The evening times., 1900-03-02
AMERICAN JEWELS.
Valuable Mines Exist in Many See
tions of the Country.
From 'lr Brooklyn Esgl

The United States has never taken its
proper place among the gem producing
countries. principally. it would appear, be-
cause OF the superior gains offered in the
metal mines. Every strike Of gold, silver
tin, lead, copper, or iron holds such
promise that there is rush Of adyentur-
ers TO the place, and minor industries and
promises are neglected Patient and Skill
ful working Of the gem mines however
| would appear 10 promise as well as many
OF the metal Industries. There are in Mon
tana, for instance sapphires of beauty and
value but they have never been as sys-
tematically worked as have been the sap
phires of the Orient. True they are light
in color, but they have more brillianey
than the Asian sapphires and often exhib-
il dichroism. or double color, under differ
eHt lights. The supposition that a sap
phire should be dark blue is pos IDLY re-
sponSible for the sloWness OF their ac-
Ceptance in the market. but as a matter
of fact sapphires are not OF necessity blue
| they are green. yellow purple white and
| when they are red we call them rubes
for the ruby and sapphire are identcally
! the same save for a fraction of per cent
! of Coluring matter.
| Every gem known TO the lapidary has
| been found within our borders except
| that form Of chrysoberyl known as alexan-
| drite. a stone most commonly found in
! the Trails and showing green by day and
! red by artificial light. We have also found
! but few of the vari-colored garnets of
| which Russia furnishes such remarkable
and beautiful examples. and none that have
| their brilliancy, though the red garnets o:
| Arizona and contiguous tepgitory are IN
| surpassed in richness. We have several
| gems, moreover. that are almost peculiar
| to this country and thai should be used
| more extensively because Of their in rinsic
| beauty. Such are the golden beryls Of Con-
necticut. that are Of a brilliant yellow
| full Of light and sparkle. and the cur Gus
| chlorastrolites are thomsonites of i AXE
| Superior that are useful as green or mot
| tied grounds in the making OF designs
Among the lesser knowh but interesting
! and often beautiful minerals thai are
| found in this country and that lend them
| selves to purposes of ornament are the
! grass green hiddenite. the supe: ior of n
| erald in vivacity; the duller green diop-
! side, the utahlite, which is a rival of tur-
/ quoise. If it can be made to keep its color
! and texture; the ZiToon, of red and brown
| and especially the tourmaline, which rep
! resents a wide range Of color. from Jet
| black TO almost water white and including
pink brown, blue, and almost every shade
| of green. These rourmalnes are mare ap-
| preciated abroad than they are at home
| and whereas We buy sapphires and rubies
| from Buhrma, and diamonds from Africa
| and topazes from Japan and Brazil, and
| turqUoises from Persia. we remain seem
| ingly Indifferent TO the gems that come
| from Maine and Connecticut. Collectors
| have known them for years, however and
have priced them at their value Many of
| the crystals show two and even three col
| ors, being red at one end and green at the
| other, or green without and deep pink
| within. OF these tourmalines 81, ,0C0 worth
were mined last year at Mount Mica, Me.
Turquoise has been known to the Indians
| of the Southwest for centuries, and there
| is good reason to believe that ii was mined
by the Aztecs. Brooklyn capital has been
invested in one of the New Mexico mines.
and it is said that superior quality has
| been produced. There is probably no or
namental stone that is so extensively i'm
| itated. Hundreds Of people are wearing
! what they suppose 10 be turquoise but is
| in reality glass or enamel or a composition
| that closely copies it's color and apparent
| texture and does not fade. as the stone it
| self is apt TO do. There has been an addi-
| tion to the semi-precious stones of new
| variety of garnet known as rhodolite of
| pale rose red but not many specimens
| have been brought to the cities, and it has
not appeared to any extent in jewelry. 1t
would seem TO be worth the while to work
our gem deposits more thoroughly for, ac-
| cording to the report for 1898 by Mr..
! George F. kunZ, the expert, there con-
, tinues to be a profitable activity in the
making of jewelry. This country has i'm
ported as much as $4,000, 900 worth of
| gems and gem material in a single year.
! while the home production has always
| been relatively slight, albeit there is
| gain. In 1898, for instance, the production
of precious stones in the United States
represented about s161.0o0 as against
| $130,000 in the year before. and $9S000 in
| the year before that. The indications are
| that we have mineral veins and deposits
| that WILL when adequately worked, offer
| rewards far in excess OF these figures.