Category: Diamonds

  • Diamonds Mines Of Brazil

    DIAMONDS were first discovered in Brazil by natives while washing the sands for gold, in the early part of the eighteenth century. The year 1725 is given as the date, but they were not recognized until 1727 and may have been found even earlier. There is a tradition that the stones afterwards found to be […]

  • The Diamond Mines Of India

    IT is not known when diamonds were first mined in India. As far as we know, all the diamonds of ancient times came from that country. It is possible, however, that some came from Africa. All discoveries of diamonds throughout the world in alluvial deposits, of which we have cognizance, were made by men while […]

  • Diamonds – Color And Flaws

    COLOR is one of the most important qualities of the diamond. Generally, fine color means the absence of color, or a pure, clean, colorless transparency. As tints appear in it, the stone is called off-color, which means that the color is not good. Tints of pink and blue, however, are considered extra fine. So also […]

  • Inherent Qualities Of The Diamond And Diamond Cutting

    THE qualities which make a diamond so supremely beautiful are those which husband and coquette with light. As trembling dewdrops, restless waters, or the windows of a far-off cottage, receive the sun’s rays and signal his glory far and wide with their flashlights, so the diamond makes an altar for the light of the atmosphere. […]

  • Celebrated Diamonds – Continued

    A DIAMOND, included in all lists of the celebrated stones of the world, is variously quoted as the ” lblattam,” the ” Matan ” and the ” Rajah of Mattan,” and is so named because owned by the rajahs of that territory, in whose family it remains. It is an uncut pear-shaped crystal weighing 367 […]

  • Celebrated Diamonds

    THE history of some of the world’s celebrated diamonds is founded entirely upon tradition. Eliminate the records in which authorities differ, and the stories which are alike attached by one writer to one stone, and by another to some other stone, and there is little left. Some stones mentioned in old writings have passed out […]

  • The Diamond Glossary

    BAHIAS.— Brazil diamonds from the Bahia district. BIZEL.—The upper portion, above the girdle, of a brilliant-cut diamond. BLUE GROUND.— Unoxidized rock of the diamond chimneys. Boar.—Diamonds fit for mechanical purposes only. BRUTING.— Polishing diamonds by rubbing them together. BUBBLES.— Small, hollow-appearing specks in the body of the stone. BYWATERS.–Decidedly yellowish diamonds. CAPES.— Yellowish white diamonds. […]

  • The Diamond Digest

    Hardness, 10, Moh’s scale. Specific gravity. 3.48 to 3.52. (Carbonado, 3.14 to 3.41.) Index of refraction. 2.439. Singly refractive, reflective and dispersive. Total reflection from inner facets at 24° 15°. Composition: pure carbon. Crystallization. Isometric. Cleavage perfect, parallel to the facets of the octahedra. Fracture, conchoidal. Streak, gray to black : the finer the material […]

  • The Growth of The Diamond Trade

    FOR centuries, probably thousands of years, diamonds were a royal perquisite. They blazoned the regal state of Oriental princes, and were a sign of autocratic power. Ordinary trade in them was confined to small and poor stones and the few fine ones which escaped the requisitions of the rulers where they were found. Little is […]

  • Importations Of Diamonds Into The United States

    FROM 1867—YEARS ENDING JUNE 30. Rough. Cut. 1867 $ 1,317,420 1868 1,060,544 1869 1,997,282 1870 1,768,324 1871 2,340,482 1872 2,939,155 1873 $176,426 2,917,216 1874 144,629 2,158,872 1875 211,920 3,234,319 1876 186,404 2,409,516 1877 78,033 2,110,215 1878 63,270 2,970,469 1879 104,158 3,841,335 188o 129,207 6,690,912 1881 253,596 8,320,315 1882 449,513 8,377,200 1883 443,996 7,598,176 1884 367,816 […]