The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-06
THE.pIAMoNp TRADE.
An Importer Talks About It's Tricks
and Annoyances.

the leading diamond firms of this city,
! ''come from the Cape mines at the south
ern end of Africa. There are seven or
eight of these mines, the largest being the
| Kimberly, which covers some twenty
! acres of land. In the last sixteen years
these mines have yielded largely, many
! fine stones having been found. But the
/ Kimberly stones-with the exception of
| the celebrated Peter Rhodes stone, which
weighed 100 carats in the rough-are not
always of the finest quality. Though
| large, (they get them as high as 800
| carats,) many of them are only worth
cutting into smaller stones.
India once did but no longer does enter
! into trade considerations as great dia-
mond producing country. The Brazilian
/ diamond, though small, is often of a finer
| quality than the African or Indian stone.
| In Brazil the diamond is usually found in
/ the sandy beds of rivers, while the cape
! stones are dug out at depth of from 300
! TO 800 feet below the surface earth. The
! Brazilian stones are found in a kind of
| soft, soapy muck called blue earth. Some
are almost round, while others have eight
sides. In weight they will average from
| two to ten carats, comparatively few
| stones above ttfveen carats being found.
! This is in the rough Cutting reduces
them nearly half their natural size.
"Ihe carat that | speak of is one pecu-
| liar to diamonds, rubies, sapphireS and
| opals. A carat is a tri1e over seven pen
nyweight Troy weight.
Most Of the Cape stones are sent to
! London, where they are reshipped to Am
sterdam and Antwerp, the great cutting
! cities. Diamonds are also cut as well in
! Maiden Lane as in Amsterdam. In cut
! ting diamonds there is general rule that
| Oue-third of the stone should be above the
| girdle and twO-thirds below it. This pro-
]
| avoid imperfectiOn in stone, such as
black spots and feathers, and at least one
| half of the stones are more or less imper-
! feet.
again, the size and shape of stone in
! the rough viii determine whether it shall
! be single-cut, full-cut, or a rose-cut
| diamond.
You may have noticed the many little
| places or sides to cut diamond. These
are technically called facets. A single
cut diamond has eighteen facets and a
| full-cut stone has tifty-eight facets dis
tributed above and below the girdle in
the proportion | have just mentioned. A
small stone will usually have only the
| single cut of eighteen sides. A full-cut
diamond is called a brilliant, and this
! term is incorrectly applied sometimes to
| Parisian. or paste diamonds
| The third, or rose cut is given to
! stones which are too small and thin for
! either of the other cuts. The shape of the
rose-cut diamond is peculiar, inasmuch as
the stone is fiat on the bottom and faceted
on top and you win understand how
small the rose-cut stones are when tell
you that it often takes several hundred of
them to make carat weight. They are
very useful, however, in filling in cor
ners etc.
Apart from the consideration have
noted, the diamond cutter is guided by
! his own discretion and taste in modelling
! a stone. The operation is simple enough
| 1t is the old saying about diamond cut
| ting diamond illustrated. The workman
merely rubs one rough diamond against
| the other Then comes the polishing,
which is done by holding the cut stone
| down against 4 wheel which revOlves at
an extremely rapid rate In applying the
stone to the wheel the cutter must look
| out for flaws, or the diamond will be
caught on some rough point and be ruined
in less than the traditional jiify. AS to
! the time taken to cut and polish n stone,
| one cutter will work fast enough to keep
| half u dozen. polishers busy, and a good
| pOlisher will polish about twenty carats u
| week.
Regarding the color of diamonds, :"
| continued the speaker, there is every i'm
| aginable tint, but the principal trade
colors are the standard white, the blush
| tint, the yellow and the brown. The
white, while the most valuable. is not al
ways the most brilliant. The blush tint
is favorite and much sought after. The
yellow stone is the most common, and
| there is a growing taste for dark
| brown, bright yellow or canary, as it is
| called, and other natural colOrs.
People not acquainted with the dia-
mond market abroad cannot comprehend
the difficulties and perpleXities that har-
ass diamond buyer. He has to be con
stantly on the alert for sharp practices,
for the persons holding the stock of dia-
monds in Europe are among the shrewd-
| est merchants TO be found anywhere, and
they not only work in collision, but play
one customer against another to obtain
higher prices. They are wonderfully
| given to rOmancing, and their state
ments, like their goods, are only to be
taken after investigation.
'Ihe diamond merchants abroad do not
grade their goods, but, when purchaser
comes along, parcel comprising good,
| bad, and Indifferent stones is shown to
him, and he usually has to bid for the
whole parcel. The grading, pairing, and
selecting is done for the American mar
ket after the stones have reached our
shore
BY this means a purchaser is com
PEELED to buy many goods that he would
not, were he allowed the privilege of Sc
lection. Some diamonds thus purchased
are actually sold here at less than they
cost abroad
1T is conceded fact that the Ameri-
lean consumers of precious stones are the
most critical of any the merchants have
to cater to- and European holders Of dia-
monds appreciate this fact. In this coun-
| try but three grades of diamonds are
really marketable the first being rare
and exceptional gems, the second first
water goods, and the third must be above
the average quality sold to Europeans.
Fashion also has something to do in ex-
changing the value of diamonds, by pro
claiming one day in favor of one particular
style of cutting or OF color, and again
changing setting in the post Of honor to
those which had been previously rejected.
The experts of ten years ago would be
sadly puzLledto-dayt to make selection of
tirst-ciass diamonds for the American
market. Indeed, the trade is a most
difficult one to cater to-full of annoyance
and hazards, and requiring special train
ing and unflagging vigilance"
I'm catch that ladder below me if" was
/ . flOnorbf 20