St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-12-04

In this manner the colors of man
stones are said To be intensified. sucl
as emeralds, sapphircs, amethysts an'
others. Diamonds are constantly util
ized by being split, each half of a gen
perhaps doing duty on paste founda
ton on which it has been CAREFUL,
mounted. A stone which may be of thu
value of ten pounds having been spill
ut little cost is carefully mounted ant
becomes transformed into two gems
each affirmed to be worth that sum. II
requires clever expert to detect such
frauds when they are clevcrly executed.
or to discover that the fire impaired
to certain stones that would otherwise
be dull of hue and greatly deficient in
sparkle, is conferred by so simple an
eXpedient rs a backing of tinfoil.
The invention of what are called
''doublctS" i'm diamond-dealing can be
| traced back for centuries. One mode
of getting up false stones has been de-
scribed by Jerome Cardan. who has
published in detail the method of the
inventor, one Zocolino. This person 5
way of working was to procure thin
flake of Il very inferior and cheap
example of the stone he desired to i'm
prove" choosing those which had little
color, and might in consequence be
procured ut nominal price AS a
bottom for his ''make-up' he took a
bit of crystal which he had shaped
to his purpose; covering this with a
transparent glue with which he had
mixed the necessary coloring material,
so as to be like the finest
specimen of the gem he intended
to forge, he carefully fixed on the
flake of stone, and concealed the join
ing of the two SO deity by careful set
ting as to make purchasers fancy that
his gems were not only genuine. but
really finer than those of other jewell
ers. For time Zocolina flourished,
and was enabled by means of his cum
ming workmanship to deceive the
cleverest lapidaries: but detection came
at last and put an end to his fraudulent
practices in gem-mahing.
1t may be mentioned as a warning to
travellers that the Singhales at Colombo
are experts in such frauds. and fire.
quently pursuade persons to purchase
set up doublets or pieces of
rock crystal cut and polished. Doub-
lets in many cases, especially when
both parts are really diamonds. are
difficult to detect even by
men who have had gr. experience in
the gem and jewel IS. Before
leaving the diamond we may mention
another kind of fraud connected with
it. Often when these gems have been
set in cluster it has been found on
that at least one of the |
stones is made of paste, or is perhaps
/ doublet. A rather curious story
vent the round of the press |
ome years ago, when, on the death
If q lady of title. it was found
amily diamonds were composed offalsc
tones. These limitations had been so
executed that none but the
'leverest dealers were able to detect
hem; while in the case of some of the
tones it was not till their specific
.ravity had been tested that decision
ould be arrived at. 1t has been found
N examination. we believe, that neck
aces of so-callcd real diamonds have
ften contained twenty per cent. of
oublets or other stones of questionable
uality. Respectable dealers in jewelry
that it is the public who are
0 blame for the production of false
ewels, knowing well enough that gen
inc gems could not be gwen at the
rices offered for them. Retail Jewell
rs are not seldom deceived themselves,
OF being, perhaps. so well versed in
ne technical knowledge incidental to
leir trade as they ought to be. Trades
len of repute. however, are exceed
lgly careful in their selection of stock,
o gem being offered for sale unless it
known to be genuine. |,
Many gems are really gems of
kind, although not the gems they
re pretended to be. but in all I
are composed of pieces I
! quartz ''got up, for the market.
lartz being selected as being able !
} stand the test of the file, which
Ass can not do. There are varieties
topaz and other stones which are as
ard as the diamond; and being |
ltirely colorless, they are often cut
I'd polished, and successfully palmed i
+ as diamonds. This colorless gem d
aterial is costly in consequence of the
'e to which it can be turned, Recipes
r the production of imitation stones l
I'VE been often gwen; the following c
the formula for ruby: five hundred a
.rts of strass, twenty of glass of I
ltimony. half each of purple of i
assious and of gold. Strass is n G
'ecially manufactured kind of glass n
hich has been long used in connection c
th the fabrication Of gems; it usually t
ntains much larger percentage Of
ide of lead than the commoner sorts p
glass. Aventurine is another kind a
gem glass, which is chiefly manu- n
,tured in Venice, and brings high t
ice. The best thing is = quartz of t.
rying shades of color, which is much n
ized. One of the scarccr varieties is is
own as sunstone. and is much sought p
er, being valuable for such purposes 81
have been referred to. q
Attempts by chemists to produce dia- z
,nds have, commercially speaking, q
Tally resulted in failure. The most
of the early experiments n
ed in the way of diamond production Is
S that worked out by Gannal. a u
enchman. who in the year 1923 sue =
,ded in producing substance that
3 affirmed by a practical jeweler of
eat repute to be diamond; but after
lch controversy, the opinion came to tc
ultimately entertained that even +,
nnal had failed. Another famous =,
NJ. Desprets, made several ~
ieavors in the same direction with
rtial success; he produced matter at
events with which it was found to "
possible to cut and polish the harder n
~ A Nfon,;anr do 4 f'b,ul Courfois