they
they have small specks or glasses in them), or perhaps that the entire
parcel is slightly pique. Other lots are said to " run clean," when a
fair proportion are perfect or nearly so and some are quite imperfect.
If a lot is admittedly imperfect, the imperfections will surely be
quite noticeable. " Rejections" are the stones so badly imperfect as to
endanger the sale of the lots from which they are culled. These are
sold at a low figure to dealers in " bargains."
There are two kinds of imperfections or flaws: those which are inherent, and others arising from imperfect cutting.
Of
the former, black, or carbon spots are the most discernible. They range
from specks so small that it is difficult sometimes to discover them
with a magnifying glass, to spots and broken, ragged clusters, quite
plain to the naked eye. They are formed often of uncrystal-lized carbon
or portions of the original element which did not crystallize with the
rest but took one of the other forms of carbon, i. e. graphite or
carbonado, probÂably the latter, and were included in that which did
crystallize. Others are inclusions of foreign matter, titanic iron,
etc. They are considered bad imperfections because they are so easily
detected by the naked eye. It is worthy of observation, however, that
the blackest and most abrupt carbon spots are usually found in the
whitest and finest stones. They remind one of human nature, in which
the flaws of great talent are more than ordinarily bad. Not only do
black spots look blacker when set in material of peerless color and
splendor, but they are blacker. Where carbon appears in the lower grade
diamonds of Africa, it is often not only somewhat
