Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1906-01-11
TESTS FOR DIAMONDS
SIMPLE METHODS BY WHICH ONE
MAY DETECT INVITATIONS.

Ikc .sardness of the Genuine stone.
Its Resistance to IIydronuoric Acia
and other of It's Peculiar Proper
ties-COlorcd DinmOnsIn.
If YOU doubt the genuincncss of your
diamonds or stones which you contcn,
plate purchasing it is not necessary to
submit them to an expert. by study
ing the following methods of testing
these gems, says the Columbus Press
Post, %ou may become your own cx
pert.
For the first lesson take IL real die-
niond and am imitation drop them in
glasses of water The imitation VII
blend with the water and become al
most invisible. while the real one will
be distinctly visible. shining out white
" through the liquid. dry and clean
the two stones. and OH the flat side of
cacl, put II tiny drop of water On the
real the drop will hold its gobular
form and can he led about with pin
point The drop on the glass one will
spread.
Study the two stones with Il magnify
ing glass. The facets of the false one
are even and regular. On the other
they are of varying sizes. The reason
for this is that II diamond cutter With
a good gem will sacrifice symmetry to
weight, prcfcrrng TO leave some slight
Irregularities in the planes and edges
Iru tn rod; 1,n ..fn
material in Il false stone being of little
value, the cutter makes as finished Il
Job as he cam of 1t. the appearance
counting for more than the stone it.
self.
IL Il real diamond he used as IL NINA
turc reading glass. aided by IL large
magnifyins glass. Il 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 vi scratching II sheet of glass.
Because Your stone Will scratch does
not prove its .cnuileness, however.
Try to break the glass evenly on the
the outer skin of II sheet of glass and
give certainty to an even fracture like
a diamond.
Your true diamond is proof against
the hardest file. but the instrument will
easily scratch any imitation that has
ever been made.
Having scratched your pretty bit of
tyl Irn, Nj
the diamond into hydrotluoric Geld. Be
fore long the glass will be dissolved,
but the diamond will not suffer at all.
Then there is still another expert
ment Take Il bit of stuff with red and
white markings, pass the stone to be
tested over it and closely observe the
result. If the stone be an imitation
tho colors will be distinguishable
through it, if it be Il diamond no diff
ference of color will be apprcciablc.
a genuine diamond rubbed upon
wood or metal. after having been pre-
vously subjected to the rays of the
electric are, becomes phosphoresccnt
i'll the dark. Thi., cannot be said of
amy of the limitations. If the stone
and after being we'll heated in the al
collol flame dropped into a glass Of
water the proof will be instantaneous
The glass imitation will fly into bits,
while the genuine stone will not be af
fectcd. Finally. try to crush between
two hard plates a diamond and nn i'm
itation and learn the difference.
fin. n tI,nt SuIi,birf, lie fho
hardest stone With her more beauti-
full sister size possesses also the quality
of resisting tho attacks of the file. but
size is. however, cloudy i'll appearance
and of Il milky hue The topaz is
Slightly yelowish and surrcndcrs to the
cuttin. teeth of the file There are Il
great number of white diamonds, but
Il pure. Gear. transparent stone without
a shade o.. co,oi. is more rare than is
Often supposed.
Beside; white diamonds there are
some which exhibit the shades of red,
blue. green, yellow. brown. black and
PINK Heat sometimes causes n dia-
mond to chance its color, :lnd after q
time the color thus acquired becomes
permanent. yellow diamonds. or those
commonly dcnominated "otf color,"
furnish the greatest variety of shades
and some OF them exceed in beauty all
other stones of that color.
Specimens OF canary colored da-
monds are by no means rare They
may almost be said to be common. A
pink or rose colored diamond is Of
great value, and the red diamond, sur
passing the ruby in its magnificent col
oring, is considered the most beautiful
OF all the precious stones. being eX-
cecdingly rare. The one bought by
Paul. ear of Russia, weighed ten
carats and cost him two and onehalf
million francs. \ perfectly black dia-
mond is almost as rare as a rcd one.
For beauty the blue stones come di-
rectly after the red diamonds. Those
possessing the deep blue. and in this
respect resembling the sapphire, are in
deed most beautiful gems, differing
from the sapphire only in quality and
by the magnificent fiery colors peculiar
| to the diamond. The only true blue
diamonds come from the mines in In
Gia The varieties of green are not SO
rare as the blues reds. blacks and
pinks. but those of grass green hue like
| the beautiful emerald are seldom found
Where they do exist. however, they sur
pass in brillials.y the finest emerald.
In place of the Brazilian diamond,
which of late years has become quite
| scnrcn Game diamonds nf much IN