, 1886-09-18
GEMS AND INVITATIONS.
LONDON THE MARKET FOR THE
SALE OF ROUGH DIAMONDS.

SALE OF ROUGH DIAMONDS.
sham Stone, Manufactured Principally
in r~arIs-Fai-o Diamonds and Patent
Imitation ponrI--Th- Opal and Ill
Luck-Tbe Noon-toue-Tigrr Eye.
ayes ! can tell you n good deal that you
would like to know about precious stones,
said IA Nassau street dealer, n few days nSo-
aTo begin with diamonds. thcse are alniost
all found at the Cape diamond fields nown-
days. in South Africa, though some, ard II
better grade. uro still obtained from brazil
.olI mine diamonds. rs they are called. All.
or nearly all, are taken to London, which is
the one great general market for rough dia-
monds. There are dealers in various parts Of
that city, but the center of the trade there is
Hattou garden. near Ludgate hill. From
thence n great many arc taken to Amsterdam
to be cut: Others are cut in Antwerp or IN
Paris. and they have lately begun to Gu,
them extensively in Germany. From th'Si
places they are sold and shipped all over the
world.
-Shnin diamonds ARE manufactured primer
r,llyi Paris. Some very fine ones, that by
an but experts would be taken to be real IRE
manufactured there. The smaller the stone
the more easy is the imitation IL Is very
seldom the sham diamonds are sold Tor True
on,-, rs even pawnbrokcrs, who arc not
usually considered very s~af1ipulou', 10 nor
care 10 run the risk. But rcgulnr Swindlers
70 about who carry two or three IN their
rockets, and by vnriois representations fire.
auently induce easily-duped persons 10 Pur
chase under the impression that they arc
making a wonderful bargain. People who
lose n real stone from II cluster IN a ring or
other piec,, of jewelry will frequently have II
replaced with "A sham stone.
MAKING FALSE DIAMONDS.
Arhcre is Only one way Of making fnlse din
monds. \ piece of crystal, or of the very
clear kind of glass known as paste, is cut to
resemble a diamond 10y experienced workmen
aud very finely finished of. By this means
the requisite amount of brilliancy is obtained
The principal points to be observed are the
polish and the due regularity of the facets
There Is II very large trade in sham diamonds
loins this yenr. | have sold many nor then
ever before, and everyone else in the trade
savs the sumo. People are so fascinated with
diamonds now that they won't look at n piece
of iewelry that hasn't one in it, either real or
fnlse. Diamonds are doubtless sometimes
made by cutting a Sip Of diamond, n very
thin one. and attaching it to n base OF glass or
crystal. Then they are exposed to n great
heat, until the connecting surface OF the glass
Il fused 10 the diamond But this process is
seldom u-od. ms the diamond employed re
pnires ia he Of very fine quality.
"Rhinestoacs are mnde of glass, continued
the dealer, and 50 Is every other good look
ing sham diamond, no matter by what name
It may be called. You can hardly ever get n
sunm diamond OF crystal to show the bril-
lance Of one cut from glass. and the hitter
wears best, too.
, anr ntf,a.. imitation stones som. very nOOr
color,4i ones are made of glass, but the major
ity are 'donblets.' That is TO say, n very thin
slab Of garnet, the cheapest real stone we
sell. IS affixed to n backing of colored glass by
the + sing process. Then they resemble ono
stone. aud when set no one but n trained ex-
pert could recoguize The difference. The test
OF d file to the giass, when they are removed
from the setting. reveals the sham at once, as
The steel bites on glass, but runs smoothly
over true stones. A trained eye tells the diff
ference between true and falSe stones when
ST hv the greater luster OF the former Most
imitation stones sold in this and other coun-
tries ARE manufactured in Bohemia, where
the work is done at "A very low price.
Real stones OF color are mnuy Of them Of
great value. ltuhies, good and large, are very
scarce. nnd more costly, weight for weight,
thau diamonds. These of a poorer class are,
however, much cheaper. Next To them come
%Sapphire~, which. when OF good quality, are
prirad nearly A. high NJ diamonds, though
moi So high rs ruLies. small and imperfect
slou,s urc cheap enough. The same applies
to emeralds. Largo pearls are still very cost
lv. il of fine Color aud regular SHAPE. The
best pearls are found only in the Indian
-cas Attempts have been made to cultivate
the pearl oyster in Italian waters, but with
Iittlc success So far. There are also Amer
lean pearls, coming from Texas and from
PANAMA, but these are not very valuable, rs
they lack the luster Of the others
PATENT IMITATION PEARLs.
tn, last time I WIS ia Paris ] came ncrcss
a man who claimca Ia have n patent upon "A
new method of making imitation half pearls.
renils. rs YOU may know, are frequently cut
IN hnlf Tor setting. He showed me some Of
his mako, and IL was really an excellent
imitation. / ordered some direct from 30
heniiG, where they were made, and they
turned out just as good as the sample. But
how they are made is n secret which ] can't
tell You. because | do not know.
There IS no liHiculty in initiating any OF
the precious stones except the opal. Tho
changing, the cy,r-varying colors in that
stone, as the light upon it changes, nave
hitherto proved moro than Il match for the
most skiilful copyist. But opnls, notwith-
standing their beauty, are in small demand,
the belief in the superstition that they bring
ill-luck is so prevalent. You may scarcely
believe it, but there are n good many people
in this very city who would not accept mn
opal today II You would make them Il PRS.
cnt Of it. ! fancy tho belief has its birth in
the fact tina opals are SO brittle and liable to
f%rnctuir. More than ono-half arc broken in
course of sitting.
"Thc new stone, the moonstonc, which is
N.-U 4 IT, Ill