The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-12-14

no YOU want to be able to tell a
genuine diamond from a false one2
1t is not 80 difficult to learn IL you
can get hold of few stones to study
You may not become a great expert
without much experience, but with a
little observation rightly directed you
may have knowledge which others will
envy
There are many methods Of testing
diamonds, and most Of them are easy
and make interesting experiments.
Secure real diamond and an imita-
ton one. Drop them in glasses Of
water. The imitation win blend with
the water and become almost invisible,
while the real one viii be distinctly
visible, shining out whitley through the
liquid.
Dry and clean the two stones and on
the fiat side of each put a tiny drop Of
water. On the real the drop will hold its
glObular form and can be led about
with a pin point. The drop on the glass
one viii spread.
Study the two stones with a magni-
flying glass. The facets Of the false
one are even and regular. On the other
they are Of varying sizes. The reason
of this is that a diamond cutter with a
good gem will sacrifice symmetry to
]
Irregularities in the planes and edges
than to reduce the stones value. The
material in a false stone being Of little
value the cutter makes as finished a
job as he can out Of IT, the appearance
/ counting for more than the stone it
self
If a real diamond be used as a minia-
ture reading glass, aided by a large
magnifying glass, a tiny dot on paper
appears clear and clean. Substitute
the false stone and several points. or
one badly broken one will be seen, ow-
ing to unequal refraction.
Then you can try the familiar expert
ment Of scratching a sheet Of glass
Because your stone viii scratch, does
not prove its genuineness, however. Try
to break the glass evenly on the
scratch. No other stone can cut
through the outer skin Of a sheet Of
glass and give certainty Of an even
fracture like the diamond.
II you can get a fine hard jewelers.
file and do not value your false stone,
try cutting your specimens. Your true
diamond IS proof against the hardest
file, but that instrument will easily
scratch any imitation that has ever
been made.
Having scratched your pretty bit OF
glass until il is worthless, drop IL and
the diamond into hydroduoric acid. Be
fore long the glass viii be dissolved,
but the diamond viii suffer not at all.
Then there is stin aanother expert
ment: Take q bit of stuff with red and
white markings. pass the stone to be
tested over il. and closely observe the
result If the stone be an imitation
the colOrs viii be easily distinguishable
through it; if it be a diamond no diff
ference OF color win be appreciable.
A genuine diamond rubbed upon wood
ffnare y
subjected to the rays of the electric
arc. becomes phOsphOrescent in the
dark. this cannot be said Of any Of the
limitations If the stone to be tried be
covered with b0raX paste. and after be-
ing well heated IN the alcohol flame,
dropped into a glass of water, the proof
viii be instantaneous. The glass imita-
ton viii fly into bits. while the genuine
stone VIII not be disturbed by the
ordeal
Finally try to crush between two
hard plates a diamond and an imitation
and learn the difference.
After the diamond the sapphire is the
hardest stone:with her more beautiful
sister she possesses also the quality Of
resisting the attack Of the file, but she
is. however, cloudy in appearance and
Of a milky hue. The topaz is slightly
yellOwish, and surrenders to the cut
ting teeth OF the file There are a
great number Of white diamonds, but
a pure. clear, transparent stone with
out shade Of color is more rare than
Is often supposed.
Besides white diamonds, there are
some which exhibit the shades Of red,
blue, green, yellow, brown, black and
pink. Heat sometimes causes q dia-
mOnd to change it's color. and after
time the color thus acquired becomes
permanent yellow diamonds, or those