DEFINITION OF PRECIOUS STONES. 3
Mountains."
Forthwith the lady rejoined : " Well, after all, I do not think I care
so very, very much for this bracelet ; please show me something else."
Not that she knew that there did exist a real objection to these green
garnets—they are not quite hard enough to stand much wear. For the
ignorance that prevails about precious stones, not only among the
wearers and owners of them, but also among jewellers themselves, is
indeed dense. A London goldsmith had six stones to mount as rings ; in
returning them finished, the invoice gave to the specimens five wrong
designations ! A few years ago how very few jewellers understood what
was wanted when a tourmaline or a jargoon was asked for ! and yet the
tourmaline and the jargoon have been long known. Diamond, ruby,
emerald, sapphire, pearl, opal, turquoise ; turquoise, opal, pearl,
sapphire, emerald, ruby, diamond—such is the range and variety of
acknowledged gems. If a novelty has to be introduced it must be called
by some modification of these well-known names, and must become a "
Cape ruby " or an " Uralian emerald." In speaking further on, in
reference to the artistic use of precious stones, something more will
be said upon this point of the neglect of certain kinds of extremely
beautiful stones.
From
the statements just made it will be gathered that although a stone to
be precious must have, in very good measure, the qualities of beauty,
durability, and rarity, yet we cannot arrange precious stones in any
fixed and definite order, by assigning them places in our list in
accordance with the degrees in which they possess these three
qualities. Even if all stones going under the same name were equally
fine this would be impossible ; much more is this the case when we
learn that two specimens—say of ruby—each weighing the same, might be
worth five pounds and fifty pounds respectively. In placing these three
necessary qualities of beauty, durability, and rarity in this sequence,
the intention has been to express the preeminent necessity for beauty
in stones deserving the name of precious ; 8445.
Λ 2
