Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-08-21
GEMS AND INVITATIONS.
Curious Facts and Fancies About Pre-
ciOus stones.

ciOus stones.
From the New York Commercial Advertiser.
''Ies, can tell you a good deal that you
would ike to know about precious stones" said
q Nassau street dealer to an Advertiser man
few days ago. ITO begin with diamonds, these
are almost all found at the Cape diamond fields
nowadays, In South Africa, though some, and
OF better grade, are still obtained from
Brazil-'old mine diamonds, as they are called.
All, or nearly all. are taken to London, which
Is the one great general market for rough
diamonds. There are dealers in various parts
OF that city, but the center of the trade there is
Hatton garden, near Ludgate hill. From
thence q great many are taken TO Amsterdam
to be cut; others are cut in Antwerp. or in
extensibly in Germany. From these places
they are sold and shipped all over the world.
Almost Al nos al that are sentto this country come
| ing; They are placed in charge Of the purser,
and are always the first goods taken from on
board after the mails. They go through the
custom house in regular course, and pay ten
per cent duty. They are never sent through
the mails except by persons wishing to defraud
the government.
oSSham diamonds are manufactured princi-
paliy In Paris. Some very fine ones that by all
tured there. The smaller the stone, the more
easy Is the imitation. 1t is very seldom that
sham diamonds are sold for true ones, as even
pawnbrokers who are not usually considered
very scrupulous, do not care to run the risk.
But regu ar swindlers go about who carry two
or three In their pockets, and by various rep.
reservations frequently induce easily duped
persons TO purchase under the impression that
they are making a wonderful bargain. People
who lose real stone from q cluster in q ring or
other piece of jewelry will frequently have it
replaced with q sham stone.
diamonds great deal of nonsense has been
talked about melting down diamond dust with
saretY Of other and such like pro
way OF making false diamonds. A piece OF
crystal, or of the very clear kind Of glass known
as paste, is cut to resemble a diamond by expe-
renced workmen and very finely finished OF.
ny TINS means the requisite amount of bril-
liancy is obtained. The principal points to be
observed are the polish and the due regularity
OF the facets. There is a very large trade in
sham diamonds doing this year. have sold
else in the trade says the same. People are SO
fascinated with diamonds now that they won't
look at piece of jewelry that hasn't one In IL,
sometimes made by cutting slip of diamond,
very thin one, and attaching 1t to base OF
re, or bas srysIai linen they are exposed to
glass Is fused to the diamond. But this process
is seldom used, as the diamond employed re-
Just then a man presented a scarfpin minus
It's stone, and asked for q "RhinsStOne'' to NIL
the vacant setting. He was supplied with one
twenty-five cents
"Rhinestones are made of glass;" continued
the dealer. land SO is every other good-l looking
sham diamond. no matter by what name it may
be called. real stone of the size Of that one
Just sold would be worth S75 to 500. You can
hardly ever get O sham diamond OF crystal to
snow the brilliance of one cut from glass, and
the latter wear best, too.
Of other imitation stones, some very poor
colored ones are made of glass, but the majority
are 'doubiets.' That Is to say, q very thin SLAB
OF garnet, the cheapest real stone we sell, is
anXed To backing OF colOred glass by the fus-
ing process. Then they resemble one stone, and
when set no one but a trained expert could rec
ognize the difference. The test OF a file to the
ar frnr hn SQtf inu
reveals the sham at once, as the steel bites on
glass but runs smoothly over true stones. A
trained eye tells the difference between true
and false stones when set by the greater iuster
OF the former. Most imitation stones sold in
TINS and other countries are manufactured in
bohemia, where the work Is done ut a very low
price. Another class of imitation stones are
made among the Jura mountains, and these
are OF somewhat better grade. There is also
district in the United states where such are
manufactured. This is Providence and the sur
rounding villages.
GEMS OF COLoRs.
"Real stones of color are many of them of
great value. Rubles, good and large, are very
scarce and more costly, weight for weight, than
diamonds. Those of O poorer cltlss are, how
ever, much cheaper. Next to them come sap
phires, which when of good quality are priced
nearly a. high as diamonds, though not so high
as rubies. Small and imperfect stones are cheap
enough. The same applies to emeralds. Large
pearls are still very COSTLY if OF fine color and
regular shape The best pearls are found only
In the Indian seas. Attempts have been made
TO cultivate the pearl oyster in Italian waters,
american pearls, coming from Texas and from
Panama, but these are not very valuable, as
they lack the lustre OF the Others A little while
Dack parcel was sent me from Texas, among
which were some really good stones, but most
We're very poor, being OF dead. whitish chalky
hue: These are sweet water pearls, being
gathered from the Texan rivers. Now and then
cOlored pearls are obtained, aud these are of
great value. The most desired and the most
expensive are pink. They are also found of a
gold color, coffee color, etc. Latterly q method
has been discovered of initiating these colored
pearls. Ordinary pearls are inflated very ex-
tensively and cheaply by filling hollow glass
ball with wax. such as these" The dealer pro-
duceu a tray Of imitation pearls, little hollow
balls, with an aperture in the base through
which the wax is introduced. But the copies
were poor ones, even to an unframed eye, lack
ing the rainbow gloss OF the true pearl.
The last time was in Paris came across a
man who claimed to have patent upon a new
method OF making imitation half pearls
Pearls, as you may know, are frequently cut In
Ealf tor setting. He showed me some OF his
make and 1t was really an excellent imitation.
l ordered some direct from Bohemia, where
good as the sample. But how they are made is
know.
Returning to diamonds, l may say that a
good many colored stone doublets are set with
genuine diamonds. There are not many very
large diamonds in this country The largest
ever cut In this city was the Cleveland gem,
which was found in Brazil and brought here
about two years ago and sold for 5000.
stone here that weighed two hundred karats
and tried to dispose Oh 1t, but he could not get
his price from the dealers here, and the stone is
now being cut in Amsterdam. New York Ia
the one center for diamonds on this side OF the
water Diamonds running in value from $500
up to 81 900 are freely handled and readily dis
posed OF here, as there Is brisk demand at
those prices. But for other stones, real or sham.
there Is not In ucn request just at present.
THE OPAL CANNOT BE INITIATED
"There Is no difficulty in initiating any of the
precious stones except the opal. The changing
the ever-varying colors in that stone, as the
light upon it changes, have hith erto proved
more than a match tor the most skillfui COPY
are in small demand, the belief III the super
stition that they bring ill luck is 81 prevalent
You may scarcely believe 1t, but there are a
great many people in this very city who would
not accept an opal to-day II you would make
them present of it. fancy the belief has its
birth in the fact that opais are brittle and liza
BILE to fracture. More than One-half are broken
in course OF setting.
The new stone, the moOnstone, which is OBJ
tained In India, Is rather popular now and has
become cheaper lately" He produced a small
tray OF mOonstones, with canoes cut in high
relief on their faces. lustre that certainly
did resemble moonlight cleaned from the in
tray lay another stone cut with O similar
cameo. But this was dark cOffee-cOOred
opaque stone OF insignificant appearance The
reporter picked it up and o strange glow OF
golden light, that seemed to shine from its very
center, glittered from the various surfaces as Il
was turned around in the light.
That" said the diamond merchant ssis
tiger eye, a stone that has a history as curious
its appearance. Ten years ago 1t was un-
known. Five years ago 1t was worth $40 to