, 1888-04-17
GEMS AND JEWELS RARE,
DIAMONDS STILL KEEP THE LEAD
AMONG VALUABLE STONES.


- Chtphilhoh Stoht-fHtlhs
Distinctivcly American.
Diamonds are still trumps among
jewels, - said Il jewelers. clerk in n State
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, snpphires,
emeralds and rubies are increasing in
popularity, however, and are very expen-
sive. The emerald and ruby seem tC be get
ting sGarcer and dearer every year. Why,
n fine three carat ruby is worth $45 any
time, and the emerald is worth nearly as
much. Some very common rubics will
bring $50 to 800. There are fewer rubies
being found every year. 1t is the same
with cmeralds, besides the latter are sell
dom perfect. l cannot recOllect having
ever seen a flawless emerald, and / don't
believe any one else in the store ever did
either. In every one of them will be
found n feather, n crack, or a cloud Of
some kind. 1t seems as if every stone had
been struck with a hammer and stunned.
The edges will he all right, but the
center will look rs if it had cracked with
out splitting, or else there will be n cloud
or flaw of some sort. Rubies are apt to
be the same, although not so much so as
emeralds. Those emerulds on that cotton
there are ~'doublets.' Don't you know
what II doublet is? Why, it's a manu-
featured stone; that is, it is a joining of
two stones. Look Mt 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 tones was. Blu it only
shows when you turn the stone upside
down. See, they have even put a flaw in
the surface to further simulate genuine
mesa They can npk4 1pDh1atG nf anv
stones which Will cement together, and
make them so cleverly that the unprac-
ticod eye will never detect the fraud-if
You call it that"
"Do you not have to guard against
spuriousness in other gems besides the
diamond"
Certainly. Turquoise is simulated by
jewel counterfeiters Two small and infe-
rior stones will be doubled into n stone
hat 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 a way that
the new jewel will have nearly all the
br%illiancy of color and polish of surface
possessed by the genuine article. The
light blue Persian turquoise is the rare
variety Mt present and is very EXPENSIVE
''In the window is Il white sapphire.
How is that l supposed all sapphires
were blue.n
''Then you supposed wrong, but you
are with the majority. Most people think
that all %sapphires 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
pnrtake of the nature of the chrysoberyl,
NEl.anl ON loo - Ill - l-
and pale green. 1t is II rather
stone and a very beautiful one"
"What is that green stone on the cot
ton in the cornerln
"That is another very stone.
They call it Alexandria. 1t is an orien-
tai jewel, and there are not many brought
to this country. 1t is very expensive and
is very highly priced by connoisseurs, who
are the purchasers of most of them. 1t is
n peculiar stone, changing its light. In
the day it is as you see 1t, a dirty green,
but by night it is full of reddish lights.
1t comes in various sizes, from one to
eight carats, IL is sometimes almost as
expensive as a diamond"
care opals pOpulnr?'
"MuCh more SO than they were. There
was n time when you could hardly sell an
opal at any price. Now there is Il on
slant demand for them. The supersti-
tious regarded them as unlucky, md SO
widespread was the hallucination that it
was seldom you saw one wOrn.n
"How about cat's-eyes?"
"Cat's eyes are very hard stones, found
in various countries. The best come from
Persia and the east. | nave one of a
brownish tint hat is worth $500 any day.
A cats eye weighing three carats will
bring 5000 easily. Tigers eye are mex
pensive and very popular. The tigers
eye is not 4 stone, rs is generally supposed,
but petritied wood. 1t is found in very
large quantities in northern Michigan,
but most of the better kind comes from u
p~etriiled forest of Arizona. There they
find it in sections as large as n tree trunk.
They are made up into scarf pins, rings
and other articles of jewelry."
(which distinctively American stone is
the most valabie?"
81 can't say that any distinctively
American stone is very valuable, but we
produce IA few diamonds. They come
from Iowa and Wisconsin. They are
small and are too yellow. L do not think
this country, however, will ever 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, that notified green and black one.
They call it chrocilodite. 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 n turtle, and | once made a
scarf pin of one of them, fixing on the
legs, tail and head of gold. We sell
quite n 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, l 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, l might say.
right here hat some of the prettiest pearls
we get are found in the fresh water clans
of Illinois and other western states. Look.
Mt these and the jeweler showed a hand;
full of pearls all the way from twice the;
size of a grain of wheat down to that ofaas
pins head. They were irregular in shau
but most of them were full of subdui
md delicate half tints of blue, purple and
pink. These are first rate pearls fot
their size and come from the Miami,
Wabash, Illinois and Sangamon rivers
Chicago Times.