St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-05

| back. The two are stuck together
with transparent balsam. The bal
| sam is colored in various ways, so as
| to diffuse whatever tints may be de-
| sired through the stone or glass to
which it is applied, In this way two
| pieces of rock crystal united with bal
| sam make an opal, and an aquamarine
| is produced by slight modification of
the same process. Artificial tur-
| quoises, of enamel, are sold for $25G
a dozen, and rubies, which are red gar
nets backed with tinfoil, come at So
| dozen. BY such ingenious methods
| all other kinds of precious stones are
| brought within the reach of poor folks.
The simplest device for making
counterfeit gems is that of the So
| called "doublet," which is produced
by joining two pieces of quartz crys-
tai with green, red or blue balsam.
Superior limitations are obtained by
more complicated methods. Paste dia-
| monds are rendered more effective by
depositing silver OH the back with
| electricity. Diamond doublets are
sometimes composed of two pieces of
crystal with silver foil between An
| other process consists in uniting a
| thin slice of real diamond to a glass
UdSG. EuISIdluS are III
the same way by joining green garnet
with quartz crystal. A blue color is CIV
en- to the white sapphire by applying
| little blue dye to the bottom of the
stone. Comparatively few real pearls
| are worn nowadays. The limitations,
| which are nearly as pretty, are glob-
ules of glass lined with a substance
obtained from the scales of a fish
~, t. &C. &l,i-
which gives the peculiar iridescence to
the scales of many fishes.
IN JEWELLERS SHOPS
are frequently displayed glass repro
auctions of the most famous diamonds
in the world. They are cut at Grun-
heinchen, in Bohemia. Most interest
ing of the originals, perhaps, are those
of out-of-the-way colors, such as the
celebrated blue Hope diamond and the
great red diamond belonging to the
car Of all the Russias. The finest eX-
listing green diamond is in the Green
Vault at Dresden, in which are pre-
| served the royal treasures of SaXony.
Most of these treasures have come
down from the middle ages. The dia-
mond is pear-shaped. Harvard univer-
sity possesses the most perfect octa-
hedral known. Though so wonderfully
perfect as a crystal, it is a little off
color.
Within the last few years a large
part of the business of cutting dia-
monds has moved from Amsterdam
to London, owing to the fact that the
greatest existing mines of those gems,
in South Africa, are the property of
the British capitalists. Workmen in
this line have been imported recently
into the United States. The first dia-
mond cutting in this country was done
in 1850 in the city of Boston. 1t is
reckoned, by the way, that the dia-
mondS in existence are worth nine
times as much as all the other pre-
cious stones in the world put together.
At the same time, fine rubies are worth
very much more per carat than dia-
mords. A perfect ruby is the rarest of
| all the products Of nature. Few great
rubies have ever been brought to Eu-
rope or to America, because the princes
OF India, who own the most valuable
ones, will not sell them. Runjeet
Singh had ruby that was estimated
| by him to be worth $60,OG0.
ROMANCE OF THE KOHINOOR.
| Nearly all of the great diamonds of
world have romantic histories but
| none of them approach in this respect
/ jewels of England. 1t is known to
have been the property of the rajahs
of Malwa nearly 1000 years ago. In
1904 the Sultan Aladdin-himself the
! actual original of the Arabian
Nights" hero-overcame the then
rajah in battle and captured the gem.
subsequently, however, he restored it
to the rajah in the hands of whose
! descendants it remained until the rise
! Of the Mogul dynasty.
Mohammed Shah, of that dynasty.
! was on the throne as Emperor of Hin
! doostan when his country was invad-
| ed, and his capital city, Delhi was taken
| by the Persian, Nadir Shah. The con-
! Queror conffscated all the jewels in the
Delhi treasury, but the already famous
| kohinoor was missing. A woman of
Mohammed's harem gave information
that the emperor wore the stone con-
cealed in his turban, and Nadir finally
( secured it by clever ruse, Offering to
exchange turbans with Mohammed
At the death of Nadir the gem became
! the property of his son and successor.
: Shah Rokh, who was soon after over
thrown by a usurper, Aga Mohammed.
Aga Mohammed put Shah Rokh to
tne torture to make him give up the
Il
when his eyes were put out with
Knives: Finally Aga Mohammed Or
dered his victims head to be shaved
and encircled with a diadem of paste,
| thus making receptacle. into which
| boiling oil was poured, but even this
did not induce Shah Rokh to give up
the kohinoor. He died soon after of
his injuries, and gave the stone to
Ahmed Shah, founder of the Afghan
empire, who had come to his assist,
| ance.
THE KOHINOOR DESCENDED
from Ahmed Shah to his grandson,
Shah Zaman. The latter was deposed
from the throne, and had his eyes put
out by his brother, Shah Shuia Shah
Zaman was Shut up in solitary prison
cell fer many years, where he con-
ceaied the gem in the plaster of the
wall. BY an accident an officer of the
the angles of the diamond, which pro-
jected almost imperceptibly and this
led to ts~discovery. So Shah Shuja
got the stone, but pretty soon he him
put out by his next brother, Shah Nah
mud. He withdrew 70 the court OF
Runjeet Singh for protection, but Run
jeet wanted the Kohinoor, .and perse-
cuted Shuja and starved Shuja'S wife
until he got it. Runjeet had it set in
bracelt. 1t was confiscated by the
British at the close of the great IN
dian mutiny. and was sent to Eng.
reduced to 106 carats by recruiting.
Though not of the very finest water.
having a slight grayish tinge, it is
valued at 100000.
The glass, or PASTE" for artificial
diamonds has to be made with the ut
most care. About 20 per cent of the
raw material is quartz crystal. To.
this is added 22 per cent of carbona teof
soda and due proportions of calcined
borax, saltpeter and red lead. All of
these substances are reduced to the fin
est powder, mixed, fused together by
heat in a crucible and cooled slowly.
The density, transparency and bear-
! ty Of the counterfeit stones depend
upon the pains taken i'll these process
es. When thus made the paste is all
ready to be cut up into diamonds for
market. 1t may be, however. that the
manufacturer desires to produce i'm
itation gems of other kinds If so, he