Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1889-10-11
GEMS THAT ARE BOGUS,
PRECIOUS STONES MADE By ART1-
FICIAL MEANS.
Making Counterfeit Rubies-A Ten
Thousand Dollar Gem From Five
Dollars Worth of Sparks


calling the latter's attention TO dark
purple gem of considerable size, with
vivid red fire, which lay IN sat;Ts-hned
box within the glass show case. 1T
seems very cheap, too, for It's apparent
value"
1T is cheap for the reason that it is
not real stone" replied the dealer.
IAN imitation"
"No; it is not an imitation. On the
contrary it does not at all resemble, to
the eye of an expert, any gem that Is
known in nature. II is simply chemi
cal product; that is all. You see, the
chemists having abandoned the manufac-
ture of gold as hopeless are trying now
to make precious stones artificlally, and
with some success. l dare say you are
not aware that actual, bona-fde diamonds
| have been artifcially manufactured for
years An English experimental first &C
accomplished the feat and it has been sue
| cessfully repeated many times since. The
only trouble is that the diamonds turned
out by chemical artifice are almost micro
scopic and therefore practically worthless.
but other stones can be made artifi
cially OF profitable size?"
"a few. No real gem, however, except
the diamond, has been fairly reproduced
exactly as it is found in nature, though
limitations are plentiful enough. The
precious stones made by the chemists, if
such they may be called are new inven-
tions to the lapidary. Many of them are
very beautiful. This purple one you
have asked about, for instance Is lovely.
1t has been named the evidence du cap"
and is as attractive a jewel as many ma
tural ones, four times its price. French
chemists are the great experts in this
branch of manufacture. and their inven-
lions are usually kept secret. Some of
the artificial gems they make are doubt
less pretty costly to produce, as for that
matter are the microscopic diamonds,
which are as expensive to turn out as
good big ones in the market"
care rubies made artifcially?"
eyes; but not with entire success.
Two or three years ago, certain French
chemists claimed that they had discov-
cred process for absolutely manufacture
ing big rubies in the labratory, by fusing
together small ruby sparks, such as can
be bought for almost nothing. If you
will remember that the value of the ruby
is neatly double that Of the diamond, the
color and quality otherwise being first
rate, you can imagine what all agitation
such an announcement occasiOned among
dealers. Nor was the announcement al
together without truth, as appeared from
the report made on the subject by the
celebrated Professor FriedeI, of the
oh ,Lo +Lo4 L
the chemical composition, density, crys-
talline form and retroactive power of the
artificial specimens to correspond in every
respect with the natural ruby. The only
difference he could find was a slight va
ration in the shape of the tiny air bub-
bles. However, the dealers threatened
to prosecute any one for fraud who ven
tured to issue the artificial rubies as real
ones, and inasmuch as their combination
is very rich and powerful, and the laws
against selling counterfeit jewels for ac-
tual ones are very strict in France, the
fused rubies have never got upon The
market. 1t was a great scheme to make
a SO, 900 ruby out of five dollars worth
of sparks.
1.-The sparks you speak Of are real
ruDleS, OF COurSe!"
''Ohl yes. That is the trouble about
rubies. There are plenty of them, but
very few good-sized ones. The greatest
ruby fields in the world are those of
Burmah, where the natives have for
centuries been digging for them in the
most primitive and therefore most I'M
profitable manner. They are found in
quantities in successive strata, with lay
ers of earth and clay between at little
depth below the surface soil. But nearly
all are so small as to be scarcely valuable
Only occasionally big one, with the true
pigeon s-blood color, turns up. Rubies
are also largely obtained in Ceylon, where
the natives make a business of hunting
for them in the streams that come down
from the huge cone of mountains in the
central part of the island, where it has
been supposed for centuries that great
matrix of rubies existed, above the
clouds, from whence those found in the
rivers are washed down. Nor is such a
theory entirely without reason, though
nobody has been able to find the matrix
yet. When discovered it will afford
profitable opportunity for the use of
few pounds of dynamite.
care there pearls from Ceylon?"
Eyes, the waters thereabout are
great pearl-fshing ground. Next spring
will be the harvest of pearls at Ceylon,
which comes only once in three years.
Between the harvests the natives wait
DatientIv for tho orSterc tn crrou Pearlc