Diamond pin

“ A stone of ten carats was no longer considered large; the diamond must be at least fifteen carats, and preferably nearer forty. The large solitaire became popular, not only for engagement rings, but as the clip-stone on a pin or pendant, from the diamond often hanging a pear-shaped pearl.
The late nineteenth century developed an electicism, a freedom of choice among the various modes of the past, that continues into the jewelry design of our own day. ”

“ In order to produce the most beautiful effect, diamonds are usually cut into one or another of three different forms, namely, rose, table, and brilliant, the shape and size of the stone determining which form is best. The double-cut brilliant is the most common form at the present day. The general form of rough, crystallized diamonds is that of two square pyramids joined at their bases. The crystals are oftenest found octahedral and dodecahedral—that is, eight and twelve sided, and the diamond-cutter takes advantage of these forms in shaping the diamond. ”

“ The places where Diamonds have been found in modern times are—the central and southern parts of India, the peninsula of Malacca, the Island of Borneo,and some mountainous districts in the kingdom of Brazil, more particularly Serro do Frio. In the latter place, which is peculiarly celebrated, they are found in rivers or rivulets, in the banks adjoining water courses, and in ravines. The Diamond is invariably found mixed with the alluvial soil. ”

“ The properties of all diamonds are practically alike [135] and so are the properties of all the corundum gems whether red (ruby) , blue (sapphire) , yellow (Oriental topaz) , green (Oriental emerald) , or purple (Oriental amethyst) .
Thus all diamonds, of whatever color, belong to the one species, diamond, and in this case the usual custom in naming them agrees with the facts. Similarly all sapphires, of whatever color, belong to the mineral species "corundum." Thus a ruby is a red corundum. ”

“ Very rarely a simple sifting with the fingers suffices to extract the jewel. In 1824 a region was discovered in the lower part of the table-land of Diamantina where the diamonds were scattered through the soil, accompanied only by a few bits of quartz. According to the popular expression, the crystals of the precious stone could be picked out of the roots of the grass when it was pulled up. A diamond of twenty-eight carats was found on the surface of the ground. ”

“ Yellow diamonds are not necessarily devoid of brilliancy, as we can bear witness from personal knowledge. There was recently offered for sale at a public auction in London a very large specimen known as the Orange Diamond, of one hundred and ten carats weight, which we [Pg 219] carefully examined. The circumstances were decidedly adverse to the beauty of a diamond, for it was in the half-light of a London fog that we saw it, yet the stone seemed literally to shoot tongues of yellow fire from its facets. ”

“ Professor Faraday has said that the ruby-tinted glass called “Bohemian” derives its colour from gold in a pure form, finely attenuated, and not from any chemical combination of that substance.
A white diamond has far more lustre than one which is yellow or violet-tinted. But in all the sapphires, the deeper the hue, the more brilliant and valuable the stone. Hence the technical term for the colour of a diamond is its water. In all these gems the hues (whatever their origin) are homogeneously united with the crystal; and the modus operandi of Nature is a profound secret. ”

“ Though for ages diamonds have been highly prized gems, it is only in comparatively recent times that cutting and polishing have been resorted to, for the purpose of enhancing their brilliancy. This is done by grinding reflecting faces on the original stone, by the aid of discs of iron or tin in which diamond dust has been embedded. Diamond chips and cloudy or imperfect diamonds are used for making tools for cutting glass, rock drills, etc. ”

“ But after the touch of the magic wheel there is no substance which can compare with the diamond for luster, brilliancy and iridescence.
Certain Indian diamonds finished by the hand of Nature and known as "Naifes," are an exception to the rule that rough diamonds are dull looking. They are seldom or never found now, but were greatly prized by the natives in olden times and considered superior to the artificially polished stone. They were octahedral in form, with polished facets. The primary crystalline form of the diamond is the octahedron, or a figure of eight sides ”

