The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1895-11-21
COSTLY STONES
Famous RGbies, Sapphires, EmeraldS
and 0palS

called TubT. the efncTai0 EISShs Oi'S"NA 1880
aid: the leaf green, chloro-sapphlre; the pur
ple. Oriental amethyst, and the yellow, orien
tai topaz, or yellow sapphire. The most valua
BE OF thoye is the ruby though the green ant
purple varieties are the rarest and are Dot
rich and beastiful gems colorless variety
called white sapphire, is sometimes mlstaKei
for the diamond.
As with the diamond, the various forms
coruudum unfit fer gem use are of much value
ipdustriaily The finest watch jewels, pbono
grsph points and Withdrawing plates are madt
from small or poorly-colored rubles and sap
phires. while the ruder varieties OF cornnouih
and the massive granular form known as emery
which is mingled with magnetic oxide OF iron
are we'll known as tho most important oil aorad'
ing aud polishing materials. and arc largely
employed for cutting wheels, emery paper and
similar purposes.
Ruby. the red variety, when fine, is the most
precious OF all gems: the choicest rubies when
of four carats weight or more being valued al
five to ten times the price of diamonds OF the
same size and quality, or at from So,ooO 10 3d.
600 for n four-carat stone. A l0-carat gem re
Gently seld for $50, 600; which would give us a
value of over s7e0, 900 an ounce.
The chief locality for rubes is in Burmah, in
the valley of the Mogok. IS miles from the
Irrawaddy and 20 miles from Mandslay. All
the finest stones have come from TINS region,
and here alone are found rubies Of the peculiar
intense color known as pigeons blood. IN Cey-
Ign. in the Ratnapura district beautiful stones
are found of lighter shades, sometimes almost
mink. occasionally with tinge OF purple or the
color of currant wine. These, however. though
often marvelously beautiful and brilliant are
less priced than the Burmese.
Recently Siam has also yielded many inc
rublies which, however, tend to very dark
ehsdes, more of q garnet red or inclinng 10
brown. Small Tubies have been found In Frank
lin County, n. C., in the Government OF Perm
in Russia and pse-colorec ones in Montana.
The war of 1856 gave England the control Of
the long-famous Burmese mines and OF the
treasures OF King Thebsw, who had been called
the King OF Rubics," and was reported TO
possess dishes of rubies among his crown jewels
SURPRISING an ything known in the world. This
collection was found to have little marketable
value on account of its inferior quality. 1T con-
tanned rubies emeralds, cgt's-eyes etc, OF un-
usual size but not very choice. The whole set
is now exhibited at the South kensington mu-
scum under an ordinary glass case and with no
unusual precautions
Sapphire proper, the blue variety OF trans
parent corundum, ranks next in value 10 the
diamond, fine stones being sold at about the
same price as diamonds OF like size. The crys-
tails or ruby are usually small, rarely over hall
an inch long; those of sapphire are often much
larger, even up TO three inches in length. The
kind most priced is bright medium shade
known as Z" cornfoweT," the tint of the National
flower Of Germany, and a very rich, deeper
shade, known as the velvet blue The tastes
of different countries vary, London and Vienna
preferring the darker sapphires, Paris rather
lighter shades and Lyons and Msrseiles being
the chief market for light-coored stones.
Sone varieties ofshapphire have ssni-trsns-
parent or milky blue tint; these are somewhat
abundant in Australia and some, both sap
pbires and rubies, have the peculiar character
known as astersm. presenting O star-llke pat
tern Of interesting linee of light when cut across
the prism.
Cut szpphires are often fine even blue If
received in a setting. but when unmounted are
almost white, except at the lower point; in
other words. blue. If viewed from above. Un-
scrupulous dealers sometimes paint or enamel
the inside of setting aud give the stone
blue color of apparent value, when in reality II
10 OF little worth.
The fine blue sapphires come from the Orient,
chiefly from the Ratnapura district IN Ceylon
and from the Simla Pass of the Himalayas.
where they were brought TO light by the land
slide OF 1882 Some found with the rubies
OF Burmah and Siam few have been cut
from material obtained in North Carolina,
and quite a number of light-colored stones
arc now yielded by the gravel bars of the upper
Missouri River, near Helena, Mont. These
latter varied in color-pale-blues and reds,
lieht-greens ana blue greens, yellow and color
lsss Many Of them make bright aud ieauti-
fvl gems, but not dark enough 10 have the
highest value and all rather small. When
finely cut sone of them have luster like bur-
Bisbed metal, peculiar TO sapphires from tb.
locality From them a remarkable piece of
jevelry has been made, consisting of cres-
cent two inches long, one end Of which was Of
red sapphire and the other blue. graduating
into each other between. through all the inter
mediate tints. BY artificial light they all
changed TO a brilliant red. Some of the more
beautiful green ones have been cut into true
Oriental emeralds though the tints are usually
rather Too light
in some cases dark-blue sappbires are light
ened in color by heating; this is the with
some from Epaily. in France. and such stones
are often exposed TO FIRE by lapidaries to render
them more brilliant.
The name Brizilian sapphire is applied TO
the blue variety OF tourInsline, called iDdico-
lite. Among gems OF this group that are es-
pecially noted the following may bc mentioned:
Three rubes among the crown jewels OF
France, one Of them weighing $40 csrats hav-
inp formed part Of the duwry of Catherine di
Mediei on her marriage 10 Henry L. and the
two Others having been reset for Marie Stuart
There is among The English crown jewels a
celebrsted stone known as the Black Prince
ruby, but, unfortunately, it is not a true ruby,
but red spinel.
The Sqpphir merucileuse, Sc carats in weight.
and known as the . wooden SPOON sapphire"
because found by Ccylonese wooden spoon
dealer, WAS lately ia the Hope collection Ii is
ceie6ratcd as the stone that figures in the
Tales Of the Castle" by Mime Dc Genlis, q re-
markabie violet sapphire, quite red by artificial
light.
Other blue sapphires are one OF 1872 carats
in the mineral gallery Of the lard in des PHntes
al PARIS one large rCse-cut stone ~ the British
Museum; a very large pear-shapcd one, two
inches long, On the top of the German imperial
crown. similar one OH the Austrian crown.
and another on one of the Russian crowns at
Moscow These date back TO a period between
the 10Th and 18th centuries and may have
come 10 these various monarchs as crusade
plumber or tribute.
There are two yellow sapplires OF especial
mote, each nearly two inches ioug. One Of them
forms he top OF Russian crown IN the REM
bu. al Moscow; tue other is All obong. nearly
two inches IN greatest length. beautifully set
witb border Of large briliAnis; IL is among
the Austrian jewels aud used D. he worn on a
black velvet muif by the jewel loving Empress.
Maria Theresa, when seigh-riding
The finest green sapphire in the world is a
translucent nOdulc of natural crystal in the
cabinet OF Clarence S. Benent OF PHILADELPHIA
IL is from Franklin. Macon Co. X G.. aud
wouid cut into a magnificent Gecp-green gem
OF 30 carais
The purple or violet sapphire is formed by a
minute determination red ruby aad blue
sapphire. This intorni xture Of ferent colors
ia the same crystal is frequent IN cornndum
In the Tiffany Morgan collection ia the Amer
lean Museum OF Natural II History ia New York
there is large specimen from North Carol ina
g.d Il l. l.