Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1890 — ONYX. [ARTICLE]

ONYX.

Something About its Working and its Use in House Decoration. Onyx is coming into general use for decorative purposes. With the formation of a syndicate to work the Mexican mines and with the discovery of onyx in other places, its use has extended until it is becoming one of the most fashionable decorations in New York, says the Sun of that city. Onyx is a peculiar formation caused by drippings mixed with mineral and earthy substances under heat and pressure. This is not an exact geological definition of it, but it tells what it is. Onyx is usually discovered in caves or other natural openings and in a mineral neighboihood. The most beautiful kind of onyx is formed by various kinds of minerals running through it in streaks and tints. Onyx is the same improvement over fine marble that marble is over ordinary stone. It also costs as much more. These are two reasons why people who are putting up fine houses m this town are beginning to use it. It differs from marble in taking on a higher degree of polish, in being harder, with a greater reflection, a firmer grain, more refined and delicate tints and prettier streaks. Streaked marble is not popular because it is usually not streaked in a way to add to its decorative effect. In onyx the delicate green fern, reddish and brown streaks appear beautifully on an ivory background. Onyx is got out in as large blocks as it can be quarried. The quarrying has to be done with wedges and saws, as it cannot be blasted or dug out with safety. The grain and streaks are so delicato that a blast might spoil thousands of dollars’ worth. One carve of onyx was ruined by the use of powder. The man who owned the cave started to get out the onyx by the slow process of saws aud wedges. He got out several car loads, when the thought struck him that he could take all the onyx out of the cave !at one blast. So he put his men to work and drilled around the cave, arranging his blast so that he would have $40,000 or $50,000 worth of onyx to be hipped at once. The drill holes were charged and the blast was exploded. None of the onyx was fit for use except in mosaics and such work. There was not a sound bit four feet long in the cave. This taught the other onyx miners a lesson, and no shocks and blasts or detonations are allowed in the oavc or in the neighborhood for fear that the onyx may be cracked or that some small cracks may be enlarged. Onyx is worth in the rough from $3 to sls per cubic foot. The price is not steady, as it depends on the demand and the length and shape of the block got out as well as thp appearance of the onyx. The market for onyx is something like the market for meerschaum, only less regular. A man who buys a block of onyx takes it to some extent on speculation. He docs not know how it will saw and polish. There may be cracks inside of it which he does not see, and the grain and srreaks on the outside may not be carried through.

The onyx in its rough state looks like other stalactites and stalagmites, though it might be taken for marble by any one not in the business. It is worked much as marble is, by sawing and polishing, except that more care has to be exercised and that the polishing is more difficult. When it is worked up it will sell for $1 to $5 a square foot, according to its appearance. Some dealers make onyx up in mantels, but even though an onyx mantel is costly, the dealers do not like to make it up in that shape, as they say that it vulgarizes the onyx and will end in cheapening it. Onyx is beautiful for tables, mirrors, and panels. There are only four or five dealers in it now in New York, but when the new syndicate begins shipping here steadily onyx will be pushed. It is no more rare now than the finer marble used to be.