“ The manner in which a stone is cut may add to its value, either because of the light effects or because of the interesting shape. One might expect perfection, freedom from flaw, to be important, and indeed in the diamond this is so. The most common flaw in the diamond, by the way, is not a crack but a speck or tiny specks of carbon remaining between the crystals, the diamond being a crystallized form of carbon. In other stones—as we have observed of the star ruby, the star sapphire and the cat’s eye—a physical flaw may result in a greater aesthetic desirability. ”

“ Diamonds are so brilliant, the radiance from the facets so bewildering to the eye, that the flaws cannot be seen by the human eye unless the imperfection is pronounced and at the top surface of the diamond. Each facet of a diamond (by reason of the method of cutting) is a window looking down a clearly defined walled chamber, like a hall-way to the culet. ”

“ It is of a ruby color. The finest green Diamond known is the “Dresden Green” preserved in the Green Vaults of Saxony. It was purchased by August the Strong in 1743 for sixty thousand dollars. It is apple green in color and weighs 40 carats. Diamonds of yellow color are comparatively common, many of the Cape Diamonds being lowered in value by possessing a yellow tinge. It is said that this injurious yellow tinge can be overcome by dipping the stone several times in a solution of potassium permanganate, the violet color of the latter neutralizing the yellow of the Diamond. ”

“ All authorities state that the diamond is intimately connected with gold and platinum, but I cannot find any record which convinces me of the diamond having been found in the matrix—that is to say, in the rock in which it was originally formed—as all the formation in which the diamond has been found appear to have been the detritus of older rocks, in which it by some means or other had become imbedded during the formation of the newer one. ”

“ THE DIAMONDS.
1st Diamond—With the gold twine or silk work a diamond as page 4, and for the
1st round—With the light magenta wool and crochet needle commence in one of the pearl loops of the diamond, work 4 chain and 1 plain in the next pearl; repeat 11 times more, and fasten off, always knotting the ends together. [Pg 12]
2nd round—With the dark magenta commence in one of the loops of the 1st round, work 6 chain, miss 4, 1 plain in the next loop; repeat all round and fasten off.
Work as many more Diamonds as required for the size. ”

“ At last, from out of its silver paper and casing, the jewel lay revealed, and she stood, gazing a little awestruck at its flashing beauty.
It was a diamond star, to be worn as a brooch, and, every spike radiating from the centre diamond of great size and brilliancy, was composed of selected stones. Worked in across the star, in sapphires, were the words "Regina Imperatrix," and [Pg 125] the blue and white lights from sapphire and diamond shone dazzlingly from their satin bed. ”

“ Any of the corundum gems therefore may be used in any type of jewel without undue risk of wear or breakage. Customers of jewelers should, however, be cautioned against [122] wearing ruby or sapphire rings on the same finger with a diamond ring in cases where it would be possible for the two stones to rub against each other. So much harder than the ruby is the diamond (in spite of the seeming closeness of position in Mohs's scale) that the slightest touch upon a ruby surface with a diamond will produce a pronounced scratch. ”

“ The asterism, or star-like form of six rays, which is so beautifully displayed by the sapphire when it assumes a certain form of internal arrangement of crystallization, is sometimes, though very rarely, witnessed in the diamond. There is one of this description to be seen in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.
The diamond is rarely found of a perfect shade of blue; but there are now in Europe several magnificent gems of this description. Foremost of all of them stood the famous blue diamond of 672⁄16 karats, belonging to the French crown. ”

“ As time has progressed, the mode of obtaining the diamonds has gradually become more skilled and scientific. As the diggers at first worked in their allotments with the assistance of what hired labourers they could get, Hottentots, Kaffirs, and Bechuanas, their apparatus was of the rudest character. It consisted only of a stake, driven into the ground at the upper edge of the pit, with an iron or wooden pulley attached, enabling them to draw up the buckets of diamond-earth by hand. ”

