|
COLOR AND FLAWS 147
will often betray it. When in doubt, the safest plan is to wash the stone thoroughly in alcohol.
Another
fraud has succeeded the painted diamond. Many diamond doublets have
been made and sold lately. This is not a new thing but an old
imposition revived. They are made of diamond from the table to the
girdle and joined there by invisible cement to a collet side of white
topaz, but they are not good. The topaz back fails to give the proper
reflections and the stones look dead.
These
practices are very old, and become epidemic as they a're forgotten, or
a new generation of unwary buyers succeed those who have had
experience.
Price
is not always indicative of beautiful color. Sometimes it corresponds
with the rarity of the stone only. A black diamond is odd, unique,
rare, but not beautiful, yet it will bring a larger price than others
of exquisite color. This is true also of some oily absinthe greens,
cloudy blues and sapphire blues. Many of the pinks which command very
high figures, look weak and washed out when compared with a fine golden
brown of half the cost. Frequently the blue-white stones appear dark
and less attractive when placed side by side with the snow white gems
of India or Brazil. Absolutely pure white diamonds are probably more
scarce in the market to-day than blue white, yet the latter bring a
higher price because the public has been educated to regard them as the
finest of all. This education was made when they were also more rare
than white. It is true that a blue-white stone will make any but a
snow-white appear off-color by comparison, but the snow-white has a
quality which makes even the bluish tint look off-color. The
|
||
|
|
||