Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-11-13
VANISHING GEMS
Precious Stones Never So Preci.
GUS as They Are To-day
Have Already Gone Beyond the Reach
Of All But the Most wealthy
and are Constantly Be-
coming Scarcer
(By Frederick J. Haskin)

Precious stones were never so precious
as they are to-day With cut diamonds
worth $1,000 a carat, and rubies. emeralds.
and sapphires Of the finest quality worth
even more than diamonds the truly pre-
cious stones have gone beyond the reach
of all but the most wealthy.
Waldemar T. Schaller. Of the Geolog-
ical Survey. who IL an expert on precious
stones. says that this. like almost every
thing else. is due partly to the war. Tho
mining Of precious stones has fallen on
greatly In the last few years. But II Is
due even more to the fact that the sup
ply OF these stones in nature Is steadily
diminishing, This. Of course. does not APP
ply So exactly tn pearla. which are man.
ufactured by oysters. Pearls are not with
in Mr.. Schallers Jurisdiction because they
are not minerals. but pearls are also be.
coming constantly more expensive.
The astonishing value which precious
stones have acquired by becoming scarce
has given rise to many interesting de-
yelopments. When a bit Of diamond the
size Of the tip Of a lead pencil Is worth a
thousand dollars. and with the struggle
for the necessities OF life as bitter as 1t
Is. 1t takes a bold man or woman to wear
navy diamonds. Many. Of course. do il
in spite Of the risks. but the number OF
gems which repose In caskets and never
see the light OF day Is undoubtedly In
creasing. There are many famous jewels
which have not been seen for generations.
Such. for example, Is the famous Briganza
diamond. owned by the government OF
Portugal. 1t Is kept locked up In safe
and no one Is ever allowed to see it. II
is said one reason for this Is that the
famous Briganza stone Is not diamond
at all, but merely a chunk OF quartz. No
one is allowed to see 1t because II 1t was
seen by an expert its real nature would
become known and the Portuguese gov.
eminent would be the subject Of an in
ternational laugh.
The value Of gems at this time Is moth.
ing to the value that they will have In
the fueure. for they are becoming scarcer
every day. There is no better investment
than q diamond q ruby. a sapphire or an
emerald. provided the stone 10 genuine
and Of the highest quality. Such a stone
Is moro certain to rise In value than any
stock or bond you could possibly buy
But unless you are an expert, or have the
advice Of one, do not rush into this line
OF investment
There are two precious stones which
dance. These are the ruby and the sap
phire. For rubies and sapphires are man.
ufactured-not imitation stones but gen.
uine ones A ruby or sapphire 10 moth
ing but aluminium oxide. otherwise known
as alumina. otherwise yet known as corun.
dunn. which has been melted. When
melted this substance takes a crystalline
form and a clear and beautiful appear.
ance, The color Is due to impurities in
the corundum. II the color is red 1t is q
ruby, and II yellow 1t Is a sapphire.
! Perfectly good rubies and sapphires car
be made by melting corundum and color
Ing 1t with various substances. These
rubies and sapphires have exactly the
same chemical composition as the rubies
and sapphires that occur In nature. and
exactly tho same appearance. except for
very minute differences, which II takes
an expert to detect. The artiflcially made
stone usually contains tiny air bubbles
which may be detected with a microscope
II Is also more perfect than the natural
some. To any but an expert these diff.
ferences are imperceptible. Yet natura
rubies are worth thousand dollars OF
more q carat, while synthetic rubies may
be bought wholesale for forty to fifty
cents carat.
Naturally this affords one of thu great.
est opportunities for fraud in the world
and 1t Is no doubt consistently i'm.
proved. For example. man advertised
for sale very fine ruby which had beer
pronounced genuine by an expert whom
he named--a student of gems In the ma.
tional museum. This man did have a
genuine ruby, which he showed to the
expert. He also had supply OF syn.
thetic rubies Of the same size and shape
When lie got customer no substitutes
one OF the synthetic rubies for the gen,
uine, putting 1t in the same setting. The
customer might call up the expert ant
ask about the stone the expert had ex
amined for so-and-so The expert would
say that he had examined such a ston,
for the man named. The custome,
might even go to the expert and show
him the stone. and the expert. thinking
he had seen 1t before. would merel,
! glance at It, and say that II was all right
! Unless he had reason 10 suspect fraud
he would not again place the stone undel
the microscope, In this way the enter
prising crook sold several syntheti,