The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-08-28
PRECIOUS STONES
Facts Gathered by q Special Agenc
OF the Census bureau.
Locations and Finds OF tho Diamnxniz
end Other jewels Produced IN
tho United Stntcs and
Their vnluo.

very interesting report prepared
for the purposes Of the census Is fur
nished by George L. Kuntz, the special
agent who Ind charge of statistics as to
precious stones and diam ond cutting In
the United Stetes. This Is o field
which never bcfUro has been covered
IN tho census, and Mr.. Kunz Is an cN-
pert i'll it. says the Now York Sun
Mining for precious and ornamental
stones has bccn Carried on In this coun-
try mt irregular periods only, and the
supply discovered has not been grcut,
though In it arc inclu dcd many varie-
ties. Tho number of diam onds found
has been very limited, and their discov>
cry Is raro and purely accidental, tho
places where they arc met with boins
certain well-dcflned dist riots of Califor~
nia, North Carolina, Georgia and re-
comfy In Wisconsin In tho statistics
of the production of precious stones for
1850 presented by MIR. Kunz diamonds
do not appear ut all
Sapphircs and r,ibics nre found near
Helena IN Montana, but they are not oR
the standard blue and rcd shades SO
much priced They have never bccn
mined systematically, though within
49, ~
formed to mine for them either sepop-
atcly or Incidentally 20 the search for
gold. EDernlds have been mined TO o
small extent in Alexander county 10
North Curolinai md sotnc beryls hnve
been discovered in Colorado, at New
Milford In Connecticut, and ut Stono-
ham In Maine The turquoise Is now
Systematically mined neur Los Corillos
In New Mexico, but it lacks the soft
ness of color distinguishing the Persian
turquoise, though it is fully equal 20 Il
In hardness The finest garnets In the
world rfvnling those from the Cape OF
Good Hope, orc collected 10y the Navajo
Indians and by soldiers of tho odjaccne
forts from ont hills ind scorpion meets
In New Mexico and Arizona The In
dams trade them for stores, and they
are sent TO the market IN parcels weigh
ing sometimes as much MS thirty cu
forty pounds
This about completes the list Of the
better known and more important pro
ciotls stones found In the United States.
The small amount obtained of each and
their respective frequency are su9-
gcsted Try Mr.. Kunz's statistics of tho
value OF the native gem production
IN 1850: Sapphircs, So, 735; cIncralds,
$50; turquoiscs, S23,0T5; garnets, S2,SO2
Accordingly, all except I'M insiynifi-
cant part of the precious stones bought
In this country arc imported and the
demand Is increasing. The value Of the
imports from 1870 10 1870 was less than
CT coo 900. and between 1880 and 1850
it was more than SST, 900, 0N. or more
.
has been steady. The value Of tho
gems imported in 1880 was nearly twice
that il 1880, and moro then six tunes
the importation of 1870 In no other
country of the world is the use of these
OF nnIncnts SO general us here.
Din,nond cutting is extensively Pro
t.ccd in the United States In New
York alone nlc sixteen firms pursuing
the business, much of their time being
expended In recruiting stones previously
cut abroad, for our workmanship is su-
peIior. From the latter part of 1855 10
the end of 1850 the price OF rough di;f-
monds advanced from 80 to 100 per cent.
The great reduction IN weight due to
cutting Is shown by the fact that dia-
monds or diamond material which
weighed 54-3+4 carnts before cutting
weighed only 25,0O3 cnrats nfterwarrl.
Ninctenths of this work is done In New
York, which Is the great center OF the
American trade IN the precious stones,
while London Is the chief market of tho
world for rough diamonds. Nothing,
by the way. is bought and sold on q
closer margin than the rough diamond
The amount Of cutting done here in
creased by 81 per cent IN the ten years
from 1880 TO 1850.
The value Of the diamonds and other
precious stones imported into this coun-
try III 1889 alone wns 81, r05, 900.
Humiliation by Dreesmnhers-
~ am not particularly vain," said O