Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-14
PRECIOUS STONES.
SOME POINTS OF INTEREST ABOUT
THOSE THAT ARE NEGLECTED.
cu;iees Tsess Aboat Gems that are Little
Used The DEGREES Of superstition
aal Of Fashion.

smiths work which, il ! mistake not,
prophecy OF good yet to be. a fore
cast Of beauty hereafter 10 become the
common possession Of those gifted with
eyes to see and with minds open enough
TO appreciate beauty independently Of
fashion. This lace pin, for it is nothing
more, Is worthy Of study, because it is
thing OF the fsrest attractiyeness, and
not less because IFS study suggests some
lessons in good taste, and gives some
hints Of What may be done with pre-
eious stones toward the creation Of OBJ
jects OF beauty now scarcely imagined
even by persons who buy and own
stones in profession.
Speaking commercially, this pin is Of
no great value. With all its beauty
and singular brilliancy, as it flashes and
spaTklcs, and throws out CLEANS Of
variously-colored light. pleasing the
eyes and delighiipg the Imagination, its
cost was less than that OF single dia-
mond Of fair size. Yet It has eleven
pretty large stones in 1t, each worthy
Of place in any collection, each gem
possessed Of rich color, aad all so ar
RANGED with reference 10 the laws Of
harmony in color that the piece, as a
whole, might be called, in the aesthetic
iArcon OF the time, a symphony in
stones.
am not going to describe this pin.
1t has been mentioned here merely by
way Of illustration. Its story serves
to point an rsthetic moral, and It is
for that reason only that the piece Of
work Is referred 10 at all. The pin was
not made 10 be Sold Its maker, an
expert in gems, made it with an eye
single to beauty in contempt Of coDven-
ton, and 20 a certain extent in defiance
Of fashion, for there are some stones Ia
il which fashion does not smile upon
Just now, for reasons or no reasons Of
fashions own. lie made 1t as an artist
who does not care for market paints
picture. His purpose was to produce an
object Of beauty by bringing together,
in harmonious arrangement with
reference 10 their several cOlorS and re-
fracting qualities, number Of the most
brilliant and beautiful Of the precious
stones cut by the lapidary and sold by
the ieweller. The question Of cost
scarcely entered into his deliberations.
II the costlest stones had lent them
selves more readily than those Of less
price TO his purpose he would have used
them without hesitation, but It happens,
and this is fact Of some importance,
that the most beautiful, the most bril-
liant, and essentially the finest Of the
stones possessing color are not usually
The most costly, and that Is the reason
that this superb piece Of WORK. with its
eleven stones besides an incruStati0n OF
diamonds. cost less, as ! have already
SAID. than a single diamond Of fair size
0. single large ruby woull have done.
Why should this be the case, il the
stones are what describe them to be
Are they soft and perisha5le: OR are
they in fact common stones, precious
only by courtesy: IL they are really
gems. recognized as such. and are &C
tually exquisite in color and brilliancy, |
how and xhy Is that their price is |
smaller than that Of other stones, and I
ESPECIALLY why is it that they are com
paratiyely little worn To these Ques- /
tons the answer Is a complex one. \ |
large part Of 1t. however, is embraced /
in the answer 10 another question /
namely. why is it that people generally |
buy and wear that which happens !
to be fashionable, with little or no re-
gard to good taste or fitness? But the /
parallel here suggested is by no means
complete. There is radical difference /
between bonnets and precious stones.
The value Of the bonnet is largely in
its conformity with prevailing fashions, !
while that Of a precious stone Is %
great extent intrinsic and. moreover, |
no precious stone Of real beauty is ever /
positively Questionable. One may I
wear without fear gems Of any kind, /
but gentlewomsn cannot wear last /
years bonnet without making guy Of /
herself
once knew a man Of large ability .
and generally sound sense, who h2bitu-
ally carried IN his pocket The little mis-
shapen piece Of bone which is found (
attached to The knuckle Of a ham,
thing ,u'garly called d" lucky-bOne."
The man vas too sensible 10 attribute
his success IN life and his undOubted /
prosperity to the fact that for years that
bit Of bone had heeu always in his /
pocket; but be was not quite sensible
enough 10 throw the thing away. II
don't believe there Is anything IN IT,,
be said. "but If there should be.
want to have it on my side
Now there are not many pe0-
pie. probably, who carry lucky
bones. but there is a good deal OF halt
held superstition in the world still, and
not little Of it is found among people
sufficiently intelligent to appreciate the
beauty Of precious stones. In some mea-
sure this fact affects the matter We are
now discussing, as we shall see. Every
reader probably remembers the story
OF the superb opal worn IN the hair OF
the ancestors Of Anne Of Gierstein,
which glowed and flashed with It's
wearer's changing moods; and Of what
beiell when the gem was touched with
holy water. !, was a mastery stroke
OF literary workmanship to make such
use as Scott did Of superstition
as old as Pliny, but we enlight-
ened modern folk no more think
Of attaching real significance TO
tie belief than we do Of burning Mr..
Edison for wizard, because Of the
electric light. And yet that old super
stition still lives. and perhaps has its
influence, even among people who do
moi believe either in witchcraft Or in
holy water. They do no. quite believe
that the opal is an unlucky stone, a.
the old Romans did, but their state Of
mind regard .Dg II is similar to that OF
the man with the lucky bone. They
will not wear opals because, if there
should be anything in the superstition,
they DO not want the ill-luck on their
side. The consequence is that
the opal Is neglected stone,
so much 80 that a large dealer in I