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COLOR AND FLAWS 155
throughout the stone but result in the loss of a sliver or a wedge-shaped piece out of the edge.
Many
other inclusions have been noted by scientists, hematite being
frequent. As the exact nature of these inclusions is of more interest
from a scientific standpoint, they will not be discussed in this
chapter, which considers them only as they affect the appearance of the
cut stone to the eye, and the consequent effect on their desirability
and value.
Surface
flaws consist of nicks in the edge of the stone, or cavities in the
face of one or more of the facets. It sometimes happens that
irregularities in the surface of the crystal can be eliminated only by
a considerable reduction of size in the finished stone. If a
depression exists where the edge or girdle will be, the cutter
endeavors to cut it so that it will appear in the gem as an
irregularity, which, though an imperfection of shape, would not
constitute a flaw, but if the cavity extends too far into the stone,
the diamond leaves the polisher's hands with a more or less observable
nick in the edge. As the faces of many of these nicks are rough
unpolished crystal, they not only spoil the perfection of outline, but
detract materially from the beauty of the stone, and are in some cases
reflected into the interior to its further detriment. In setting such
stones, the jeweler is careful to hide these flaws as far as possible,
by covering them with the gold prongs with which the stone is held. The
prongs of a jewel often hide the reason why one stone costs less than
another apparently no better.
Occasionally, uneven places in the crystal are where the face or back of the finished stone will be, and some
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