Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-01-27
PRECIOUS STONES.

MI. AllultNSs VI lhuIig >. IiON
are you to identify unset diamonds?'
the reporter asked Here, now, is
diamond" he said, holding up
flashing yellow crystal as big as a
pigeons egg; that is one of the re
markable diamonds of the world, and
could be identified anywhere. 1t
weighs 125 carats, and is worth $50
600. While yellow diamonds are
plentiful. yet there are few with a
clear, decided tint like this; and 1t Is
peculiar in its cutting, from the fact
that it has two rows of facets from
the girdle, or largest circumference
of the stone, to the table. as the flat
top of the stone is called. In the
ordinary style of cutting a brilliant
there is only one row of facets be-
tween girdle and table. Here is
diamond" picking up brilliant
clear as a drop of dew and flashing
with colors like rainbow, that
weighs only two and one haiti carats,
and yet it is worth $500, from the
fact that it is of the purest water
A diamond as notable as this we
could positively identify from its
characteristics. Here is another
picking up a yellow stone, that
weighs nearly as much, two and
three-fourths carats, and is yet worth
only $275, because of its color Vel
low diamonds are hard to identity by
appearance, because they are so plen-
tifuf. Diamonds come of all colors,
pink. blue and brown being rare and
worth much more than yellow. The
pure white, free from stain or flaw,
IS the most valuable of all. Odd
colors are 50 rare that they afford a
ready means of identification. Here
is black diamond" he said, holding
up large brilliant that oddly com
bined perfect transparency with a
blackish tint; "this is one of the
largest and best black diamonds III the
world. 1t weighs five carats and Is
worth $500. Now, here" picking up
beautiful diamond of clear pink
hue, ais curiosity that We could
readily identify anywhere. 1t weighs
eight carats, less a sixteenth, and Is
worth $4,000. The color is rare one,
and it is exquisitely pure. Here is
another extraordinary diamond
He showed a large pearl shaped
stone of cinnamon color. That is
an East Indian gem, and is very old.
Although it weighs seventeen carats
it is not worth as much as the smaller
pink brilliant, on account of its color.
Its value is $4,000. Such marked
stones as those / have shown you we
could positively identify by their
characteristics. But there would be
no means of identifying such stones
as these" he said, as he poured a
handful of small diamonds on the
table They were nearly all off color,
and of small size.
'How, then, do you avoid mistakes
and protect yourself against fraudu-
lent claims when you take diamonds
to set?"
I'm the first place, we will have
nothing to do with paste, no matter
what price might be offered us to set
it. Nobody in the store is allowed to
wear paste gem, and if 10y mistake
a paste brilliant is taken in at the re-
pair counter it is Immediately sent
back to the owner. That rarely hap
pens. Some time ago, when we re-
| fused to reset stone on the ground
that it was paste, the owner was great
ly surprised to hear that it was not
genuine. The lady Investigated the
matter, and found that a dishonest
servant had removed the diamond
and substituted paste gem. She
had never known the difference, al
though an expert does not hesitate a
moment in pronouncing upon the
genuineness of "a stone.
when a diamond is brought to
u.s." Mr.. Andrews went on, sit goes
Immediately into the hands of an ex-
pert who gives it microscopic scru-
tiny. 1t is weighed, any chip or flaw
is noted, and all these facts are re-
corded, together with little diagram
indicating the location of the defects.
Then it goes into the workman's
hands. This enables us to be certain
that we are returning exactly the
same diamond that we take in. No
one diamond in thousand is free
from flaws, so that there are always
identifying characteristics. People
are frequently surprised to find their
diamonds have defects, but it is often
the case that the cutter will leave in
flaw that can be covered by the set
ting, as very frequently the cutting
out of defect would lose a half a
carat or more of weight"
Twill diamonds chip off in wear
ing?"
very rarely. You may lay dia
mond on an anvil and strike it with a
hammer and it will not break. At
the same time diamond has a grain,
and a blow that happens to strike it
along the line of cleavage may clip
it. Most of the defects in stones are
natural. Perfect pearls are even
rarer than perfect diamonds. re-
collect that a dealer once brought to
us a collection of pearls valued at
$3.50, 600, and there was only one alb
solutely perfect one in the lot"
How SLEIGH BELLS ARE MADE. 1t
has, no doubt, been mystery to many
readers how the iron balls inside of
sleigh-bells got there, and it is said
to have taken considerable thought
on the part of the discoverer before
the idea struck him. In making
sleigh bells the iron ball is put inside
a sand core. lust the shane of the in