are cut in London town as well as the work can be done in Amsterdam.
In
the United States the late Henry G. Morse of Boston was the pioneer in
establishing the lapidary business on a successful footing early in
the last (nineteenth) century. He opened his workshop in Boston in
1866, and made several important improvements upon the cumbrous
machinery in use in Europe. His business was confined, at first, to
recutting and polishing damaged gems; but the influx of South African
diamonds brought about speedily an enlargement of his works and the
employment of thirty expert hands. At the start only foreign workmen
were engaged, but Mr. Morse succeeded in training American women to a
height of proficiency as lapidaries which rivalled the best foreign
work. Among the fine gems cut and polished in his shop were four
weighing fifty carats each, and he later scored a notable success with
the cutting of a superb South African diamond weighing 125 carats. The
brilliant fashioned from this stone weighed 77 carats, and has been
greatly admired by connoisseurs as a specimen of exquisite beauty and
purity developed by perfect workmanship. The cutting and finishing of
this gem was a work occupying three and a half months.
In
spite of this well-designed and ably pushed venture of Mr. Morse,
American lapidaries have struggled continuously under serious
handicaps. The United States is not a producer of diamonds, and Europe
is the established mart for rough stones from India, Africa, and
Brazil. Moreover, the business of diamond cutting has been so firmly
rooted in Europe that the work naturally gravitates to these older
establishments. Foreign lapidaries and dealers enjoy a further
advantage in the fact that the banks of England and Holland make loans
on uncut stones, knowing that the finished diamond is much enhanced in
value, while American bankers do not grant such assistance to American
cutters and dealers. Nevertheless, the work of diamond cutting has been
so persistently developed that over half of the diamonds imported now
enter as rough stones.1
1 George F. Kunz.
