Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-06-02
CLEVER INVITATIONS.
RULES FOR DETECTING PASTE DlA-
 MoNDs AND DouBLETs.

4 swIndler Who Defrauded London Pawn
 brokers Out of G1oO,0OO in One YeaE
 His Manner of Working the Game Was
 Simple.
 4 method of successful imposition with diamonds has been discovered and the originator of this swindle act ua1ly defrauded the pawnbrokers of London alone in one year of upward of 9100,000.
 The general public as we'll as jewell CTS are aware that diamonds of a yell Jewish tinge, or, as they are called 1n the trade, "straws," are worth very lit- tie. Large stones of this color, even when weighing from ten to 100 caratss are quite common, and will only fetcA in the market from 91 to 84 per carat, the value, of course, increasing in ratio with the weight. Diamonds of the same weight, if of the first water, or perfectly colorless, would be worth from five to ten times as much
 The methods of the individual re- ferred' to were as follows: He pur- chased a quantity of yellow stones" and then by simple yet ingenious pro- cess succeeded in imparting to them an evaneseent purity of color. This was done by procuring two ordinary glasses, a kettle of boiling water, and a threepenny packet of mau7e dye. The yellow" diamond which was per- haps set in a gold ring or pin, was merely dipped in the glass containing the dye and then in clean boiling wa- ter half a dozen times and allowed to dry when it presented all the appear ance, even to the eye of an expert, ef a magnificent stone of the first water. The next move was to place the ring on the finger and the well dressed dyer would sally forth, enter a pawnbroker's and pledge the ring for at least three times it's worth. Within twelve hours, however. the effects of the dye would have disappeared and the poor pawn broker could only wonder what on earth was wrong with his eyes when he advanced so much money on such 5 yellow stone.
 Fortunately, owing to the magnitude of this individuals operations, the fraud has been discovered, and now pawnbrokers, if they are suspicious of a diamonds color, immense it in nitric acid, which, of course, destroys any dye that may be presented without in Eny way injuring the stone.
 Rubies, sapphires and emeralds may be initiated so exceIlentIy in paste" as to deceive any eye. but the hardness of these gems cannot be imparted to glass or 'spaste.9 For fraudulent pur- poses "doublets" are manufactured, which even rival the beauty of gen. uine gems. 'tDoublets," l" as the name implies, are made in two pieces. The top half is usually a genuine stone, generally a white sapphire beautifully cut and polished. This is joined by an invisible cement to 'paste" bottom or even to another white sapphire, painted on the side where the joint is to the stone it is desired to counterfeit. These 'doublets" look as we'll as, usu- ally better than, bona fde stones, ex- cepting those of the finest quality, and are to be discovered by only one test. Take them out of their setting and cast them into boiling water, when if they are "doubletsn they will speedily come asunder. A jeweler will exper- fence no difficulty in reunitipg them as before, but it must be remembered that such stones are to all intents and pur- poses yalueless.