The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-12-02
@~ HE annual diamond
q smashing bee is due to
open Christmas after
noon,'' remarked the gem

noon," remarked the gem
expert of big jewelry
store. Somehow diamonds breed
suspicion. Many Of them are boughtfor
Christmas gifts, and you would be sur
prised to learn how many good, some
of them fine stones are broken under
hammer because the recipient of the
present suspected that the. sparkler
was not a genuine diamond.
There are 80 many clever lmita-
lions Of diamonds sold that perhaps
1t Is no wonder people doubt the
genu1neness of the stone when 1t is
presented. possibly by some one whose
known income Is not sufhc1ent
guaranty Of the purity of the alleged
diamond. Somehow or other people
believe that a diamond cannot pc
shattered under a hammer, SO they
apply the hammer test, and When the
stone is smashed to fragments they
congratulate themselves on having
discovered a fraud. This fool idea
has ruined many beautiful diamonds
for tho the precious stone Is hard-the
hardest, 7 believe, of anything on
earth-it also Is brittle and easily
broken.
. ''The week following Christmas is
my week for listening to hard luck
stories from young men whose sweet
hearts pulverized the diamonds Santa
Claus gave them. 1t also Is the week
y
called upon to pass judgment on
garnets, cat's-eyes, carbuncles,
emeralds, pearls, sapphires, tourma-
lines, rhinestOnes, quartz ana cut glass
and cave crystals. The American girl
is a. cautious creature, and she wants
TO know If the stone in her ring Is
what the young man said it was. SO
she brings it to one OF us and asks
what sometimes are embarrassing
questions. Nine times out of ten we
can detect a fraudulent stone at
glance but there are times when we
are compelled to submit the stone to
tests for hardness and weight or spe-
Cific gravity.
at am called upon, however. more
frequently to tell the inquisitive lady
what her precious stone is, whether
it is 8. precious or semiprecious stone
There was q time when we sold only
diamonds, rubies, pearls, emeralds
garnets and sapphires, but now there
is a great demand for mineralog1ca
gems such as the tourmallne, zlrcon
star ruby, astoria, titanite, cat's-eyes
ETC. Once in a while a stone come:
along which cannot be named Off
hand, and we may have to find it
degree of hardness, it's specific gravi
ty, it's retroactive power, and perhap
it's spectrum, before we can be Ger
tain what it is.
eff a stone is hard enough to scratcl
quartz, but is soft enough to b.
scratched by 81 topaz, / know it be
longs to the group tabulated betwee1
quartz and topaz. If it scratches to
paz, but can be scratched by a sap
Dhire, l know 1T is Of a hardness be
tween topaz and sapphire. Thus,
if a stone claimed to be ruby
brought to me and [ find it to be onl
',~f as hard as topaz, / know 1T Is not
ruby. but probably a spinel rub!
which is far from being a true rub!
If a piece of rock crystal will scratc
it, would put it down as a comn1o
red garnet.
"But scratching is an uncouth meth
cd of testing scratching does no ston
any good. A better method is to welg
the stone under examination to get il
specific gravity. Thus topaz Is three
and-a-ha1f times as heavy as water
its specific gravity is 3.5. Chrysc
beryTs specific gravity is SO; the spe
cific gravity of aquamarine is but 2.
and 80 on. We know the specific gray
ity of every gem. We ascertain tn
specific gravity Of a stone by suspend
ing it by a hair from the beam Of
delicate jewelers. balance, Weighing
first in the air and then in water. TT
difference is the weight of the waite
displaced by the stone, and It's specif
gravity is thus determined.
"But there is a better way tha
that. Wood floats on water becaus
bulk for bulk, it is lighter, while sto1
sinks because it Is heavier than w;
ter. But a liquid can be made
mixing different substances togeth
which will float stones. Some lquf'
are three or four times as dense
water, and in such liquids the light
gem stones will float.
Tor instance, a liquid called meth,
1ene iodide is just three and tire