Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-04-12
VALUE OF DIAMONDS.
GREAT EXPERIENCE REQUIRED TO
JUDGE THE WORTH o. THE GEMS.
what . Dealer Has to Say Of the Freedoms
sparklers - Different Methods Of
Cutting-Tricks Practiccd by
Sharp Dealen-
IChi.,ago News Interview. ]

Inc INST point 20 % COnH0erou ABOUT
diamond is its fire" said Mr.. Charles K
Giles, "by which mean its reflected light it,
brilliancy. The white and bluish-white diA-
monds are the most expensive. and the steel
white are the shsrpest The latter has .
kind Of hard, light brownish look. just like
newly broken steel There are al
kinds Of shades In fact, they are inumsr-
able, since no two stones are exactly alike in
color. The blush white is the costlisst, be-
cause the rarsst, outside Of tho decidedly
brown diamonds, which are very rare,
very hard, and very brilliant, and which
q good fsncier viii prefer to any other
except the bluish-whita Then there
are the slightly brownish, the sliSatly yel-
low, the straw color, the greenish- yellow,
the rose color. and the snary-yellow. Ths
greenish yellow are least desirable, but even
little tinge Of yellow, not noticeable to the
purchaser except by comparison with others,
will bring down the price of a stone one-half
to one-quarter. You see those two sparklers,
for instance" and Mr.. Giles exhibited two
beautifully brilliant stones intended for ear
drops. "Well, they are only worth $500, be-
cause they are little or what We call by
water II of fine BLUSH white they would
be worth &, ,000 The 30 called rose-colored
ooosScr "AASA ooAk4c - hoA oAs PcSksAc ooPPoSO
to be very valuable, are only the result Of
their being cut dat, such stones being gen.
orally the clearings from larger stones, the
refuse, 50 to speak
Now, as to shape, there are different opin-
iona Some prefer the cushion shape and
others the round shape. The latter is An
American invention, and is At present tho
most popular shape The cushion slApe ID Of
English taste The old Dutch stones cut in
Amsterdam, are getting out Of date, in this
country at least You see, there in Amseer-
dam the dealers buy the rough diamonds by
the bagful, just ss they come from the
mines, and hey have . system II exchang.
ing cut stones for rough stones. 500 carats Of
rough for 800 carats OF cut ones, for in
stance, 90 that it b to their interest to los as
kttls Of the stones weight - posi-
be In the cutting process Here things ars
quite different We arc Just now recruit
ing good many Of thess old Dutch stoneA
Here is one. you sss," and the expsrt un-
wrapped . very fine stone, (which weighed
nine and one-dxty- fourth carats whsn II
went up-stairs to our cutters, and which now
weighs but seven and one-sigth caratA Yet
tts value has been increased BY this pro-
cedure, although its size diminished, % that
It Il now worth g, 500, while before that il
was worth but q, ,00O Thsrs is great deal
in the cutting Of stone The old English
sinsle-cut, where only ons side had facets.
while the lower one was left in straight lines,
il out Of demand now. A stone h cut In
proportion to its shape and size, there betng
valuable stones of all numbers Of faostR
You sec. there Is . grain to . diamond,
Just - much As there Is to . slab OF
wood. An expert diamond-cutter viii -
that grain and cut the diamond accord.
ingly. The shape Of the stone must b
made 30 that the angles throw the greatest
amount Of light toward the ga.er. Some
stones have their angles cut 50 that the rays
of light converge before they roach The eya
That is point which even q great many Ok.
perts overlook in purchasing. They viii
hold the stone sx inches from their eyes In
steal of looking at it from distance. And
vet the latter is the proper way. for dta
monds are intended to show brilliancy from
some distance"
-Where are the largest diamonds found
just nowr
I'm southern Africa The mines there are,
however, pretty old, too and are gstetna
fairly exhausted. think that among ouI
undeveloped resources in the United States
diamonds will loom up largely before long.
The other day I bought q seventeen-carat
stone of man who had bought it for 81,
taking it to be q topaz It was found neaz
Waukesha, Wis. It had much the appear-
ance Of South African stones Two or three
months ago party brought me ono from
central Iowa It was worry good stone,
and should say that there must b mors
where that one came from l believe there
are many spots in this country where dia