Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-04-19
GEMS AND JEWELS RARE.
DIAMONDS STILL KEEP THE LEAD
AMONG VALUABLE STONES.

street store, land, in spite of the chang
ing fashions in jewels, the diamond re-
mains the king of precious stones as far as
popularity goes. Turquoise, sapphires,
emeralds and rubieS are increasing in
popularity, however, and are very eXpen-
siye. The emerald and ruby seem tc be get
ting scarcer and dearer every year. Why,
q fine three carat ruby is worth S45 any
time, n the emerald is worth nearly as
much. Some very common rubies will
bring $50 to 500. There are fewer rubies
being found every year. 1t is the same
with emeralds, besides the latter are sell
dom perfect. / cannon recollect having
ever seen q fawless emerald, and / don't
believe any one else in the store ever did
either. In every one of them will be
found a feather q crack, or q cloud of
some kind. 1t seems as If every stone had
been struck with q hammer and stunned.
The edges will be all right, but the
center will loo as Ii it had cracked with
out splitting, or else there will be a cloud
or flaw of some sort. Rubies are apt to
be the same, although not SO much so as
emeralds. Those emeralds ON that cotton
there are 'doublets.' Don't you know
what a doublet isP Why, it's g manu-
featured stone; that is, it is a joining of
two stones. Look at this emerald. Pretty,
isn't itP Beautiful tint of green. Now
turn it upside down. There, see that rim
of red around the edge? Adoublet always
has that, no matter what the color of the
amalgamated stones was. But it only
shows when you turn the stone upside
down. See, they have even put a flaw in
the surface to further simulate genuine
ness. They can make doublets of any
GfNnnC which tx-i1 pnrNny& tN-alko~ a-l
make thsm so cleverly that the unprac-
ticed eye will never detect the fraud-if
you call it that"
'sDo you not have to guard against
~spuriousness in other gems besides the
diamondfo
Certainly. Turquoise is simulated by
jewel counterfeiters. Two small and infe-
rior stones will be doubled into a stone
that will cause even experts to exer Use
the greatest care in examining. Or
they will he pulverized and mixed up
with foreign matter in such a wa that
the new jewel will have nearly all the
brilliancy of color and polish of surface
possessed by the genuine article. The
light blue Persian turquoise is the rare
variety at present and is very expensive.n
I'm the window is a white sapphire.
How is thats supposed all sapphires
were blue"
1.-THE you supposed wrong, but you
are with the majority. Most people think
that all sapphtres are blue, but that is far
from the truth. The one in the window
is pure white, as pure as n diamond. Be-
sides those there are violet, pink and
yellow sapphires. The violet and pink
varieties are very beautiful and considered
extra fine jewels. The yellow sapphires
partake of the nature of the chrysoberyl,
which comes also in yellow and brown
and pale green. 1t is a rather uncommon
stone and a very beautiful one.n
What is that green stone on the cot
ton in the corner?n
THAT is another very uncommon stone.
They cali it Alexandrite. It is nm orien-
tai Jewel, and there are net many brought
to this country. 1t is very expensive and
is very highly priced by c~onnoisseurs, who
are the purchasers of most of them. 1t is
a peculiar stone, changing its light. In
the day it is as you see it, a dirty green,
but by night it is full of reddish lights.
1t comes in various sizes, from one to
eight %carats, and is sometimes almost as
expensive as q diamond"
Are opals popular2n
much more SO han they were. There
was q time when you could hardly sell an
opal at any price. Now there is q con-
slant demand for them. The supersti-
tious regarded them as unlucky, and so
widespread was the hallucination that it
was seldom you saw one worm
"How about cat's-eyes9,'
Cats eyes are very hard stones, found
in various countries. The best come from
Persia and the east. / have one OF q
brownish tint that is worth $500 any day.
a cats eye weighing three carats will
bring 5000 easily. Tigers eye are mex
penslye and very popular, The tigers
eye Is not q stone, as is generally supposed,
but pstrifed wood. 1t is found in very
large quantities in northern Michigan,
but most of the better kind comes from a
petrified forest of Arizona. There they
find 1t in sections as large as a tree trunk.
they are made up into scarf pins, rings
and other articles of jewelry."
Whit distinctively American stone IL
the most valabiefn
II can't say that any distinctiveIy
American stone is very valuable, but we
produce a few diamonds. They come
from Iowa and Wisconsin. They are
small and are too yellow. / do not think
this country, however, will aver produce
very many diamonds; still it is interest
ing to know that genuine stones can really
be met with occasionally. Here's an odd
stone, chat notified green and black one.
They call 1t ch~rocilodite. They come
from northern Michigan, and in that size
are worth about $15. Sometimes they
are notified and divide exactly like the
upper shell of a turtle, and I once made a
scarf pin of one Of them, fixing ON the
legs, tail and head OF gold. We sell
quite a few OF those aquamarines
and the pink topaz, which is quite
common nowadays, is greatly sought
after. Here are some pearls. No, that's
an imitation, ] thought you would be de-
ceived. l think they are made Of wax,
but they have succeeded in making as per.
feet an imitation as is possible. They pre-
serve, too, the irregular shape Of the
genuine pearl. BY the way, / might say
right here that some of the prettiest pearls
we get are found in the fresh water clsms
of Illinois and other western states. Look
at these" and the jeweler showed a hand
fui of pearls all the way from twice the
size OF a grain of wheat down to that of g.
pins head. They were irregular in shape.
but most of them were full Of subdued
and delicate half tints of blue, purple and
pink. THESE are first rate pearls for
their size an come from the Miami,
Wabash, Illinois and Sangamon rivers
Chicago Times.
He Got Even.
80 Eirpf C1rl~ NJ. ...I-.,N f