The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1884-08-07

COLLECTION OF MAINE GEMS.
"Thc Pine and Palm The dainty and artistic
little building erected lay f. IL Moses, the
florist. and before described in the journal, of
cour>c attracted the sight seers 1t is certainly
gem inside and out but we called specially to
see collection Of precious stones, taken from
MI. Mica in this State, and the property Of the
Mi, Mica company, which has been placed
with Mr.. Moses for sale. An expert from
Iitfany's has inspected these gems and pro-
nouuVed them Il fine collection and the most
unique in America. 1t was something of a
surprise - find that one of the gems is valued
At 5000, and that there are others which. it is
said, can not be duplicated. The first mention
ed is a tourmaline, almost square and nearly
halt an inch long, and in color Il beautiful deep
emerald green. There are others of the same
color but smaller, which none but an expert
could distinguish from emerads. Others are
of very deep blue-green, shading from blue 10
green as they catch the light, while others are
of a lighter green. shading off to the palest sea
green tint. There are three or four pink Ones
closely resembling the pink topaz; one of Il deep
red, and some are almost clear white. All
these are tourinaines, and the lowest priced
stone is s.. A number Of beryls are included in
the collection. These are all white, and would
pass with many for diamonds. They range in
price from s. to something over 800. We
We're shown ring set with green tourmane
and two beryls, price $500, that duplicated
with an emerald and diamonds would cost
twenty times as mucn, and few could detect the
difference. Mr.. Moses also exhibited the gems
in the rough and the rock formation in which
they are found, and he explained to us that
there are tourmaines and tourmalnes. One is
merely an Opaque stone, the other luminous
and a gem, and only at Mt. Mica have these
gems been found in Maine. 1t is thought the
mine has been nearly if not quite exhausted, so
that these stones may never be duplicated, but
it will probably be worked again this fall The
mine was first discovered in 1920 by two stu
dents Ezekiel Holmes and Elijah l.. Hamlin,
the latter a brother of Hon. Hannibal Hamlin.
From an area of about thirty feet square, near
" forty varieties of minerals have been taken
OF course. the finest were found in the early
days, but those who had the matter in hand
do not seem to have realized their value. Col
lectors from all parts of this country and
various parts of Europe sent hther for speci-
MEMS and the rarest of the gems were scatter
ed fa- and wide, never to be recovered again.
Among the highly priced tourmalines now in
European collections, the late Prof. Shepherd
and others felt sure there were some of these
Maine gems The finest tourmaline ever found
and kept in this country is now in possession
of the heirs of Prof. Shepherd; the second best
is in the Hamlin family, and the third is now
among the collection on sale at Bar Harbor.
POLO All THE CASINO.
Many of the eXcursionsts were patrons of
the Belfast rink and naturally found their way
to the Casino, as the Bar Harbor rink is called,
while others were attracted by an announce