Arthur Herbert Church

“ In placing these three necessary qualities of beauty, durability, and rarity in this sequence, the intention has been to express the preeminent necessity for beauty in stones deserving the name of precious; the importance of durability, which must claim the second place; and the desirability of a certain degree of rarity, especially where the quality of durability may not exist in the highest degree. How far a very beautiful and hard mineral would maintain its position as a precious stone in the event of its becoming exceedingly abundant, one cannot venture to judge ”

“ It has been before stated that the caprice of fashion influences and alters the market value of precious stones from time to time. The peridot, the amethyst, the cat's-eye, and the aquamarine have each had their day, and then been abandoned for new favourites. Even the emerald has suffered vicissitudes, and so has the opal. The causes of such changes in the popular esteem in which particular species of gems are held cannot often be traced. A new fashion is set or an old one restored, and once set is blindly followed. ”

“ Why should not moonstones, even if they can be bought for a shilling apiece, be introduced into goldsmiths' work of the most artistic sort? Surely they may rank at least with coloured enamels, which are of extremely small money value, but which are prized highly when employed with skill in well-designed jewels. ”

“ In the body of the present handbook frequent references are made to the occurrence of many gem-stones in Ceylon. The search for these beautiful minerals and the traffic in them has, in fact, been going on in that island for ages, while the plumbago and mica industries are affairs of to-day. ”

“ Now the value of the gems exported in an average recent year by a single Colombo merchant was ₤30,000, while there are a score of other Ceylon gem merchants who together export no less than ₤200,000 worth annually. With casual sales to visitors to the island and to travelling dealers, a moderate estimate of the annual export of gems from Ceylon will be ₤300,000. ”

“ Chiefly in fault, however, are the purchasing public, who still tolerate the horseshoes, anchors, and clumsy cables of a debased time, and are not quick to appreciate refinement and originality in the selection and artistic mounting of precious stones. ”

“ By brilliancy and colour they force themselves upon our attention, while the spinel, the jargoon, and the tourmaline generally need to be studied, to be looked into, that their merits may be discovered. But the argument that beautiful stones ought not to be employed in the higher kinds of bijouterie unless they are costly is an unworthy one. ”

“ Notwithstanding the exquisite skill of a few modern artist-workmen, it must be affirmed that there is room for improvement in the ordinary productions of jewellers' shops, with respect to knowledge, taste, and finish. ”

“ For the ignorance that prevails about precious stones, not only among the wearers and owners of them, but also among jewellers themselves, is indeed dense. A London goldsmith had six stones to mount as rings ”

“ In this connection may be named the treatises of Dana, of Professor Lewis of Cambridge, Professor Maskelyne and Professor Miers, for in the pages of the present handbook only such scientific considerations find place as can be easily grasped, and which, at the same time, help to explain the beauty of precious stones and afford methods of identifying the different kinds. ”

“ Sir G. C. M. Birdwood.—"Industrial Arts of India." Vol. ii. pp. 17-32. London: Chapman and Hall 1881
E. Boutan.—"Le Diamant," pp. 325. Paris: Dunod 1886
A. H. Church.—"Physical Properties of Precious Stones." Proc. ”