Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-05-08
THE DIAMONDS VALUE.
~ depends More Upon the Cutting
Than Upon the Size.

n. Giles, by which mean its reflected
ilgnt, Its brilliancy. The white and
plush-white diamonds are the most ex-
penslve, and the steel-white are the
sharpest. The latter has kind of hard.
llght-brownish lock, just like newly
broken steel. They are all kinds of
shades. In fact, they are innumerable.
since no two stones are exactly alike in
color. The bluish-white is the costliest
because the rarest, outside of the de-
cldedly brown diamonds, which are very
rare, very hard and very brilliant, and
! which good fancier will prefer to anv
other except the bluish-white. 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 pnr-
chaser except by comparison with others.
Will bring down the price of stone one
halt to one-quarter. You see those two
sparkleYs, for instance" and Mr.. Giles
exhibited two beautifully brilliant stones
intended for ear-drops. "Well, they are
only worth $500, because they are a little
of, what we call by-water.' If of a
fine bluish-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 being cut fiat, such stones being
generally the clearings from larger stones,
the refuse, so to speak. Now, as to shape,
there are different opinions. Some pre-
fer the cushion shape and others the
round shape The latter is an American
invention, 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out of date, in this country at least.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 bagfuI,
just as they come from the mines, and
they have a system OF exchanging cut
stones for rough stones, 500 carats of
rough for 300 carats of cut ones, for in
stance, so that it is to their interest to lose
as little of the stones weight as possible
in the cutting process. Here things are
quite different We are just now recruiting
good many of these old Dutch stones.
Here is one, you see," and the expert I'M
wrapped a very fine stone, (Which
weighed 1-64 carats when it went up
stairs to our cutters, and which now
weighs but "a carats. Yet its value has
been increased by this procedure, al
though its size is diminished, so that it is
now worth $500, while before that it
was worth but $4,000. There is 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 proportion to its shape
and size, there being valuable stones Of
all numbers of facets. You see, there is
a grain to a diamond, just as much as
there is to slab oil 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 great many ex-
perts overlook in purchasing. They will
hold the stone six inches from their eyes,
instead of looking at it from distance
And yet the latter is the proper way, for
diamonds are intended to show brilliancy
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. L think
that among our undeveloped re-
| sources in the United States diamonds
will loom up largely before long. The
other day | bought a 17-carat stone of a
man who had bought it for 81, taking it
! to be topaz. 1t was found near Wau-
! kesha, Wisconsin. 1t had much the APP
pearance Of the South African stones.
! Two or three months ago party brought
me one from Central Iowa. 1t was
very good stone and | should say that
! there must be more where that came
! from. believe there are many spots in
! this country where diamonds are to be
! found. Only when found the general
public wouldn't know them from rough
| diamonds"
GLOW does rough diamond look?"
Generally, it is a little siX-pointed
crystal, or it may look like a roundish,
semi-transparent pebble. In its rough
state it generally doesn't look as pretty
as a piece of quartz. The opinion of eX-
perts ought to be had whenever stones
are found suspected to be diamonds.
Search, besides, ought to be made not by
individuals but by communities, for dia-
monds are scarce wherever they are
! lodged, and many eyes looking for them
are more likely to find them than one
pair, however keen"
"What qualifications must good ex-
pert in diamonds possess ?'
Experience. A judge of these stones
must have a constant experience in order
to enable him to adjust properly and rec
ognize the various points that give dia-
mond its value, shape, cut and color.
Not one in thousand knows enough
about diamonds to tell if a diamond Is
worth 81 900 or 5000 There are very
few experts. There are, OF course, quite
a number of them among the dealers,
but very few outside of them. The value
of stone, depends OF course, after
all, good deal on individual
tastes and prejudices, and really Its
market price is governed more by its rel
alive scarcity than by anything else. II,
for instance, some prolific mines were
discovered now yielding lots of blush
white diamonds they would decline In
nrice, and those of color, the yellowish
and brownish ones, would rise. Only 10
ner cent. of the diamonds found are
worthy to be set in jewelry, you know.
The rest are refuse stones, which are
brought UP by sharp dealers, who palm
them off afterward on an unsuspectlng
public as great bargains. Lots OF men
are taken in in that way. People tillnk
that they have struck good thlng ana
will keep quiet about where they bought
If and how much they paid for 1T. II they
went TO an honest expert he would point
ont to them the flaws in the stones tney