Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 159, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1910 — DIAMONDS FROM ARKANSAS. [ARTICLE]

DIAMONDS FROM ARKANSAS.

They Benin to Talk Larne Down There About a Bla Minins Plant. Real American diamonds, the first to be shown in Maiden Lane, hav< made their appearance here in the last week, the New York Sun says. They were not offered for sale, but were exhibited to the large manufacturers and Importers in an effort to convince them that Arkansas is the coming rival of South Africa. Charles S. Stlfft, a Jeweler of Little Rock, brought the speciments here, some in the rough and others cut and polished. Malden lane experts readily admitted that the Arkansas diamonds are equal in quality to the best from South Africa or any other part of the world. The only differences of opinion were as to whether or not the volcanic pipe found in Arkansas really contains diamonds in sufficient abundance ~to make t£e mines important Mr. Stlfft told the dealers that several hundred stones have already been found, 'many of them in their native matrix, and that the blue ground Jta similar to that from which the South African stones are taken. He said that the development of the Arkansas field has been proceeding cautiously up to this time, but that results have been so favorable thus far that a complete mining plant similar to . those used by the De Beers company is about to be Installed. One of the Arkansas stones, shaped like a canoe and weighing two and one-half carats, was especially admired, and an importer offered $125 a carat fer it, an unusually high price for a diamond in the rough. Mr. Stlfft says that clear white, blue-white and canary yellow stones have all been found in the new diamond field.