Wichita eagle., 1888-06-07
GEMS AND JEWELS RARE.
DIAMONDS STILL KEEP THE LEAD
AMONG VALUABLE STONES.

Diamonds are still trumps among
| jewels, y said jewelers. clerk in STATE
street store, and, 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 il
popularity, however, end are very expen-
sive. The emerald and ruby seem &c be get.
ting scarcer and dearer every year. Why,
! fine three carat ruby is worth S45 any
f! time, and the emerald is worth nearly as
much. Some very common rubies VIII
bring $50 to 800. There are fewer rubies
| being found every year. 1t is the same
with emeralds, besides the latter are sell
dom perfect. / cannot reeollect having
/ ever seen q fiawless emerald, and don I
/ believe any one else in the store ever did
either. In every one of them will be
/ found q feather, a crack, or cloud of
some kind. 1t seems as If every stone had
/ been struck with hammer and stunned.
/ The edges will be all right, but the
center Will look as if it had cracked with
/ out splitting, or else there will be cloud
( or flaw OF some sort. RubieS are apt 10
be the same, although not so much so as
emeraldS. Those eneraldS on that cotton
there are 'doublets.' Don't You know
what a doublet is? Why, it's a manu-
factured stone; that is, it is q joining of
two stones Look at this emerald. Pretty,
isn't it? Beautiful tint of green. Now
turn it upside down. There, see that rim
of red around the edge? A doublet always
has that, no matter what the color Of the
amalgamated stones was. But il only
shows when you turn the stone upside
down. See, they have ever put flaw in
the surface TO further simulate genuine
ness. They can make doublets of any
stones which will cement together, and
make them so cleverly that the unprac-
ticed eye viii never detect the fraud-if
you call it that"
''Do you not have to guard against
spuriOusness in other gems besides the
diamondf'
Certainly. Turquoise is simulated by
jewel counterfeiters. Two small and infe-
rior stones will be doubled into stone
that Will cause even experts to exer Use
the greatest care in examining. Or
they will be pulveriZed and mixed up
with foreign matter in such way 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. -
in the window is white sapphire
How is thatf | supposed all sapphires
were blue"
Then you supposed wrong. but you
are with the majority. Most people think
that all sapphires are blue, bat that is far
from the truth. The one in the window
is pure white, as pure as a-diamond. Be
sides those there are violet. pink and
yellow sapphres. The violet and pink
varieties are very beautiful and c-n.idefed
extra fine jewels The yellow ssnph3res
partake of the nature OF tae chry oscryl,
which comes also n yellow and brown
and pale green. II is II rather uncommon
stone and a very beautiful one"
"What is thai green stone on the cot
ton in the cCrnery'
THAT is another very uncommon stone.
They call it Alexandrite II is an orieu-
tai jewel, and there are not many brought
to this country. 1t is very expensive and
is very highly priced by eonnoisseurs. who
are the purchasers of most of them. Il is
a peculiar stone, changing its light. In
the day it is as you see il, 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 a diamond"
''Are opals pOpular?'
"Much more so than they were. There
was time when you could hardly sell an
opal at any price. Now there is con-
slant demand for them. The supersti-
tious regarded them as unlucky, and so
widespread was the hallucination that 1t
was seldom you saw one worn" !"
''How about cat'seyess"
"Cat's eyes are very hard stones, found
in various countries. The best come from
Persia and the east. | have one Of
brownish tint that is worth $500 any day
a cats eye weighing three carats win
bring $500 easily. Tigers eye are mex
pensiye and very popular. The tigers
eye is not stone, as is generally supposed,
but petrified wood. II is found in very
large quantities in northern Michigan,
but most of the better kind comes from q
petrified forest of Arizona There they
find it in sections as large az tree trunk.
They are made up into scarf pins, rings
and other articles Of jewelry.'
(Which distinctiyely American stone is
the most valabieY''
81 can't say that anv distipctivelv
American stone Is very valuable, but we
produce n few diamonds They come
from Iowa and Wisconsin. They are
small and are too yellow. do not think
this country, however, viii ever produce
very many diamonds; stiu It is interest
ing to know that genuips stones can reall,
b met with occasionally. Here's an odd
sttne, that notified green and black one.
They call 1t chrociIodite. They come
from northern Michigan, and in that size
are worth about SIS. Sometimes they
are mottied and divide exactly like the
upper shell Of turtle, and / once made q
scarf pin Of one Of them, fixing on the
less, tail and head OF gold We sell
quite a few Of those squamarine,
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. / 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 soTne of the prettlest pearls
We get are found In the fresh water clans
Of Illinois and other western states Look
at these, and tie jeweler showed hand
full Of pearls al the way from twice the
size Of a grain Of wheat down 70 that u a
pins heaa- They were irregular IL shape,
but most Of them were fgIl Of subdued
and delicate half tints Of blue, purple and
pink These are frs. rate pearls for
their size and come from the Miami,
v abash, illinois and sangaInoa rivers
Chicago Times.
Patrons OF n Toney EesfzurAnt.
The demands made on a clerk at Del
nonico's are almost infinite lie must
be able 20 answer all scr1s OF ouerf.s