The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1883-12-12
THE RAGE FOR RARE GEMS.
EXoRBITANT PRICES THAT WE'RE
PAID FOR FANCY STONES.
How limitations arc Made-WhO the
Buyers of Valuable stones arc
What Some Gems are Worth.

hAyCAS Va llltU VII CIV
What Some Gems are Worth.
"What do you think OF that1" said a
gem expert to a Philadelphia Times re-
porter, holding out 4 rich stone.
The reporter suggested that it was Il
fivc-carat ruby.
"Wcll." said the expert, "it's glass;
market value. about ten cents. 1t IS a
fine counterfeit, however, and | got hold
of it in Il curious way. Some years ago
sold its counterpart to a Baltimore lady,
who was then going to Europe. While
there she showed the stone to many per-
son who admired it. At a party one
evening it was passed around among the
guests, and did not find its way back to
the owner until later in the evening, but.
us they were all friends, she thought
nothing Of it. When she returned from
Europe 1t was brought to me to be
cleaned, and l found that the stone1 had
sold for Il number of thousands of dollars
had been removed and this one put in
it's place. The lady refused to follow
the matter up and gave me the stone,
that would hardly be suspected, except
by an expert"
is this sort of thing uncommon"
asked the reporter.
NO." was the reply; 'but the stones
are sold in cheap ~jewelry, and no claim
of value is made. There are people, OF
course. who wear bogus gems for one
reason or another, and their manufacture
is quite Il business.
They are generally made of glass, with
about so per cent of oxide of lead. This
is known to the trade as strasS, and IS
the basis of imitation gems of all kinds,
only different oxides being used to pro-
ducc different tints. If YOU wish to
make a ruby you would have to use
about these ingredients: Silica, 3S.2;
red oxide of lead, $50; calcincd pot.
ash, is; and parts Of calcincd borax,
alumina and arsenic acid. Melt one
thousand parts of this with forty parts OF
glass of anthony. one part purple cas-
sius and one in excess of gold, and you
have got the material, when cut, that
YOU have lust declared worth several
thousand dollars.
III luSC " lutlCN SlollSH,
the expert, sis unabatcd. Five years
ago you could not sell a ruby, sapphire
or any of the fancy gcms-that is, in
paying quantities-and they were so out
of fashion that fashionable women kept
them in their jewclry cases; but the
Prince of Wales started the rage two
years ago by wearing a ring with a dia-
mond, cats eye, ruby and sapphire set in
it, and since then they have been all the
fashion. The ladies wear them, but,
strange to say, they arc more popular
with gentlemen. \ f~avoritc wrinkle is a
cats eye between two rubies or dia-
mOnds.
Expensive? I should say so. Here
is one that is worth 1000 to any one
that can buy it," and the expert handed
out a smooth grcenish stone, in which
mvriads of ciliatcd lines horizontal to the
plane of the stone were seen, resembling
the shafts of light in labradorite. THE
eye" continued the dealer, lis produced
bv heightened vacuitics left in the
structure at the time it is crystal
lizing, and the light striking
upon them produces the beauti-
full star that changes with every move
mcnt of the wearer. Sapphircs are ia
vorite stones at present, and bring large
prices. The largest one known is now in
the Museum of Natural History at Paris,
and has quite a omancc connected with
it. 1t was originally found in India by a
poor lad, who took it to the great Roman
jcwclcr, Raspoli. He found a buyer in a
German prince, and it finally reached
Pcrrct, a Paris jcwcler, who sold it again
for $31, 900.
"Who buy the most valuable stones =
asked the reporter.
"Not always the richest people, was
the reply. There arc numbers of col
lcctors who pay exorbitant prices for Gu
rious or entire stones. All wealthy pco-
pie. of course, have their gems, and
young men of fashion often have a collcc-
ton of rings worth $50, 0OO. have a
customer, a Spanish nobleman, who comes
here about once ayear, who spends $50, 900
yearly in iewelry. 1t is a perfect mania
with him. He gets tired of the sets, brings
them back and We buy them and sell him
something new. L have known him to
wear nearly 800, 600 worth of jcwclry,
and vet not look overdresscd. His
slecvc-buttons were two enormous dla-
monds, cut with his arms, and so ruined;
in his watch were set rubics and dia-
monds Of great price, his studs were
white old India stones, and in a seal he
had a ruby that was of i%ncalculablc price.
He would be a perfect mine to a thief,
and have heard it said that he had the
finest collection of gems south of the
United States.
THE topaz Is fashionablc-that is, the
rare kind. One. known as the Grand
Mogul, is valued in Europe ut $50, 600.
1t weighs 1871 carats. Among the crown
Jewels of France there was an amethyst
of a beautiful violet and red tint, valued
at 50, 900. Here are some stones" he
said, rolling out a lot of emeralds, bcryls
and aquamarincs, ''that, though chemi-
cally the same. differ much CONNER
cially. The aquamarinc is a favoritc
with ladies because it retains its bril-
liancy in artificial light. Here, for an
example, is Il blue sapphire of two
carrots that, a you see, is rcsplcndcnt
with light, but at night is compare
lively insignificant, while this aqua
marine. valued at So, CLOVIS in the
evening with remarkable b%rilliancy. |
sell numbers Of them for evening wear,
and they make Il fine display. They vary
from So for very small ones to $75 and
S1nn a., ,rnpo MOT rarnt Mr. Inhn
probably the greatest gem collector in
the world, possessed a beryl some years
ago weighing six and onc-half ounces
and valued at 81, 325. 1t came from the
Cangayum mine, East Indies. There is
Il bcryl over twoinches long in the crown
of England, and an aquamarine has been
found in the town of Monzinskaia. Rus
STA, that is reported to have brought, on
the authority of Professor Diculafait,
over 500, 600. SO. you sec, the cheapest
stones. so to speak, bring big prices
sometimes. Turquoise is much used
now to produce effects in fancy jewelry
where a sort of rough mosaic is required.
That it was valued in this country is
proved by the discovery of an old tur-
uuoisc mine in Mexico. The shaft leads
under Il mountain, and even the rough
tools of the unknown miners were found
there. There arc two kinds, the
old and new rock; and to show the diff
ference between the two. when the Drce
collection was sold an old rock turquoise
that measured forty-sevcn inches by
forty-thrcc brought nearly $500, while a
new rock stone, thirty-ninc by thirty
seven inches, was sold for $3.50.
"Othcr gems in great demand now are
the hyacinth, h~cliotropc, %zircon, pcridot
and toumalinc. The latter is a beautiful
gem. always found crystallizcd. many of
them ~rhombohcdral and of many cOlors.
Those from Eliza are white and black.
Siberia produces rich red ones. Sweden
blue and Brazil green and blue. These
l-.. A.. ls1.,