Daily Kennebec journal., 1884-04-14
mrseellanfDus.
Diamonds and other Precious Stones.
INTERESTING TALK WITH A LARGE DIA-
MoSD IMPORTER R.-DIAMOND-CUTTNG

| MoSD IMPoRTER.-DIAMOND
"Nost of the diamonds found in the
trade" said a member OF one OF the larg-
est diamond firms in this city, .'come
from the Cape mines at the southern end
of Africa. These mines number four or
| five. the largest being the Kimberley,
covering Is acres, For the last ten years
thew have yielded largely, many large
stones having been taken out, though
these, with the exception of the Porter
Rhodes stone, are not OF proportionately
good quality. The Porter Rhodes dia-
mond manned after its owner. an English
man) weighs about $50 carats in the rough.
and is highly valued 1t is said that the
owner once refused an offer of ESQ, 900
| for half interest in the stone. Latterly.
| understand. he has been offering it for
/ ESQ. 600. This is the diamond which Mrs.
/ Mackey of Paris, was said to nave thought
I of buying last year, you may remember.
| But most of the Cape diamonds of large
size land they get them as high as 300
carats) are only worth cutting into small
| er stones. The amount of trade there
II is estimated that each weeks cargo of
rough diamonds sent to London repre-
sents a value of 10000. AS to the other
sources of supply. India no longer enters
into trade consideration. A new mine
was discovered last year in Brazil called
Cannareres, but its yield is small as yet.
The Brazilian diamonds. may say here.
are usually found in the sandy beds of
rivers, while the Cape diamonds are dug
out at depth of from 800 to 500 feet.
They are usually found imbedded there in
I n ind Of cnft noneE cai1aH shlnp
earth Some are almost round, but most
have eight sides. In weight they run, in
the average. from two to ten carats, COM
paratvely few stones above ten carats be-
ing found This is in the rough, remem-
Der. Cutting reduces them about one
half The ten-carat stones, thus reduced
by cutting to five, average about $3.50
each in value. This carat weight
that speak of is one peculiar to dia-
monds, rubies. opals and sapphires. 1t
takes over seven carats to make one penny
weight in Troy weight
Can YOU tell me something about dia-
monG cutting ?" asked the reporter.
"Most of the stones sent to London from
the Cape are re-shpped to Amsterdam and
Antwerp, the great cutting places. Cut
ting is done also in this country, though
ODlN w ltulll tllC Idsl lew yCalo. SupPoSC
there can't be over thsee dozen cutters in
the whole country. and of these we have
one dozen, all foreigners. On this point.
it is to be noted. however. that the de-
mand here for fine cutting has about revo-
lulionized the style OF cutting abroad. As
to any principles in cutting. there is the
general rule that one-third of the stone
should be above the gridle and two-thirds
below it. This proportion is sometimes
sacrificed in order to avoid imperfections
in stone-such as black spots and feath-
ers (and at least one half of the stones
are more or less imperfecD. Again. the
size and shape of the stcne in the rough
will determine whether it shall have a
single cut, or the full cut. or the rose cut.
What is the difference between them
You must have noticed the many little
planes or sides to a cut diamond These
are technically called facets. Now, a
single-cut diamond has IS facets, and a
full-cut stone has SO facets, distributed
above and below the gridle in the proper
tion before mentioned. A small stone
is likely, OF course to have only the single
cut of Is sides. A full-cut diamond is
called also brilliant, though this term is
incorrectly applied. sometimes. to Partisan
or paste diamonds. The third, or rose
cut, is given to stones too small and thin
for either of the other cuts. 1t is particu-
lar in this, that the stone is flat
on the bottom and faceted on top.
You will understand how small the rose
cut stones are, when | tell you that it often
takes a thousand of them to make a caret
weight. They are useful, however. in
filling in corners, etc. Apart from the
considerations | have noted, the cutter is
guided by his own discretion and taste.
The operation? Ysu know the old saying,
about diamond cutting diamond? 1t is
literally true with us. The workman
simply rubs one rough diamond against
the other. Polishing is done after
ward, and is done by holdiug the cut
stone down against wheel revolving
at an extremely rapid rate. OF course,
in examining the wheel from time to time
we must look out for flaws, or the dia-
mond will be caught on some rough point
and be smashed in less than the tradition
al jiffy. As to the time taken to cut and
polish, one cutter will do work enough TO
keep half-dozen polshers busy, and a
good polisher will polish about 20 carats
week.
About the color of diamonds ?r sug-
gested the reporter
There is every imaginable tint, but
the principal trade colors are the standard
white, the blush tint, the yellow and the
brown. The white, while most valuable,
is not always most brilliant The bluest
tint is much sought after now. Yellow
is the most common of the four. Appar-
entity there is a growing taste for fancy
colors in dis monds-a dark brown, bright
yellow. or canary, as it is called. and other
natural colors. Yes. artificial coloring
has been done by the use of aniline. A
yellow stone dipped in this receives blu
ise tint. but this comes off by exposure to
the air or by use. There was great ex-
citement about the matter last year. you
may recall. both here and in Europe. /
don't think it is practced much now
''Of the other colored stones, continued
the speaker. ''rubies and pearls are now
the most fashionable. The finest rubies
come from Ceylon and Siam. They are
more expensive than diamonds of the same
size. owing to their scarcity. The STAN
dard color for ruby is pigeon-blood. but
there are verv few perfect specimens.
Pearls are white, black, gray and bronze.
A good many of the colored pearls come
from Panama Rlapk nearls are and aftar