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922 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
The next element
in importance is durability.
Gems are
prized because every
one of them, except
the opal and pearl,
is hard, and will
wear indefinitely—
may be passed from
father to son, from
mother to daughter,
and acquire interesting
histories, sometimes
of murder,
theft, and assassination,
as in the case
of crown jewels and
other noted stones.
This is the quality in
genuine stones which
puts paste imitations
so hopelessly out of
the running; paste is
puttylike in its softness
when compared
to the real gem, and
will wear and lose
its beauty even from being rubbed
against garments during wear, and
worse, will deteriorate rapidly even when
left in a jewel case. It cannot live and
gather associations, memories, or become
known as "one of Mrs. Smith's beautiful
emeralds" or "the solitaire my husband
gave me when we became engaged, forty
years ago."
The third point is genuineness, upon
which we have already touched. It
seems that no matter how fine a stone
may be, it must have come from nature
and have undergone only the processes of
cutting, polishing, and mounting; otherwise
its value is discounted heavily. But
more of that later; such matters belong
in a discussion of imitations and not in
the problem of evaluating real gems. In
this connection, all we need to remember
is that a stone does not count, if anything
more has happened to it than the
processes we have mentioned.
These are the three main determining
points in evaluating jewels, and the
The Expert Buyer Figures Each Stone into Its
Certain Place in His Retail Showcase. As He
Purchases He Knows Whether a Gem Is to Be
Set in a Solitaire, a Bracelet, or Is to Be the
Jewel of Honor in a Brooch, and the Price He
Offers Varies According to His Demand
chief of them is
beauty, for the
others are more or
less constant factors
for any one kind of
gem. Weight, o f
course, is a big factor,
and many people
think it is almost the
sole criterion; but
really it is not, except
in that the
larger stone of similar
grade is more
beautiful than the
smaller. That is
why it is worth
more, except in the
case of stones so
large as to be unique,
which we are not
discussing. But
when it comes to
working the matter
out in terms of dollars
and cents on a
price card, it is another
story altogether. The application
of these principles becomes a matter of
almost infinite complexity; and it is
quite probable that not even the most
expert judges of precious stones can tell
you exactly how they know that a certain
gem is worth what they say it is.
Take the case of diamonds. These
gems classify roughly into yellow-white
and blue-white. The former class is
typified in the mind of everyone interested
in the matter, by the Brazilian diamond,
although many South African
stones are yellow-white ; and perhaps the
most conspicuous example of blue-white
stones is found in the product of the
Wesselton mines in South Africa. At
the present time, yellow-white stones
rank under blue-white in value, and no
jeweler will ask as much for a typical
Brazilian stone as he will for a Wesselton
of similar weight and grade.
Long experience and an acute artistic
sense enable him to judge whether the
lustre of the stone is inferior, equal, or