The Washington times., 1901-10-20
MAKING GENUINE JEWELS
Valuable Gems Are Now Manu-
faetured in This Country.
Rubies and Emera1ds Turned Ont i'm
shops Now Have N Commercial
Na1ue-Man-Mnde Diamonds More
Costly Than the Natural Article.

shops Now Have Commercial
Nalue-Man-Made Diamonds More
Costly Than the Natural Article.
Something of real present interest to
| dealers and the public alike is the success
| which has been achieved In the rnanufac-
ture of rubies. While the diamond is the
commonly accepted synonym for value in
a precious stone. the ruby, which meets
the proper requirements. is much more
valuable. When possessing the real pig
| con blood color evenly distributed and
| without flaw, the ruby is worth from
| three to ten times as much per carat as
the diamond. This stone, therefore. is the
favorite target for imitation And, as be-
| fore stated. it is in making rubies that
| the greatest skill has been shown. Elec-
| tricity has done much for this art A
Frenchman-his identity is a secret TO the
world, and yet he is known only by his
works-has learned to melt up small ru-
| bies. or fragments of rubies. and fuse
them into one stone. The product is not
| an imitation 1t has all the chemical and
| physical properties of the real thing 1t
| is as hard, has the same specific gravity
and is genuinely beautiful in color.
But, say the jewelers., it is not genuine.
Such a stone is known to the trade as a
Reconstructed ruby. None but the
| most expert can distinguish 1t from the
so called real one The connoisseur will
admit that he distinguishes it by the
absence of flaws rather than by the pres
enee of defects. A reconstructed ruby Is
apt to be too perfect
The reconstructed ruby appeared on the
market about eighteen months ago All
came from one source. a wealthy dealer
in Paris. At first the stones were in great
demand, and sold for 500 carat; but as
the public gradually learned that the
stone was the combined result of the
work of nature and of man, the demand
fell off. The buyer felt that the stone,
made up of fragments fused in an electric
furnace. was not just the same as the one
taken from the earth, even though the
latter might have more flaws, and, unless
deceived by the dealer, he would not pay
as much for it: In consequence the price
has dropped to $50 a carat
The emerald is another stone which is
cleverly initiated. a perfect emerald is
the rarest thing in the world. 1t is char
acteristic of the emerald to be nawed,
and all good limitations contain artificial
flaws. A fawless emerald is Immediately
an object OF suspicion. The only ones in
existence have been obtained by cutting
away the greater part of some large and
beautiful stone, leaving only the small
part free from defect This is a very ex-
travaSant method, since it is the color by
which the emerald is judged The few
hawless emeralds in existence are held at
fabulous prices. The color must be a
deep rich greer. limitations are made by
chemical processes. and a good imitation
is nearly valuable as the real The
paste of which they are made is hardened
by heat until 1t will stand the so-eailed
fie test-that is. it will not be scratched
by hard English tile made for the pur-
pose.
Another imitation is known as the
'doubiet-" 1t is made by g process similar
to veneering in woodwork. A thin layer
OF real stone is cementea on an artitciaI
base. This method, which is practiced in
France, Is also employed TO make imita-
ton sapphires and rubies. The very cheap
limitations are made of glass.
Some of the cieyerest work is done in
initiating pearls. The beauty OF a pearl
is in its sheen, and its face value depends
on sheen, size and color. The good arti-
fetal pearl is now given all these cnar-
acteristics to a degree almost equal 70 the
one made in the shell of the oyster. Even
the "nacre,' which is the fluid in the shell
OF the oyster which deposits the calcare-
Gus layers of the pearl has been repro
duced chemically. and the pearls are put
into revolving cylinder and kept rolling
In the nacre until they take on the real
coating. Formerly the artificial pearl was
blown; but with all the care possible this
process lett a small nub. which marked
II as artificial. So now they are dropped
IN tower, like SkOt. The price of pearls
as OI other stones, varies III accordance
with the demand of the hour. Just now
they are very high, and the best imita-
tlons viii bring better prices than the
poor genuine ones. The Oriental pearl is
supposed to be the most Valua bic but
lately very fine fresh water pearls have
been found in Tennessee ana W isconsin
The expert distinguishes the real from
the artificial precious stone in various
ways The file test has been mentioned
Dealers also have little piece of "a Ger
am Kind OF hard quartz, which is worked
to point and which viii scratch glass
and most limitations. But the expert goes
most on appearance. He learns to look
Tor certain characteristics OF color and
structural makeup. He recognizes the
laws. Finally an expert will tell you he
has an intuition. 1t is like the feminine
acuity of knowing, without always
the reasons why.-St Louis
Globe Democrat