The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-30


A most interesting as wen as broadly in
structive controversy has been raging in
London this winter between gem experts
and manufacturers OF precious stones $50
called, and so far the latter appear TO
have the advantage in the controversy.
Should chemical science continue to ex-
pand and expend herself We shall ere long
call at the chemists laboratory for our
stones, and ourselves carry them to the
jeweler to be set
Gem experts of the nineteenth century
have.proved time and again that the great
er number of the reputed large emeralds
and rubies OF ancient and historic asso-
Citations are merely glass of first quality
and color, and now the chemist is beating
the expert at his own game by proving
that he, too, viii no longer suffer in pub
lie estimation. What his ancestral Roman
master did. surely so can he, with all the
modern appliances ard requisites.
Two firms of Prenchmen have led the
van. and only now that one has become
a limited liability company, with 100000
shareholders, have the general public
srasped the facts of the case. A well
known London accountant has examined
the books of this firm, and over his sigma
ture assures England that clear profit
of 5000 was made last year.
Mr.. Francis Powell, the gem cutter says
that he could never mistake a Burma
ruby from its London imitation, but Prof.
Church, the authority on stones; Sir WIZ
liam Cookies and Prof. Msctear assure
us that these new stones are actually
Is nd M OF haf
any real difference exist. the chemists
art triumphs over Mother Natures in
having finer texture, purer color and few
er 1aws
So far, Mr.. Streeter has been silent, but
it is also well known that he has repeated
ly rejected, as spurious, gems of reputa-
ton.
We may yet live to value a lapldary's
registration OF mine stones, Just as we
have records of horses. cows and dogs,
and the value Of mine rubies. an accident
of birth, versus laboratory rubies. the tri-
umph of human skill, viii be tested by
the public purse.
Lucky finds" are rare, and a steady
annual income of $4,000 represents large
sales.
Those who wear what we may now
henceforth call genuine" old-fashioued
stones" can feel proud and happy, but
in whole or it part, depreciate the value
of even rubies from Mandalay.
A drop of pigeons blood placed on a
white surface beside a ruby has been the
test of its color, consequent quality and
value, but even the chemists production
can stand this test, and there are but few
from the mine that can be ranked as
pigeon blood"
Famous English Ruby.
The most famous ruby In England is a
"spnel," but none the less highly treas
ured, and as the center stone of the Mall
tese cross in front of the royal crown,
Queen Victoria and her descendants viii
continue to honor il for its historic asso-
Citations.
It's record is clear since the fourteenth
century, a shadowy time, ere America was
discovered, and yet real enough when we
realize that this royal ruby is as old as
our own English tongue, and that in Eu-
rope Patriarch and Boccacio William
Tell, Bertrand due Guesclin Henry the
Navigator the first Stewart King, Edward
III, Godfrey Chaucer and the greatest
Froissart had ali heard of the famed
ruby. given by Peter the Cruel of Cas-
tile to the third English Prince of Wales.
better known as the Banck Prince, and
peradventure hope, too, that il would
ever shine clear as sign of good luck for
him.
Had 1t only been an opal, we might have
attributed the Princes sad and early
death, cut off In his prime to the stone
SO recently accepted after the battle Of
MALARIA.
Peter of CASTLE had acquired it from the
Moorish Prince Mohammed of Granada.
in return for asylum and aid in Seville.
and when Peter in turn needed help
against hfs brother, Henry, he tempted
the Black Prince TO his side by promising
untold wealth and the jewel treasures OF
Mohammed and Abu Said
English history tells only the tale OF
disaster of Peters deceit, and the ruby
worn in the Black Princes helmet alone
represented the promised treasure.
1t was dearly bought for the Black
Prince and England!
At Ag,ucourt, in MS we find that Henry
wore it conspicuously in a crown over
his helmet and that the Duke d'Alencon.
attracted by it's fiery hue, aimed a blow.
which broke of part of the crown but
spared the helmet. This same helmet now
hangs aloft over Henry's tomb in West
Minister Abbey
Henry VI wore II at Hexham, and fleeing
from the field, left il behind 10 be picked
up and carried by page to Edward w.
AT the coronation of Henry VIII il shone
lOTln, OutIlNdliIB III lltiy Ailtttf MS IduleN
collar Of rubies, and at the Field of the
Cloth of Gold II helped 10 uphold the dig
nifty Of its royal master Queen Elizabeth
showed It off proudly TO Melville, the
Scottish envoy. and even indefinitely sug-
gested the hope that his beautiful mis-
tress, Queen Mary, would get It as reward,
II, like the child, "she was good"
Then James ] had Its hole (by which II
could be hung on chain filled up with a
small ruby and Charles l wore 1t In his
crown.
Fortunately It disappeared. and so was
spared the fate of the iligree crown OF
Edward the Confessor and other treasures
of traditional value, which were melted in
the bullion pots of Cromwell and the COM
monwealth.
Al the coronations of Charles II, James
II and william and Mary Il proved its
pride Of place. and at last, when George
w assembled the throne, in 1920, a firm
of London jewelers. placed 1t in front of a
new and magnificently clumsy crown. In
1893 It again appeared, and Dean Stanley
tells of the impression made on the great
assemblage when a ray of sunlight lit up
this ruby ahd-rehected in other stones