Morning journal and courier., 1884-12-10
.D1AmONDs AND sRTLLTAN1's.

to the hair by stsel pin with shell or jet head.
 DXAMONDS AND BRILLEAN1'S.
 The Salient Features of the Trade in
 .PrecfOffs Stones.
 [From the San Francisco CALL
 A visit was made to large dealer in dia- monds and jewels, who has made study of the business during the last twenty years, while travelling all over the world, and who is counted one of the leading experts of the United States.
 q suppose there are good many unwrit- ten facts with regard to your trade which are known only to the initiated. Will you tell me something about it9'' we asked.
 q will, certainly. I assume that you want to know the tricks, the ins and outs and the salient features of to-day from standpoint of curiosity in behalf of the pub lie. It's big enough subject to respect, my boy. A precious stone is like love, for it interests every mothers son and daughter on earth Who ever saw a man who did not like to look at diamond? And who ever saw a woman who did not like to wear one! There are in San Francisco more than $5, ,OO0,- : 900 worth of jewels, consisting chiefly of diamonds, rubies and pearls, owned by prl- vate families, and the families of the rall- road magnets, and the mining and land kings (which is to say the Stamfords, the Crockers, the Hopkins family, the O'Brien heirs, the Floods the Reeses, the Phelans, the Sulll- vans, &c.), possess more than all the large Jewish population, awho are very fond of diamonds, and the entire community besides The half-dozen prominent dealers here carry large stocks, consisting i'll measure ot con signments of New York sent here for sale San Francisco is elninently jewel-loving place and includes within it's limits at the present time as many thousand dollars worth of ornamental gems as any other city Ill the world. There is always @ steady demand here for pure white diamonds which are without flaw, and the price of these Is almost constant but the oH-eolor stones, which are yellow to a greater or less extent, and the imperfect ones, cannot be sold readl- ly and fiuctuate in value very largely. In fact their value is partially fixed by the ignorance of the purchasers as a usual thing, for they do not form the staple goods of Q representative dealer. The smaller shops along Kearney street can get rid of them, and they are bought by country people who take them away and do not know the difference A yellow diamond is even more brilliant than pure white one of four times its value, in the evening, and, knowing this, good many ladies all over the world keep yellow diamonds solely to wear to theaters and parties.
 'fGentlemen are generally the best judges of diamonds, for if they take any interest in them at all they will take pains to inform themselves on the subject and thus gain some power of discrimination in the matter, whereas woman, in her otherwise faultless career, will be fooled on diamonds every day of her life A diamond is diamond to Q woman almost invariably. All that is neces- sary is that it must be the genuine article. The dazzling nature of the thing itself blinds her to the relative qualities, and you must place extremes before her to make her dis cern the difference. The value of diamond depends upon it's color, shape, cut and the perfection of the stone. The great majority of stones are cut now into what we call ''brll- liants." The top, which is called the '"table, /" has fifty-six facets or faces, and the plane of each facet is at right angles with the plane of the facet directly opposite. The fEcolic" projects underneath and is also cut ill facets, whereas Q little while ago it was only cut into a straight-faced cone. By this method of cutting we secure the greatest re fection of light and the diamond IS made most brilliant. It is geometrical problem The rough diamond can be split like silica, and thus we get the chip diamonds and the small pieces made into rose diamonds. The unit of weight is the carat, which comes from kaura, the name of bean of Arabia which is supposed always to grow of uni form size and weight. The diamonds weigh ing from one-eighth to one-half carat are called 'smellee" and the larger ones of vari- ous size ''melange" To Henry Morse, of Boston belongs the credit of making more improvements in the process of cutting dia- monds during the last ten years than have ever been made before. The most diamonds are cut in Amsterdam and that city has al ways taken the lead, but at present they Nary 0rl
 'sMr. Morse once tried the experiment of using women as diamond cutters, for the work only requires patience and skill. He discharged all his old Amsterdam workm en and hired women in their places. After he had spent months of toll in training the women, and they were able to earn from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month at the labor, one by one they got married and left him high and dry He had to import some more men from the old country. This would be an industry open to women, ln which they could earn large wages, but they will get married and we cannot trust them. The purest and best diamonds come from Brazil; the next in quality from India and the poorest off-color, or what we call the Cape diamonds, from Africa. However, re- gently the Kimberly mine in Africa has pro duced as fine specimens as the best Brazilian stones Most of the rubies-whlch are next in value to diamonds-come from India. Good pearls come from all countries, espec- ially from Mexico; and the best emeralds are found in Central America. Diamonds have steadily advanced in value and so have pearls and rubies. Pearls have remained constant and emeralds have greatly deprecated. The | finest pearl known to be in the world to-day was found during last month on the coast of Mulege Bay, opposite Guaymas, Lower Call 1 forniar It weighs ninety carats, and IS as oIn hands of the Mexicans. The best advice to people is to tell them to be careful with whom they deal when buying jewels. The best diamond merchants and dealers in pre- cious stones are, as class, men ot integrity in business, and I have found them to be gentlemen all over the world. But there are 90 many chances for trickery and fraud that large portion of the trade is gobbled up by dishonest adventurers and skinflnts. At te1npts are made every week in the city to defrald even the members of the trade, but we adopt the ways of the famous Amer1can center of diamond dealers, Maiden Lane, New York, and protect each other. If one dealer hears of m attempted fraud he will inform other dealers. London is the great center of the world for the jewel trade and the London men have their agents in New York.
 "About eighteen months ago some men in London discovered that if you molsten vel low diamond and run an aniline pencil-the same kind that business men use every day over the bottom of it, then let it dry and rub it off little with cloth, the blue ot the aniline forms coating which mixes with the light of the diamond, giving It the glaring white and deep lustre ot the best white stones. The coating, Ii well sun. dried will not wear off in number of months, but if the diamond is washed it returns to it's original yellow hue. In this way the London merchants were defrauded to the amount of many thousands of pounds before they discovered the deeeptlon fTbev wrote to their American agents, and New York did not lose more than one hundred thousand dollars before all dealers began washing all diamonds that they re- ceiYed. This fraud has been frequently