The daily gazette., 1880-01-10
about Diamonds.

Ntns DIISOlu NOHbiuuCo ulb ulbEOuTH6
on diamonds as follows:
The polishing of the diamond Is done
with diamond powder. A wheel with
steel disk is made to revolve at a rapid
rate, and ON it the powder is sprnkled
the fiat surface of tho diamonds then
held against the wheel or "skaiff," and
1t is polished.
Very small diamonds, while being
polished, are held in q stick made OF
brass, with hollow top with solder, in
to which the diamond is pressed while
molten, and then allowed TO cool. The
stone is thus fixed, aud the solder is re-
melted and cooled as often as Il Is
necessary to polish all lis sides. The
least inattention will spoil a diamond,
and when we consider that stones are
polished, some of which are SO small
that thousand only weigh one caret,
the bicety of the work, and the great
skill required by the workmen In prop
erly setting them will be fully under
stood.
The finest diamonds are sent TO Eng
land, the second class TO Paris; and the
poorest class to Turkey, Poland, South
America and the United States.
SHAPING THE GEMS.
Sometimes a diamond is split, and this
operation is very simple. If the dia-
mond is uneven or an odd shape, the
corners are knocked of. The stone is
first fastened in a stick with cement,
and the part to be split off exposed a
line is then scratched across it where 1t
is TO be broken-tirst with a small, fine
diamond point, then large, hard dia-
mona, ahu, lastly, the crease deepened
with fine splinter of diamond. The
stick is then fastened III the workman's
bench, very fine knife is inserted in the
crease, and the stone is split by smart
blow from hammer.
Many stones will not split, and most of
them only on two sides, SO the workman
has to be very careful aud get the proper
plane OF clearage, else he will spoil the
diamond.
Diamonds that will not split are some
times sawed with fine wire, fitted In a
saw-bow, and anointed with diamond
powder and olive oil. If the stone is
very large it is generally sawed, as the
risk of spelling from clearage is too
great, and too much might be split off,
thus unnece ssarily reducing the SIZE and
value of the stone. A diamond, when
completely cut, has culet, table, a
girdle, bezil, pavilion and facets.
There is regular rule for cutting them,
and they are turned octahedron, dode-
cahedron, tetrahedron, single and dou-
bic pyramid, single brilliant, double
brilliant, table form, rose, cut and
broilet.
HOW TO JUDGE OF DIAMONDS.
The value os diamond is fixed as
much by its lustre and purity as by its
size. To be first class diamond 1t must
be free from color OF any kind, have no
flaws, specks or assures, and reflect the
light perfectly. If 1t Is white diamond,
and 1t has the faintest tinge of yellow, it
is not first class, and the arguments of
all the jewellers 10 the world ought not
To convince buyer it is first water, or
just as good as first water diamond.
The brilliancy of diamond is its chief
beauty, and to be perfect it must not
have "m:lk" or '.salt," which are semi
Opaque, imperfections in the body of the
stone. Breathe on the stone, and If
there is color or defect, it can generally
be detected at once.
The brilliancy and soundness of a
stone being satisfactorily established, the
next step is to ascertain its size and pro-
portions. If properly shaped and cut
the culet will be one-slxth the size of the
table; from the table TO the girdle will
be one-thlrd, and from the eirdle TO the
culet two-thirds of the whole thickness
of the stone.
The size of the table should be four
ninths OF the extreme size of the stone.
Even poor judge ofdiamonds can gen
orally tell whether stone Ii properly
cur, and If its tire and purity is all right
Compare drop of ice water with a dia.
mond, and If the diamond IL not the
purest, the stone Is not first water. The
term first and second i0dter means only
hrst and second quality of diamonds.
COlored stones are of little value, and
they sell by the lot in England at from
tour to seven pound. Small stones of the
first quality weighing from one, two,
three grains aud under bring in the LON
don market 10 pounds TO 10l. los. per
carat. Yellow or iinged stones of the
s9cond quality bring eight pounds and
seven pounds per carat by the lot
MARKET VALUE.
The price of diamonds has varied
greatly since the art of cutting them In
1I57, which first gave them a standard of
value in Europe. In 1905 table before
me shows first class diamonds, weighing
one carat and over, sold at Venice, for
q 1870 pounds; in 1850 the prio of a
diamond of the same weight was only
eight pounds, and in 1871 they were SIX
pounds per carat. In 1900 they were
worth nine pound per carat, and they
rose steadily in value until 184S, when on
the outbreak of the outbreak of the revo-
iution in France, carat stones fell to four
and five pounds each, on account of the
market They soon rose in value, how
ever, and since that time the average
yearly increase in the value of diamonds
all over the world has been about equal
to ten per ceut. While the production
of diamonds is annually decreasing, the
population and wealth of the world is
steadily increasing. The desiressto bes-
sess these beautiful gems, too, Is every
year becoming more universal; so II new
diamond mines are not soon d.scope red,
or an artificial process for making them
found out, another augmentation of ,he
value of the gems may be expected.
The following table shows the value of
diamonds at the present time in London
and il 10 pericent and import duty be ad-
ded 1t will give their value in American
gold coin. In this table an English
pound is reckoned at SIS value In Alneri~
can gold.
I carat........ f21 Z carat. ....... f7OO
II ........ 80 "a ..... :. 800
II " ..... 80 8 ..... 200
a ~ 15O y - 6OO