“ In some “placers” the shapes of the crystals are perfectly regular, while in others they are greatly modified and rendered indistinct. In some mines they occur in fine octahedrons with beautifully truncated edges, but in other districts the rare form of the regular cube may abound. Every section of the diamond-bearing countries seems to have some peculiarity either in color, form, or arrangement of crystal. It is indeed true that experts, from an examination of the rough specimen, are sometimes able to detect the locality whence the diamond was obtained. ”

“ Art, however, in its researches on this subject, has succeeded in producing a glass which, when cut, approaches very closely the brilliancy and prismatic display of the diamond. The artificial gems made from this glass, which is supposed to have thallium as a base, instead of lead, are really superior examples of art. “Nothing but glass,” is a phrase too often used contemptuously and unjustly; for these imitations are quite as charming as the adamas itself. In the flash of their rainbow hues, they surpass some of the great diamonds, like the Koh-i-noor ”

“ To-day only very small pieces of diamond are cut to "roses." As the material so used frequently results from the cleaving of larger diamonds, the public has come to know these tiny roses as "chips." [233]
The best roses have twenty-four regular facets but small ones frequently receive only twelve, and those are seldom regular in shape and in arrangement. Such roses serve well enough for encrusting watch cases and for similar work, as the flat base of the stone can be set in thin metal without difficulty. About the only gem other than diamond that is now cut to the rose form is garnet. ”

“ This model shows the curious conical shape the diamond then had from which its name, “The Mountain of Light,” was derived. A looking-glass set behind it enables one to see the beautiful enamels at the back of the setting.
Another model of great interest is that of the Cullinan diamond or the Star of Africa, exactly showing its size and appearance when first found. It is difficult to imagine a diamond of this size and appearance until we actually see the model. It will be found described amongst the greater gems in another place. ”

“ You will meet with a great many diamonds of a rough cinnamon-coloured coat, opaque; this sort is generally very hard, and, when cut, contain a great deal of life and spirit; but the colour is very uncertain; it is sometimes white, sometimes brown, and sometimes of a fine yellow. Rough diamonds are frequently beamy, that is look fair to the eye, yet are so full of veins to the centre, that no art or labour can polish them. A good diamond should never contain small spots of a white or gray colour of a nebulous form ”

“ Then, when every trace of foreign matter has been carefully removed, a dextrous turn of the hand, as the sieve with its contents is held in a tub of water, brings the diamonds, garnets, and the heavier lumps of ironstone into a little heap in the very centre, so that when the sieve is reversed on the common pine sorting-table they lie together. The white, alum-like appearance of the rough diamond contrasts strongly with the rich-hued garnets, with which the surrounding blackness of carbon and ironstone is studded. It is only by practice that one is enabled to tell at sight what is a diamond ”

“ It is a peculiar property of diamond crystals to have convexly rounded faces, so that the edges which separate the faces are not straight, but gently curving. Less frequently in the African mines, but commonly in some other regions, diamonds are bounded by four, twelve, twenty-four, or even forty-eight faces. ”

“ Crystals have also been found in the United States.
The amorphous or carbon diamond is found only in Brazil. The pebbles or [Pg 38] masses are opaque, steel-gray to black in color, and sometimes weigh 1,000 carats.
This carbonate is principally used to point rock-drills and for other engineering purposes. The coarse variety of crystallized diamonds is called bort, and as this is unfitted for gem purposes because of imperfections, it is ground into powder and used for cutting and drilling precious stones.
White sapphires, white zircons, white topaz, and rock-crystal sometimes pass for diamonds. ”

“ In a vacuum, exposed to a high-tension current of electricity, diamonds phosphoresce of different colours, most South African diamonds shining with a bluish light. Diamonds from other localities emit bright blue, apricot, pale blue, red, yellowish green, orange, and pale green light. The most phosphorescent diamonds are those which are fluorescent in the sun. One beautiful green diamond in the writer’s collection, when phosphorescing in a good vacuum, gives almost as much light as a candle, and you can easily read by its rays. ”