The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1921-01-13
TAKES SKILL TO
CUT DIAMONDS
Methods of Turning the Rough
Stones Into BriIIiants Ex-
planned by Expert.
WORLD WAR PUT PRICES UP
But They Are Being Bought and Dis
played in This Country More Than
Ever Before--Very Few Are
Perfect.

New HOrk.-DiamOndS as coveted
gems and ornaments have lost none OF
their popularity. Since the late war
many persons who never possessed
these brilliants are wearing them to-
day, even though they cost more than
formerly. Few persons realize the
skill 1t takes to cut and polish dia
mOnds for the market.
Diamonds as they are found in the
rough state" Herbert T. WhltloCk.
curator of the department of mineral
Ogy at the Museum Of Natural His
tory, said, ARE not impressive They
have none of the magical flashes Of
light which in the polished stone
makes them unique among the noble
family of gems. And il is here that
goodly part of the price of diamonds
is accumulated. For the art OF turn
ing a rough diamond into polished
brilliant is a long process requiring
a superlative degree Of skill There is
40 better way 10 appreciate this than
10 follow the diamond from the mine
to the ieweler and see for ourselves
Just what happens 70 IL.
''When the diamonds are recovered
from the mine they are not by any
means all of them clear and cOiOrless,
as q Self-reSpecting diamond should
be: indeed, only about - per cent Of
the stones found are without some
faint color.
SO we find that at the beginning
Of its travels the diamond is intro
duced to the Sorter The SOrter IS
kind of Super-eXpert on diamonds.
whose eye has been trained through
years of practice to detect the slight
est variations in color OF diamonds
aud to find flaws in the stones with
an ease which is little less than un-
csnny.
Sorting the Diamonds.
THE first consideration in sorting
diamonds is the adaptabtlity OF the
stone for cutting Let Us assume that
the stone whose travels We are fol-
lowing is sorted into the grade known
as close goods comprising 1awleSs
crystals from which fair-sized bril-
liants can be cut, or, to use the trade
term. made These usually have
eight sides or facets triangular in
shape Next comes re-SOrtiug of
the close goods into eight grades.
ranging from blue white, which com
prises the finest quality stones, to yell
low and brown, which are 50 badly
Oft color rs TO be unit for gems.
IF our stone has passed the criti-
cal test Of the sorter and Is placed
IN one of the higher grades. it is
weighed. wrapped up in a parcel with
others of its kind, price per carat
IS assigned to il and Il is sold to a
diamond dealer and ultimately finds
its way to the workshop OF the dia-
mond pOliSher Here at the hands Of
highly skilled workman it is DIES.
tined 10 he turned into gem TIC TO
grace beauty or opulence.
Most of this is done in Holland,
and especially in Amsterdam, which,
since the Fifteenth century, has been
famous for this industry.
The surface Irregularities, together
with any superficial flaws. are first
split away from the STONE.
Sometimes when the stone Is large
II IS of advantage to saw it into two
or more pieces so as TO save as much
as possible of the weight in cut dia-
monds.
THE rough shaping Of the diamond
is done through an operation called
'bruiting,' which consists Of wearing
away the corners by rubbing one stone
against another. This was formerly Il
manual process, the two diamonds be-
ing mounted on sticks held in either
hand by the lapidary. But even in
the ancient and conservative art Of