Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-07-10
HOW LOST MY DIAMONDS.

HOW LOST MY DIAMONDS.
An old bachelor am l, with very snug
little income Everyone at my time of
life has his fads and fancies. am col
lector-not of old books or stuffed birds
or dirty seaweed and grasses, but of
precious stones. My friends say it is an
odd taste. l observe that people always
say this about their neighbors' hobbies.
OF course, my collection is modest one;
1 cannot afford to buy stones at price
of five figures. | began my store with
relative picked up in the east, in those
early days of our Indian Empire, when
that operation known as shaking the
pagoda tree'' was practiced. Then an
old aunt bequeathed me certain family
diamonds, and l have bought little my
self 1t is less for their intrinsic value
than as specimens of different kinds of
precious stones that l value my Jewels.
The science of mineralogy has always
been fascinating one to me, and mean
some day to give the world treatise on
gems, which | have devoted years to
uP GANOpe ID VI WY
few people care a straw about Jewels.
My nieces took the deepest interest in
the experiments thought of making TO
discover the Count St. Germans secret
for removing flaws from diamonds-an
experiment that, if successfully applied
to the biggest stone in Aunt DorothY's
necklace would have quadrupled its value.
/ was pleased to find the girls interested
c0ianfif1n c11hiQpfC and rQnpnfpH houinO
called them frivolous. But when, failing
to discover the counts secret, l thought
of testing the most interesting expert
ment of converting diamonds into coke
by the application of intense heat, the
girls were absolutely rude on finding out
I was about to ''try conclusions IN the
matter with one of my best stones. Much
they cared about scientific discoveries;
they only wanted a necklace worth e.
600 instead of $500. am minded to
leave my Jewels to-alas, have they not
already left me?
was sitting one mornilg in my study
when note and card were brought in to
me. The card bore an unfamiliar name,
Herr Schlossman. The note (unsealed)
was from my old friend Merton. Merton
lived little way out of the town, but we
constantly exchange letters and visits.
Merton takes interest in science and
mineralogy, and we belong to a great
many societies, in which the ignorant
general public take no interest. Merton
would be a collector if he could, but he
has to fritter away on a wife and five
children what would stock decent cabi-
net of gems. However, he takes a great
interest in my store, and often lets me
know when curious specimens of stones
are to be sold at a reasonable figure, and
SO on. When saw his writing, hoped
the note was to say that his acquaintance,
the wholesale jeweler, had seen an opal
at my price. l have not single decent
opal in my collection, and have been
looking for specimen these ten years.
However, Merton did not even mention
opals. His note was only to introduce a
foreign friend, Herr Schlossman, the
bearer of the letter. 1t seemed that the
Herr was German savant, come to Eng
land on visit to Merton. He 1.-THE Ger
mani was like myself, an enthusiast
about gems, and Merton wanted me to
allow him to look at my collection.
"Of course l am aware that it is too
valuable to be exhibited to casual stran-
gers" wrote Merton, "but you need have
no fear of Herr Schlossman. He is an
old and valued friend of mine, a rich man,
and collector himself" This, by the
way, was rather an argument against his
honesty; collectors are sometimes light
fingered among their neighbors treasures.
she is merely anxious to look at your
jewels as sample of fine private collec-
ton of gems"
eyes, [ flatter myself mine is-was, l
mean, a very good collection; my faulty
stones were curious from their very
flaws.
''Show the gentleman in,'' said, as I
selected the key that opened the iron door
of the large safe, imbedded in the library
wall, where kept my collection of Jew
els. The safe is behind sham bookcase,
and the iron door is covered with glass
with backs of books pasted against it; no
one could detect it among the rows of
shelves lining the wall Well, did nv
best to take care of my property.
Herr Schlossman proved most pleas
ant, agreeable man, speaking English SO
perfectly that should hardly have taken
him for German at ALL He admired nv
collection extremely, and was certainly
good judge Of jewels. He rapidly valued
all mine with quite professional accur-
acy, and was.a perfect mine of informa-
ton on the subject of precious stones-so
much 80 that ventured to inquire if he
were dealer merchant believe called
it, in such wares himself.
"Well, not exactly" he said, smiling;
ssbut good many valuable stones pass
through my hands from time to time"