Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-07-26
GEMS AND JEWELS RARE.
DIAMONDS STILL KEEP THE LEAD
AMONG VALUABLE STONES.
chat with Chicago jewelers. Clerk.
Emeralds and Rubies Getting Scarce.
A DoubIet-An Uncommon stone-Gems
Distinctively American.

1eWelS, san jewelers. clerk in 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, sapphires,
| emeralds and rubies are increasing in
popularity, however, and are very expen-
slve The emerald and ruby seem &c be get
ting scarcer and dearer every year. Why,
| fine three carat ruby is worth $45 any
time, and the emerald is worth nearly as
much. Some very common rubies will
bring 500 to SlO0. There are fewer rubies
being found every year. 1t is the same
| with emeralds, besides the latter are sell
dom perfect. | cannot recollect having
ever seen 1awless emerald, and l don't
believe any one else in the store ever did
either. In every one of them will be
found feather, a crack, or cloud of
some Kind. 1t seems as if every stone had
been struck with "A 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 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 doublet is! Why, it's a manu-
factured stone: that is, it is a 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 it only
shows when you turn the stone upside
down. See, they have even put flaw in
the surface to further simulate genuine
l. 4 IL. 4
stones which will cement together, and
make them so cleverly that the unprac-
ticed eye will 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 a 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"
III iuc "llitlt" lS d Willie sapphire.
How is that! l supposed all sapphires
were blue"
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 diamond Be
sides those there are violet, pink and
yellow sapphires The violet and pink
l,o ~
extra fine jewels The yellow sapphires
partake of the nature of the chrysoberyl,
which comes also in yellow and brown
and pale green. II is rather uncommon
stone and very beautiful one."
''What is that green stone on the cot
ton in the corner?"
''That is another very uncommon stone.
They call it Alexandria. Il is an orien-
tai jewel, and there are not many brought
to this country. It Is very expensive and
is very highly priced by connoisseurs, 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, 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 a CON-
stant demand for them. The supersti-
tious regarded them as lunlucky, and so
widespread was the hallucination that it
was seldom you saw one worn.i'
"How about cat's-eyess"
"Cat's eyes are very hard stones, found
Persia and the east / have Que of
brownish tint that is worth $500 any day.
A cats eye weighing three carats will
bring $500 easily. Tigers eye are mex
pensive and very popular. The tigers
eye is not stone, as is gel.erally supposed,
but petrified wood. IL 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 it in sections as large as tree trunk
They are made up into scarf pins, rings
and other articles OF jewelry."
(which distinctively American stone Is
the most valabiesn
81 can't say that any distinctively
American stone is very valuable, but we
produce few diamonds. They come
from Iowa and Wisconsin. They arc
L
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 mottled and divide exactly like the
upper shell of turtle, and / once made a
scarf pin of one Of them, fixing on the
legs, tail and head Of gold. We sell
quite few of those aquamarnes
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 US 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 CLAIMS
Of Illinois and Other western states. Look
at these" and the jeweler showed hand
full of pearls all the way from twice the
size of grain of wheat down to that of
pins head. They were irregular in shape,
but most of them we're full of subdued
and delicate half tints of blue, purple and
pink. ''These are first rate pearls for
their size and come from the Miami,
Wabash, Illinois and Sangamon rivers
Chicago Times.
1t is perfectly proper to carve out your
49, Il