown. The diamond
can be broken. 1t Is crystalized in thin lay
ers, which are cleavable parallel to the planes
OF the octohedron, or eight equal facets. The
carat originated In the seed OF berry used
In the East Indies In the sale of diamonds, and
was used for several thousand years as the
unit of weight. The rule of lapdaries for de.
termining the value of perfect diamonds ls to
J square the weight in carats, and multiply the
} product by $50, the price Of one carat, This
carats. At that point the price Is arbitrarily
raised to $500 per carat. But Ii much under
three carats the price is rapidly lowered anC
only commands $40 per carat. The uncrystal
lied diamonds used for pencils, for polishing
In timepieces and for engraving are but sey
enty five cents to one dollar per carat.
This Is the diamond rule: A CARAT for con
venence, Is allowed to be four grains. Ii yol
have first-rate diamond OF ten carats it viii
be computed thus 10x10= 100x50- $500. Ii 8
diamond of 400 carats it will be 10Ox10O-10,
00Ox $400-$4 .0O0.0 900.
.