The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-05-30
PRECIOUS STC)N ES.
Facts Gathered by a Special Agent
OF the Census Bureau.

Loeations and Finds Of the Diamonds
and Other Jewels Produced in
. the United States and
l Their Value. !, # Il. b.
A very interesting report prepared
for the purposes of the census is fur.
nislled BY George g. Kuntz, the special
agent who had charge Of statistics as to.
precious stones and diam ond cutting in
the United States. This is field
which never before has been covered
IN the census, and Mr. Kunz is an ex-
pert in it, says the New York Sun.
Mining for precious and ornamental
stones has beer carried on in this coun-
try at irregular periods only, and the
supply discovered has not been great,
though in it are inclu ded many varie
ties. The number of diam onds found
has been very limited, and their discor-
cry is rare and purely accidental, the
places where they are met with being
certain Well-deined districts Of Califor-
MIA, North Carolina, Georgia and re-
Gently in Wisconsin. In the statistics
Of the production Of precious stones for
lkoC5 t)LCscueS0 ny MI. hNIIZ uldLlitl1IlS
do not appear at all.
Sapphires and rubies are found near
Helena in Montana, but they are not Of
the standard blue and red shades SO
much priced. They have never been
mined Systematically, though within
the last two years companies have been
formed to mine for them either separ-
ately or Incidentally to the search for
gold. Enleralds have been mined to a
small extent in Alexander county in
North Carolina; and some beryls have
been discovered in Colorado, at New
Milford in Connecticut, and at Stone
ham In Maine The turquoise is now
Systematically mined near Los Corillos
In New Mexico, but it lacks the soft
ness of color distinguishing the Persian
turquoise, though it is fully equal to it
la hardness The finest garnets in the
world rivaling those from the Cape Of
Good Hope, are collected by the Navajo
Indians and by soldiers Of the adjacent
forts from ant hills and scorpion nests
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 as thirty or
forty pounds
This about completes the list of the
better known and more important pre-
cious stones found in the United States.
The small amount obtained Of each and
their respective frequency are sug-
gested by Mr.. Kunz's statistics of the
value Of the native gem production
in 1889: Sapphires. SIS, 725; emeralds,
$3.50; turquoises, Ss23,675; garnets, ,s0s.
Accordingly, all except an insignifi-
can't part Of the precious stones bought
in this country are imported, and the
dema,4d is Increasing. The value of the
imports from 1870 to 1879 was less than
g27. COO, GOO, and between 1880 and 1889
it was more than 49,, 100000, or more
than three times as great. The increase
has been steady. The value of the
gems imported in 1889 was nearly twice
chat in 1880, and more than six times
the Importation of 1870. In no other
country of the world is the use Of these
ornaments so general as here.
Diamond cutting is extensively prac-
ticed in the United States. In New
York alone are sixteen firms pursuing
the business, much of their time being
expended in recruiting stones previously
r11t abroad, for cur workmanship is SUI
perior From the latter part OF 1888 to
the end of 1889 the price OF rough dia-
monds advanced from so 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 54,344 carats before cutting
weighed only 25,o05 carats afterward.
Nine-tenths 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 the
world for rough diamonds. Nothing,
by the way, is bought and sold on
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 1889.
The value Of the diamonds and other
precious stones imported into this coun-
try in 1889 atone was 11,7o5,0oo.
Humiliation by Dressmakers.
81 am not particularly vain, " said a
New York belle the other day, ''but
when leave the average dressmaker !,
am mere abiect smudge Of myself.
know many woman win lift up her
voice with me over the way we are
treated by the average dressmaker.
We protest family about wrinkle
around the shoulder Well, you see,