variety
and size of the stones. Not only does cutting reduce the stone in size,
but the cost of cutting must be taken into consideration. The latter
may represent almost the entire value of stones the raw material of
which is abundant and cheap, as is true of many of the varieties of
quartz. In the case of diamonds the cost of cutting adds about 50% to
their value.
The
price of gems, besides varying with quality and species, is dependent
like that of other commodities upon supply and demand, which are in
turn affected by discoveries of new sources, and by changes of fashion.
Thus the discoveries of diamonds in Brazil and South Africa
respectively caused a fall in the prices of this gem at each of these
periods because of the increased supply afforded. In 1750, just before
the influx of Brazilian diamonds into Europe, one-carat stones were
valued at $40. Shortly after, when the supply from Brazil poured into
the market, they fell to a value of only $5. In 1791 this price had
risen to $30. This fell again to $20 during the French wars of 1848,
but by 1865 had risen to nearly $100, which is not far from the present
price. At the present time the emerald has reached an unprecedented
price, because while the demand is steady the supply has almost
entirely failed. On the other hand, the sapphire has fallen about 25%
in value in the last twenty years on account of the discovery of new
fields. In some cases, however, the failure of supply of a little-used
gem may cause the demand for it to cease, as has happened with the
Italian diopside.
The
price of the four gems, diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald, is on the
whole little influenced by changes of fashion, for they seem to be
always in demand. Most of the other gems, however, vary in price with
the fashion, being at one time much in vogue and again almost
forgotten. Thus topaz is now little prized, but Kunz states that the
mines of this gem in Spain have been bought and are being held by a
French company in anticipation of a return of the stone to fashion.
This might cause a demand for it equal to that of forty years ago, when
it brought from $4 to $8 per carat.
As
gems are objects of luxury, and not of necessity, the demand for them
is greater, and hence their price is higher, in times of prosperity.
Vice versa in hard times, or periods of financial depression, prices of
gems fall. The period following the French Revolution witnessed a great
lowering of the prices of gems, partly because the previous
extravagances of the French court in this direction had been one of
the sources of popular discontent, and partly because of the general
financial depression. At the present time in the United States the
magnitude of the gem trade is greater than ever before.
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