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Show BUYING PRECIOUS STONES. Some of the Valuable Gems and What They Are Made Of. Buying jewels is as hazardous as buying buy-ing horses, and could anything possibly be more risky than the latter? White sapphires have occasionally been sold as diamonds, and as proof that white topaz may easily bo confused with them one has only to recall the fact that the largest lar-gest diamond in the world, tho Bragan-za, Bragan-za, belonging to the orown of Portugal and valued at 58,000,000, is by many considered to be only a topaz. Carbon, in a pure crystallized state, is in every color of the rainbow, red, orange, green, blue and even black, and occasionally the colored are as valuable as a brilliant of the same size. The jewels next in hardness to the diamond are the sapphire and the ruby, called by experts corundum, or crystallized crystal-lized clay. Blue corundum is called sapphire; sap-phire; red, ruby; green, oriental emerald; emer-ald; orange, oriental topaz, and violet, oriental amethyst The word oriental distinguishes these from real emerald, topaz and amethyst, which are distinct minerals. The largest and most famous ruby in the world forms part of the imperial state crown made for Queen Victoria in 1838. It is believed that this ruby was worn in front of the helmet of Henry V at Agincourt The most precious sapphires and rubies, ru-bies, when out and polished, show rays from the center to the sides in the form of a six pointed star. On this account they are called star sapphires or rubies. It is difficult to produce a gem upon these stones on account of their exceeding exceed-ing hardness, but there are a few good intaglios and cameos extant in both one, a cameo head of Cupid, by Isler, one a sapphire; another, a front face cameo head of Diana on a ruby, by Pis-trucci. Pis-trucci. Topaz is the next jewel in degree of hardness. It consists of about half clay, one-third flint and the rest fluoric acid. The best are yellow, with sometimes a greenish tinge. Some found in Brazil are .perfectly colorless and are called "novamina" diamonds. They are more brilliant when polished than any jeweL There are a few blue topazes found these are taken by the uninitiated for cajphires. Philadelphia Press. |