The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-01-08
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 5efore-Very Few Are
Perfect.

New York.-Diamonds as coveted
gems and ornaments have lost none or
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. 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 1t is here that
goodly part of the price of diamonds
is accumulated. For the art of turn
II "a rough diamond into polished
brilliant is d long process requiring
superIative 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 1t.
"When the diamonds are recovered
from the mine they are not by any
means all of them clear and colorless,
as self-respecting diamond should
be; indeed, only about 25 per cent of
the stones found are without some
faint color.
$50 we find that at the beginning
Of its travels the diamond is intro
duced to the softer. The sOrter Is q
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
an ease which is little less than un-
canny.
Sorting tho 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-
lowing is sorted into the grade known
as close goods comprising fiawiess
crystals from which falr-sized brill
lIants can be cut. or. to use the trade
term, made These usually have
eight sides or facets triangular In
shape. Next comes a 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
| of color as to be unfit for gems.
'If our stone has passed the criti-
cal test Of the sorter and Is placed
in one of the higher grades. 1t is
weighed, wrapped up In parcel with
others of its kind. a price per carat
is assigned to II and 1t 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 1t Is des-
tined to be turned into a gem at to
grace beauty or opulence.
most of this is done In Holland
and especially in Amsterdam. which
since the Fifteenth century. has beer
famous for this industry.
/ "The surface Irregularities. together
with any superficial flaws. are frs
split away from the stone.
Sometimes when the stone is larg'
Il is of advantage to saw It into twt
or more pieces so as to save as mucl
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 ston'
against another. This was formerly I
manual process. the two diamonds be
ing mounted on sticks held in eithe
hand by the Iapidary. But even Il
the ancient and conservative art o