The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1921-01-28
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 York.-Dlamonds ms 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 p. Whitlock,
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 1t is here that
a goodly part of the price of diamonds
is accumulated. For the art Of turn
ing rough diamond into a polished
brilliant is a long process requiring
a superlative degree of skill. There Is
no better way to appreciate this than
TO follow the diamond from the mine
to the jeweler and see for ourselves
just what happens to it.
''When the diamonds are recovered
from the mine they are not by any
means all of them clear and col0rless,
as a self-respecting diamond should
be; indeed. only about % per cent of
the stones found are without some
faint color.
$50 we find that Mt the beginning
OF IT'S travels the diamond is intro
duccd TO the sorter The sorter is a
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
and to find flaws In the stones with
nm ease which Is little less than I'M
canny.
Sorting the Diamonds.
"The first consideration in sorting
diamonds is the adaptability of the
stone for cutting. Let us assume that
the stone whose travels we are fol-
towing is sorted into the grade known
as close goods, comprising fawless
crystals from which fair-sized brill
iinnts can be cut, or. to use the trade
term, made These usually have
eight sides or facets triangular in
shape. Next comes q re-sOrting 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 so badly
off color as to be unfit for gems.
"If our stone has passed the criti-
lal test of the sorter and Is placed
Ia one of the higher grades, ii is
weighed, wrapped up in parcel with
others of it's kind, price per carat
is assigned TO it and 1t is sold to
diamond dealer and ultimately finds
Its way to the workshop of the dia-
mond polisher. Here at the hands OF
a highly skilled workman 1t is des-
tined to be turned into gem fit 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 1t 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
.A-,,tttno, which consists of wearing
away the corners by rubbing one stone
against another. This was formerly
manual process. the two diamonds be-
inc mounted on sticks held In either
hand by the lapidary. But even I'm
the ancient and conservative art OF