The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-03-14
DIAMOND POLISHING.
CUTTING AND PUTTING A lUSTER
ON THE FIERY STONE.

~N
An Industry Not known In This Country
= Few Years Ago--So7 Gar Cutters Ex-
Gel Those of Most Every European Coun-
try-"Rose- Diamonds Made of Chips.
Very few people who are fortunate
enough to be able to wear diamonds
know what amoun Of labor has been
expended upon them from the time they
were mined until finally they appear in
the showcases of the jewelers. ready for
use. Fewer still! are aware Of the fact
that the labor of the cutter and polisher
adds at least $40 Il carat TO the value of
the uncut diamond. These would squirm
at the idea of taking wen a seemingly
finished and polished brilliant and split
ting it into two pieces, doubling the ex-
pedienCy of the act on common sense
grounds. The loss in weight from cut
ting is over one-half, but it SO adds to
the value of the diamond that a stone
of one carat, costing in the rough per-
haps $40, would sell for $11O when cut
and polished, and the refuse or leav-
ings from the cutting might bring u
tidy sum besides. The value. however,
does net depend alone upon the weight
of the stone, but it is affected also by
blemishes and impurity Of color. 1t is
the stone with q blemish, which is some
times left in it in the hope that the
ignorant and inexperienced purchaser
may not discover it, which goes to the
diamond cutter a second time, that the
connoisseur thinks needs cutting and
necessarily reducing to take the blemish
out Of, and thus increased its brilliancy
and value.
Less han 10 years ago two diamond
cutters cut and finished all the rough
diamonds which came to this market.
In fact, there was not q sufficiency Of
work even for these two workmen, for
the brilliants were nearly all imported
in a finished state, ready for setting in
any shape for the wearers- But the du.
ties upon these became an important
matter, as there was nothing to pay up
on the rough stone, at least nothing to
speak of, and the finished article cost
high because Of the demands of Uncle
Sam. He argued that people who could
afford to wear diamonds should be will.
ing to pay high for the privilege. This
matter of duty paid to the customs off,
GERS became an incentive to the dia-
mond cutting profession, and the num-
Der of workmen was increased and the
inventive genius of u bright Ameri-
can inventors set at work to make labor
saving machines for cutting and polish
ing diamonds.
Another fact that increased the incen-
tive to encouraging American diamond
cutters was that the work on the bril-
liants was too frequently done in a care
less M in Europe, particularly out
side of the Dutch city of Amsterdam,
and that American workmen could
much better satisfy the critical taste Of
q people who deal in and wear pre-
cious stones. for the trade takes in all
precious stones as we'll as diamonds. AT
that time the difference between a dia-
mond imported and one cut and finished
here was SO marked that the demand for
stones finished here was greatly in
creased, and within five years some six
more diamond cutters had established
themselves in New York, and all had
more work than it was possible for them
to do. The eight diamond cutters dressed
and polished at least one-twentieth OF
all the diamonds sold in the city of New
York, Il the superior excellence of
their work was recognized by all deal
ers and became the envy of the older
workers in Holland, who had heretofore
had almost q complete monopoly of the
trade. This showed that some things az
well as others might be done on this
side of the water better than the work
men of Europe could do.
Diamonds are imported. as a rule,
from South Africa, where as large and
as fine stones are found as in all of the
East Indies and Brazil, although many
of the African diamonds are of color.
They come to this country in the rough
in all sorts of shapes and almost always
uneven in shape. These lack entirely
thai luster which is the beauty of the
brilliant and attaches to the name so
closely, for it is the brilliancy and lus-
ter which make the diamond most valu-
able, added, Of course, to tho fact Of it's
hardness and consequent ability to take
and keep a very high polish. By the
\ process Of ~"cleaying" the irregularities
OF the rough stones are Clipped off, and
the general form Of the diamond is Sc
cured, but without its possession of any
OF the circles which separate the face.
These Clipped off pieces, if of suitable
color and without flaws, are used for
making what are denominated rose
diamonds. What are called, in the par
lance Of the trade, .'fasces" of the dia-
mond are cut by the rubbing together
OF two stones, and when this process il
completed and the stones have been suf-
fciently rubbed down they resemble two
irregular glass pebbles, but ground on
the fasces SO that there is no sign no
any suggestion wen of brilliancy. In
fact. they are entirely without luster or
beauty, and to the inexperienced eye
worthless pieces Of glass. But when the
polishing Of these dull looking stones is
finished, and the process concluded,
there is a vast difference in the appear.
ance of the diamonds. -Pbiladelnhi.