Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1900 — PRECIOUS GEMS ARE GUARDED. [ARTICLE]

PRECIOUS GEMS ARE GUARDED.

The Dealers Make Careful Note of All Chanties in Their Ownership. The dealer in precious stones keeps remarkable account of the valuable gems which come into this country. Ills business does not end when he succeeds in disposing of a precious stone or mounted piece at a good round figure. He can tell how many times it has changed hands since it reached these shores and usually he can tell every person in the country who owns anythiug in gems worth knowing about. This city is the great center of»these dealers, as it is through this port that practically all gems enter. The American woman buys the finest diamonds that can be had in the medium sizes. In which the purest stone comes. .The mine from which the most beautiful stones nre taken, at Jaegersfonteln, In the Orange Free State, has been shut up, as a great reef encountered made it unprofitable to mine further. The next best diamonds come from Wesselton, about fifty-two miles from Kimberley, and that, too, is shut up on account of the war. The finest large diamond which ever came into this country belonged to the Morgan collection. It weighed twentyfive carats and Bold for about SIOO,OOO. There was one diamond of 128 carats sold In this city and another Klmtierley stone of seventy-six carats, but both* were tinged with color ond not nearly so valuable as the Morgan gem. Another single diamond sold In this city less than three years ago for $t2,000 and It is now owned by a Western woman. The American woman likes her diamonds, not by ones or twos, but by downs and hundreds, and these are formed Into tiaras, necklaces, corselets, corsages and hair bouquets and sprays, all arranged with or without other stones, and so that they can be t'oslly detached and worn in separate pieces. As the wealthy families of this country come Into possesion of a large uumber of diamonds, their taste turns toward colored stones. The ruby is preeminently the next In favor, and prices higher than those paid for diamonds are given for It. Two years ago a firm in this city sold a single ruby for s2fi,000. lat year there came a demand for the emerald and a single beautiful stone in the autumn brought a dealer $20,000.-New York Evening Post.