The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-26
GEMS AND INVITATIONS.
LONDON THE MARKET FOR THE
SALE or ROUGH DIAMONDS.

Sham stone, Manufactured Principal '
fn Pari--EaIse Diamonds and Pate MT
Imitation Pearis-rhe Opal and III
Luck-The Moonstone-Tiger Eye.
"Yes. / can tell you a good deal tha Won
would like To know about precious ones. "
said Nassau street dealer, a few de VS. ago.
ITO begin with diamonds, these are almost
all found at the Cape diamond fioJ Is nova.
days, in South Africa, though ne and .,
better grad, still obtained frou Brazil
'oli mine diamonds, as they are q He'd. All.
OF nearly all, taken to Londc IN. which il
the one great general market for rough dia-
monds. There are dealers in Va; .ious parts Of
that city, bu; the center of the rade there is
Hatton garden, near LudgaVe hill From
thence u great many are taken. to Amsterdam
to be cut; others are cut ir. Antwerp or in
Paris, and they have lateiy begun to cut
them extensively in Germany. From these
places they sold and shipped all over the
world.
''Sham diamonds arc manufactured princi-
paly III Paris. Some VIZ fine ones, that by
all but experts would tro AIKEN to be real, are
manufactured there. The smaller the stone
the more easy is the imitation. 1t is very
seldom the sham diamonds are sold for true
usually considered very scrupulous, do not
to rum the risk. But regular swindlers
go about who carry two or three in their
pockets, and by various representations fire.
quently induce easily -duped persons to pur-
chase under the impression that they are
making wonderful bargain. People who
lose a real stone from n cluster IN u ring
other piece of jcwelry will frequently have it
replaced with n sham stone.
MAIIyG FALSE DIAMONDS.
There is only one way of making false dia-
mon,ls. y piece of crystal, or of the very
clear kind ut glass known rs paste, is cut to
resemble !, diamond by experienced workmen
and very finely finished or. BY this means
the requisite amount of brilliancy is obtained.
The principal points tn be observed are the
polish and the du, regularity Of the facets.
There is very la.T,e trade in sham diamonds
doing this year. have sold many more than
ever before, and everyone else in the trade
says the same. People are so fascinated with
diamonds now that they won't look at IA piece
of jcwelry that hisn't one in it, either real or
false Diamonds are doubtless sometimes
made by cutting n slip of diamond, very
thin one, and attaching it to u base of glass or
crystal. Then the are exposed to great
heat until the conn ting surface of the glass
is fused 70 the diamond But this process Is
seldom used, as IL diamond employed re
uuirci to he of vert fine quality.
"Ehinestoncs ar. made of glass, continued
the .icaler, and 50 Is every other good look
inc sham diamond, 10 matter by what name
it may be called You can hardly ever get a
shan, diamond of crystal to show the bril-
lance of one cut from glass, and the latter
wears best, too.
.Of other INIT. ,o.I stones, some very poor
colorcd ones are I.ilde of glass, but the ma jor
ity ar, ..ioublcta That is to say, very thin
slab Of garnet, tho cheapest real stone wo
sell, is affixed II u backing Of colored glass by
the sing prnce Then they resemble one
stone aud whc.l 1T no one but u trained ex-
pert could rccu .nize the difference. The test
OF file to the . ass when they are removed
from the settin reveals the sham a: once, as
the steel bite on glass, but runs smoothly
over true s,o:,,i. a trained eye tells the diff
ference betv len true and false stones when
set by the greater luster of the former. Most
imitation stones sold ia this and other coun-
tries. are munufactii. eel in Bohemia, where
the wor. Is done 1T n very low price.
Real ST ones OF color many of them of
great value. Rubics, cool and large, are very
scarce. and more costly, weight for weight
than diamonds Those of II poorer class are
however, much cheaper Next to them come
sa!.. ..i.r,=,. which, when OF good quality, are
priceI nearly IA high as diamonds, though
not 81 high ~ rubies. small and imperfect
stones are cheap enough. The same applies
to eileralis. Large pearls are still very cost
~, ii Of fine color and regular shape. The
best pearls are found only in the Indian
seas. Attempts have leen made tn cultivate
the pearl oyster III Italian waters, but with
little SUCCESS 80 far, There are also Amer
tcau pearls, coming from Texas and from
Panana, Eut these are not very valuable, as
they lack the lq,tcr pr the others
patent IMITATION PEARLS
The last time | was in Paris | came across
q man who claimed to have a patent upon a
new mpthoiI al making imitation half pearls.
Pearl. yoY may know, are frequently cut
In half for setting He showed me some OF
his make, anl it was really an excellent
imitation | ordered some direct from Bo
hcniia. whore they were made, and they
turn,l ont just rs good the sample But
how they made il Il secret which can't
tell YOU. lA.-iu a. ia not know.
-Iherr j. no di..iculty i'll Initiating any of
tn PR, ip;,y staiie~ except the opal The
chan in :. the .NCr-vajying collars IN that
stouS, as the light upon II changes, have
hitherto proved more than n match for the
most skilf,,l cnpyist. But opalS, notwith-
staEiiuS their heauty, arc IN small demand,
the belief IL the superstition, that they bring
ill-lu,k l. ~ prevalent. You may scarcely
believe it, but there arr good many people
in this vvi-v city who vouil not accept an
opal to-day ii you would make them "a pres
ent Of it, | fancy tn. belief has its birth in
the fpct that op;l' are ~ brittle and liable to
fracture More than one-half arc broken in
eoursc OF settling.
The ilcw ,tone. thu IIo"ii-tono, which Is
obtained ia ln,lia. / rather popular now and
ha; h,comt cheaper lately" lie pro'iuccd q
small Tray of u.oD.isson.-'. with cancr' cut in
high rcl.,f on Their faces. \ lustcr that Ger
tainly ,.i.i I-e'cElh., iI'~Inlis int gleamcd from
tho iat-.i e. II The ,uTu, crystalline bodies
CI, 81. s...S lay ...Iu:!r,r lone, cut with a
similar .In.." Ia; TIL WIS a dark 'otfee
chloryi q rUu t,i'l'. ~ i..'is.flh.9Qt appear
anc2. I'M r,l1rior III E@i 1t AZ ant .
s:raI Inv ii :glLl>n ii 1T. ,ast seemed 10
81; i...1 H., vary center, ;iitterc,i from tho
yari.,i. .u... s., u, !. vas turned around Ia
thu l.. -: