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320
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THE DIAMOND
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A
bit for deep borings will require 8 carbons of not less than 3-1/2
carats each, or 28 carats for the bit, which would bring the cost of
the carbons alone, for one bit, at the present price of $85 per carat,
to $2380.
The
carbons are bought for cash, at first hands, in unassorted lots of all
sizes and qualities, running from 300 to 1,500 carats. As with all
expensive material, frauds are perpetrated on the unwary by some
unscrupulous dealers. Poor diamonds are fixed up to look like carbons,
bogus carbons are mixed with the genuine, and sometimes unadulterated
frauds are palmed off for genuine.
In
the natural state, carbons usually show no regular form of
crystallization, though octahedrons, and cubes have been found. Under
the microscope, however, they appear to be formed of minute diamond
crystals, and carbon powder is composed of bright brown half
transparent diamond octahedrons, frequently with opaque enclosures.
Carbon therefore appears to be a mass of infinitesimal diamond
crystals. To one outside the trade, the stones have no appearance of
value whatever. They are light in weight and therefore do not impress
one as the heavier metallic ores do. Irregular in shape, of a dull
grayish-black, brownish, sometimes greenish, color, there is nothing
about them to suggest value, yet half a dozen of them as large as
hickory nuts would be worth several thousand dollars. Close examination
under a loup will discover a porous-looking surface covered with
angular indentations having a lace-like appearance and a wave-like
arrangement. In and about the crevices are numerous infinitesimal
glistening specks like the faces of small crystals. Some
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