Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1885-04-15
THE DIAMONDS VALUE.
1t Depends More Upon the Cutting Than
Upon the Size.

about a diamond is its fire." said Mr..
Charles X. Giles, "by which / mean
its reflected light, its brilliancy. The
white and bluish-white diamonds are
the most expensive, and the steel-white
are the sharpest. The latter has u
kind of hard, light-brownish look, just
like newly broken steel. They arc all
kinds of shades. In fact, they are in
Vulnerable, since no two stones are
exactly alike in color. The blush
white is the costilest, because the
rarest, outside of the decidedly brown
diamonds, which are very rare, very
hard and very brilliant, and which
good fancier will prefer to any other
except the bluish-whte. Then there
are the slightly brownish, the slightly
yellow, the straw color, the greenish-
yellow, the rose color, and the canary
yellow. The greenish-yellow are the
least desirable, but even little tinge
of yellow, not noticeable to the pur-
chaser except by comparison with
iothers, will bring down the price of q
stone one-half to one-quarter. You
see those two sparklers, for in
stance" and Mr.. Giles, exhibited two
beautifully brilliant stones intended
worth $500, because they are little
off, what we call 'by-water.' If of
fine blush white they would be worth
$1,000. The so-called rose-colored
stones, which some ignorant people
suppose to be very valuable, are only
the result of their beng cut Hat, such
stones being generally the clearings
from larger stones, the refuse, SO to
speak. Now, as to shape, there are
different opinions. Some prefer the
cushion shape and others the round
shape. The latter is an American in
ventiOn, and is at present the most
popular shape. The cushion shape is
of English taste. The old Dutch
stones, cut in Amsterdam, are getting
out of date, in this country at least.
You see, there in Amsterdam the
dealers buy the rough diamonds by the
bagfull, just as they come from the
mines, and they have a system of ex-
changing cut stones for rough stones,
500 carats of rough for 800 carats of
cut ones, for instance, so that it is to
their interest to lose as little of the
stones weight as possible in the cut
ting process. Here things are quite
different. We are just now recutting
good many of these old Dutch stones.
Here is one, you see," and the expert
unwrapped a very fine stone, (which
weighed 9 LEA carats when it went
upstairs to our cutters, and which now
weighs but "a carats. Yet its value
has been increased by this procedure,
although It's size diminished, so that 1t
is now worth So, 800, while before that
it was worth but $4,000. There is a
great deal in the cutting of a stone.
The old English single-cut, where only
one side had facets, while the lower
one was left in straight lines, is out of
demand now. A stone is cut in pro-
portion to its shape and size, there be-
ing valuable stones of all numbers of
facets. You see, there is a grain to a
diamond, just as much as there is to a
slab of wood. An expert diamond
cutter will see that grain and cut the
diamond accordingly. The shape of
the stone must be made so that the
angles throw the greatest amount of
light toward the gaZer. Some stones
have their angles cut so that the rays
of light converge before they reach the
eye. That is point which even a
great many experts overlook in pur-
cnaSinS' lucy VIII Holu VIC sIonc SIX
inches from their eyes, instead of look
ing at it from distance. And yet the
latter is the proper way, for diamonds
are intended to show brllliancy from
some distance"
"Where are the largest diamonds
found just now?"
"In Southern Africa. The mines
there are, however, pretty old, too
and are getting fairly exhausted.
tb;nk tbat auonU Our undavelOnod rp