The Anaconda standard., 1899-03-14

| ~ 10 tNGH dlttStu L'Hil HptIttI III pr
vate life, harassed by fear OF burglars,
and tired of having detectives follow
| them about on occasions when they
| wear precious stones whose value
amounts to hundreds of thousands of
| dollars, also resort to this device. Sc
| curing peace of mind by sending their
real jewels to safety deposit vault,
and wearing clever limitations at re-
| ceptions. theaters and balls.
| To the jeweler the word paste"
means glass. Sometimes one hears this
material called white stone or
| "strass,' but these are terms employed
| by the trade alone, and not in talking
with a customer. They apply only to
limitations of diamonds. The business
of making jewels is at least two centur-
| les. Some of the accounts of the in
| Vention of strass say it was known in
| Strasburg as long ago as 1850. One au-
thority attributes the name to the city
| where it first made it's appearance, and
| another to the man who devised it,
Josef Strasser. The word rhinestone"
| is also employed to describe the same
article, and is an a1lusion to the great
| stream on which the paste diamond
made it's debut. However. rhinestone"
| is applied to large specimens. such as
are suitable for clasps and buckles, and
are so enormous that no one could pos
| sibly mistake them for diamonds,
| whereas paste" is used to designate
an imitation jewel, of about the same
| composition as the rhinestone, but
small enough to look like the real
| stone.
! A number of formulae have been de-
vised in order to produce glass of
| the right hardness, brilliancy and pur
| ity. The jewelers. Circular recently
gave a number of them, and remarked
at the same time that for a century
| or more no book on glass was consid-
cred complete without a chapter on i'm
itation jewels Even for making paste
there is o variety of methods and mix
lures, and to produce good likeness of
rubies, emeralds, amethysts and the
other colored stones, the composition
must be different from any of these.
To a certain extent the jeWelry trade
recognizes this industry as legitimate.
That is to say, there are dealers in
Maiden lane who unhesitating advertise
real and imitation stones If you go
in and ask to see stock you are asked
without hesitation or disguise whether
you want to examine the real article or
an inlita tion.
Moreover, there are numerous houses,
notably in Providence and Attlebcro,
which manufacture earrings, finger
rings, shirt studs, brooches. belts, buck
les, clasps and other articles in va.
flOuS STdueS Dl SOlI. ana set WIN lI1l-
itation jewels. None of the latter is
made in America. They are all import
ed. But the mounting is done here,
and without apparent intent to deceive,
at least so far as the manufacturer is
concerned. The retailer who buys from
him is not fooled. He goes into the
transaction with his eyes open. Per-
haps for advertising purposes the man.
ufacturer gives to his glass diamond a
fan fa b,ill
the evening star the cigarette"
the Melba" or the Kimberley" but
he does not lie about its character.
Most of the cheaper limitations come
from a country famous for its other
glassware, Bohemia. But the better
ones are made in the Jura region of
France, not very far from the birth
place OF Strauss. The less expensive
limitations are nodded, like pressed"
glass tumblers are dishes The more
costly are cut, and the quality of the
cutting counts for almost as much with
the importer as color and luster. Im-
tations that cost from 10 cents to 81
apiece look to the uninitiated like jewels
which would cost from $50 to $500, but
their nature is easily detected by an
expert who has number of tests at
his disposal.
Besides the glass jewel there is an
other imitation, or partial imitation,
known to the trade as the ''doublet."
This consists of bit Of glass on top of
which is carefully cemented a slice of
genuine stone-ruby, emerald or sap
phire. So neatly is the work performed
that the deception is effectual with per-
sons who have no suspicion or oppor-
tunity of testing the stone. A doublet,
it is unnecessary to say, costs more than
glass. Then there are jewels that are
made by cementing together and mold
ing a lot of fine articles of genuine
stuff.
A stone known as white topaz, found
in South America, Siberia and a few
other countries, has been sold for the
diamond. The latter, however is car
bon in its purest form. The true topaz
not the stone usually sold as such,
which is usually quartZ-is a mixture
of silicon, aluminium, fiourine and oxy-
gen. The topaz is not SO hard as the
diamond nor so brilliant.
Whatever may be said in regard to the
Legitimate" trade in imitation jewels,
it is to be feared that an enormous busi-
ness is done in them by unscrupulous
dealers. Such goods are often sold to
persons who imagine that they are buy
ing real diamonds. Some of the misrep-
resentations INDUCED in are technically
legal, but In instances one can discover
cases that clearly come within the limits
OIL 'ODlalHlnS money uTQeF IalSe pre-
lenses" Reputable houses in this city
have expressed much annoyance at the
performances of mushroom concerns
which advertise extensively create
popular sensation and sell large guam
tity of glass at profit of several hun
dred per cent. and then disappear.
Patrons who are dissatisfied cannot oh !
tain redress. as would be possible if they
had bought from an old and Well-known
house. 1t seems probable that if re-
spectacle diamond merchants would
only take a little trouble they could get
evidence enough against the more reck-
less of the dealers in bogus jewels to
land them in the penitentiary. Perhaps
they do not think it worth while. The
class of people who can be fooled by the
Dazzlekowskis could not afford to buy
genuine precious stones.-New York |
TROUBLE ABOUT THE SFARROWS. |
Rumor That Bounties Have Been Falsely !
Claimed in Arcoia.