Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-08-27
the fact that lady CHANGED to bring one Of
her rings to Tidany's to have the setting fixed.

IL done by fake lapidaries ut many seaside re-
sorts, who incite people to hunt on the beaches
for gems. To credit them one might imagine
that the sands Of Jerseys shore and elsewhere
were actual mines Of precious stones of every
description. Guileless persons fetch them
pebbles Of translucent quartz, which they pre-
tend to cut into real moonstones. In reality
they simply give a 25-cent Ceylon moonstone in
exchange, charging 81 for it. For other
gems they provide the purchaser with
derstand that they manufacture smoky topaz
ont OF comm on smoky quartz by applying
heat. This sort of business is pursued on quite
scale by fakirs at English watering places who
go SO far as TO SOW the ocean with fragments Of
green bottle glass, which are washed ashore in
a water-worn condition, to be subsequently
picked up by deluded holiday makers, who are
persuaded by the lapidaries that they have
found emeralds or aquamarines.
FUsIN6 RUBY SPARKS,
There WAS great sensation a while ago"
continued Mr.. Kunz, "over the reported dis
covery by French inventor Of a process for
manufacturing big rubies by fusing together
many small ruby sparks. So much faith
had in the report that the Partisan jewelers.
demanded protection from the law against
limitations of this kind But no such
rubes ever got on the market, because the
method OF manufacture suggested was impracti-
cable. To begin with, it would necessarily have
lessened the specific gravity and hardness
OF the material. However rubies are made
by srtifce today. The thing is accomplished
very successfully by fusing animate of
lead and bichrOmate of potash with silicate OF
soda and coarse sand, the result being real ruby.
But it is readily distinguished from the natural
ruby by the bubbles Of air it contains. which
are the result of imperfect capitalization.
These artifit Al rubies have not the much
desired pigeon-blood' color and there is very
little demand for them.
ARTIFICIAL PEARLS
Artificial pearls, You know, ARE merely small
blown-glass balls, lined with the coloring mat
ter obtained from the inside of the scales of
small fish called the bleak that is plentiful in
Europe. They are filled with wax to make
them strong and keep the lining from scaling
off.
There does not seem to be any prospect that
diamond mines will be found in the United
States. The biggest diamond ever discovered
in this country was dug up by a laborer while
grading near Richmond. 1t had a big flaw on
one side and was injured somewhat by the
finder, who put it into an iron furnace to test
Its quality. 1t weighed nearly twenty-four
carats and cutting reduced it TO slightly less
than twelve carats. John Morrissey once
loaned $4,000 on it, but probably it is not
worth one-tenth of that today. great many
diamonds have been destroyed by ignorant
persons who attempted to apply heroic tests to
tHciu loT Tue purpose OF ascertal1llnS Wnetler or
not they were genuine II you ever como
across large gem of the kind, do not hit it
with hammer because the diamond though
the hardest OF substances. is very brittle. Nor
would | advise you to experiment upon it with
a file, because you will be apt to damage it.
Both OF these methods are popular with the
unsophisticated.
NECKLACES OF MUMMIEs' EYES.
speaking Of things that are not what they
pretend to be. YOU may remember what talk
there was while ago about necklaces and other
ornaments composed of the eyes of Peruvian
mummies. Their structure was like that of
pearls, each one being an aggregation of success
slve enveloping layers; their color was from
golden yellow to golden bronze, and they were
found to be susceptible of very beautiful pol
ish. AS u matter Of fact, however they are
merely the crystalline lenses of the eyes of
large squids or cutie fish. In the
tanned the corpses of the dead were dried
In sitting posture on the salty
sands and nitro beds, often thousands in
one place. Being thus exposed to the pub
lie gaze, cuttle-f eyes were placed in the orb
less sockets OF the mummies to render their
appearance more attractive. For this purpose
each spherical lens was cut into two hemis-
pheres. Sometimes the colors in these remark
able bodies are in alternate bands, like Mexican
fire opals
DIAMONDS AS SAFE SECURITIES.
Diamonds may be said to be the safest of
all securities. Their value never lessons; on
the contrary it has been rising steadily through
centuries Under circumstances of insecurity,
such as war; they represent the best possible
shape in which 10 have money, being readily
portable and easily concealed Half a million
dollars worth of them be slowed away in
ones waistcoat pocket. The danger of owning
jewels Of great worth has vastly diminished. In
ancient times they we're perilous treasures to
possess. IL you have read the romantic history
OF the kohinoor You will remember how that
great stone overthrow monarchs and caused
princes to blind and murder their own brothers
and other near relatives. Even SO recent poten-
tate as the Duke of Brunswick kept his celebrated
collection OF gems, dispersed since his death in an
armored room. with alarm bells on every hand
Now there are families in New York which indi-
viduaiiy own nearly S1,00O,O0O worth of dia-
monds. though twenty-five years ago S25 600 was
considered an astonishing investment in this
form Of property. But there is no danger
involved, because the jewels are kept in safe
deposit boxes save on the occasions when they
are actually in use. The worlds entire stock
of diamonds is valued at about 81, OOO, OO0, 900.
THE HALL MARX.
"Attemprs have been made to introduce in
this country the hall mark, which is put on
gold jewelry in France to indicate its fineness.
Every french manufacturer OF ]ewelrv sends
his products to the official hall markers Of the
government, who test the articles submitted to
them and make a little jag each piece to GER
tify that il is up to the requisite grade of purity
For this purpose they scrape it a kind Of
black jasper. which is known as 'Lydian touch
stone 1t makes yellow mark. They have
also little pencils Of gold. which are graded all
the way up from 12carats let lis say. to "a carats
Suppose the piece of gold that is being tested is
surmised to be about 90 carats A yellow mark
is made alongside the first one with the 22-carat
pencil. Then acid is poured over both streaks,
and if they both fade away simultaneously tho
expert knows that the ring or what not that is
being tried is 22 carat. like the pencil.
"But if the gold streak from the ring fades
more quickly than that from the pencil he cam
not mistake the fact that the ring is not as good
as 20 carat. However. the preferable way
would be to make two or three marks with gold
pencils Of different carats the jasper and thus
see finland which one bore the acid Just like
the ring streak. OF course. a hall mark would
be of no use unless it were protected by law The
imitation of it in France is as great a
crime as counterfeitng money. 1t would be
quite as satisfactory if every jewelry maker in
the United States were compelled to put his
name on all of his goods. At present the de-
basing Of gold by few carats below its repre-
sented purity is very common in this country"
Fast Trains Are the Safest.