Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1900 — Vamped-Up Rubies. [ARTICLE]

Vamped-Up Rubies.

Adroit jewelers are able to Increase the value of gems by tricks so adroit that the most expert Judges are deceived. Large rubles can now be made out of small that would, when cut, take In even an expert lapidary if he trusted to his eye only. He must examine with a microscope to detect the vamped-up stone. Some bubbles in it are then visible, that is all. The double refraction, that depth of color which is a caress to the eye, and the hardness are there. The vamped-up ruby is produced by melting the small rubles Into one. A clever device of jewelers who go in for cheapness—or cheating—is to set a rose diamond on a foundation of paste. The gold setting hides the joint. The first application on a large scale of this trick took place not long ago at Brussels. A man entered a jeweler’s shop, and, saying he had lost at roulette and needed money, at once offered for sale his wife’s necklace. The price he asked was only half the apparent value. The jeweler examined it, found the wide refraction of the diamond which Is the cause of those brilliant fireworks, but still was mistrustful. “I can’t do anything hastily," he said. “My condition for transaction is this—that you leave this necklace with me for two days.” This was agreed to. He took the first express to Paris and showed the necklace to some experts. They took part of it to pieces and discovered the fraud.