by
caravan, brought these stones, or a knowledge of their style, from the
far Orient to Constantinople, whence they were made known to France,
Italy, and Holland.1
That such forms of gems were made in Paris and in Venice as early as the thirteenth century is certain. In 1290 a.d. a
society of lapidaries was formed at Paris, and at the close of the
fourteenth century there were professional diamond cutters of somewhat
higher skill in Nuremburg. In 1365 a.d. an
inventory of the jewels of Luigi d' Angio was made, which mentions a
diamond having eight facets and another shaped like a shield. The
facets here spoken of may be only flat sides such as any true
octahedral crystal presents.2
One
of the first, if not the first, of European workmen to • attain any
distinction as a diamond cutter was named Hermann, living in Paris
about 1407 a.d., and it
seems to be certain that from his time or the beginning of the
fifteenth century the business of polishing and developing the diamond
became an established industry in western Europe. Gems in the rough
were somehow finding their way from India and Borneo, and were coming
into the market not only among kings and the members of the royal
households but among noblemen and burghers of great wealth. In 1465 a.d. there
were three registered diamond cutters living in the city of Bruges.
Perhaps these cutters were associated with Louis de Berquem, a native
of that city, who announced in that year a new method of cutting
diamonds and established a guild of diamond cutters.
The
method which he pursued and the forms which he evolved were deserving
the name of a new discovery of which he was truly the inventor. With
whatever assurance others may claim to have invented the art of
faceting or of cutting diamonds,
1
"Precious Stones and Gems," Streeter. "A Treatise on Diamonds and
Precious Stones," Mawe, 1813. "Treatise on Diamonds and Pearls," David
Jeffries, 1 750-1751. "On Gems and Precious Stones," Robert Dingley,
Phil. Trans. Abi. IX, 345, 1747. " Le Grand Lapidaire," Sir John
Mandeville, Paris, 1561. " Les Merveilles des Indes Orientales," etc.,
Robert de Berguen, 1661. " Voyages en Turquie, en Perse et aux Indes,"
Tavernier, 1676. 2 Ibid.
