Daily inter mountain., 1899-03-03
DYED DIAMONDS.

London Mail: There are tricks in every
trade" has grown to be an adage, and
this prOberb holds especially good with
regard to the jewelry trade, which for
ways that are dark and tricks that are
vain fairly takes the palm for roguery
Although a great deal of capital, time
and labor has been devoted to counter
feiting the diamond, very little success
has been obtained from a fraudulent
point of view, as the diamond possesses
such extraordinary qualities of hardners
and brilliancy, with which no imitation,
up to now. can attempt to vie. Paste
of all kinds can be tested by means of a
sharp steel file, which scratches it's sur
face.
A method of successful imposition with
diamonds has, however. been discovered.
and the originator of this swindle actually
defrauded the pawnbrOkers of London
alone in one year of upward of $500 00)
The general public. as we'll as jewelers.,
are aware that diamonds of yellow
tinge, or, as they are called in the trade,
''straws," are worth very little. Large
stones of this color, even when Weighing
from 10 to 100 carats, are quite common.
and will only fetch in the market from IS
to 500 per carat, the value. of course, in
creasing in ratio with 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 referred
to We're as follows: HI purchased a guam
tity of "yelloW' stones, and then by a
simple yet ingenious process succeeded in
imparting to them an evanescent purity
of color. This was done by procuring two
ordinary glasses, a kettle of boiling water
and 3-penny packet of mauve dye.
The yellow" diamond, which was per-
haps set in gold ring or pin, was merely
I,
and then in clean boiling water half a
dozen times and allowed to dry, when it
presented all the appearance, even to the
eye of an expert, of a magnificent stone Of
the first water.
The next move was to place the ring on
the finger, and the well-dresscd diamond
dyer would sally forth, enter a pawn
brokers' and pledge the ring for at least
three times it's worth. Within 12 hours,
however, the effects of the dye would have
disappeared. and the pawnbroker could
only wonder what on earth was wrong
with his eyes when he advanced so much
money on such yellow stone.
Fortunately, owing to the magnitude of
this individuals operations, the fraud has
been discovered and now paWnbrol<ers if
they are suspicious of a diamonds color,
immerse it in nitric acid, which destroys
any dye that may be present without in
any way injuring the stone.
Rubies, sapphires and emaralds may be
initiated so eXcellcntly in paste" as to
deceive any eye, but the hardness of these
gems cannot be impaired to glass or
paste" For fraudulent purposes "doub
lets'' are manufactured, which even rival
the beauty of the genuine stone
"Doublets," as the name implies, are
made in two pieces. The top half is usually
a genuine stone, generally a white sap
phire, beautifully cut and polished. This
is Joined by an invisible cement to a
paste" bottom, or ven to another white
sapphire painted, on the side where the
Joint is effected, red, blue or green, ac-
cording to the stone it is desired to coun-
terfeit.
These ''dOublets' look as well as, usual
ly better than, bona-fide stones, excepting
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 "doub-
let's" they will speedily come asunder.