Due to a new server, slow response may occur for which we apologize

Close Box

Coming soon...

Close Right Panel

Ch. 6: Sapphire

Page of 515

Text size:



	SAPPHIRE.	219

	or peacocks; and the water sapphire in a black back : but all perfectly pure sapphires are set d jour. Many sapphires may be deprived of their specks by a careful calcination in a crucible filled with ashes or clay, and they assume then a more agreeable and purer color and greater transparency. Sapphires are very favorite gems, and are extensively used by jewellers for setting in pins, lings, &c. In China, the ladies'-slippers are mounted with rubies. The blue sapphires have of late been employed as lenses for microscopes with great success. According to Brewster, it is, for its refracting power, second only to the diamond, and superior to all other gems. A new use has lately been made of the sapphire for drawing wires—it being cut in the form of a wedge, through which, by means of a diamond-point, a circular hole is drilled and then fastened on a brass plate; the wire is drawn through the smaller aperture of the sapphire towards the wider, by which process it is reduced to a thinness never otherwise attained. The price of sapphires is very relative, but their proportional value is next to that of the diamond. The Oriental ruby stands highest in value, and when perfect, and exceeding three carats, is generally as dear as a diamond of equal weight and quality. After the ruby, blue sapphire stands next in value ; and as this is not so rare, and occurs in large specimens, it is not so high in price. Some put the price of the blue sapphire equal to that of the colored diamonds; others put the price at half that of a brilliant under similar circumstances. Sometimes the value is fixed by multiplying half the price of a sapphire weighing a carat, with the square of its weight. It is therefore very difficult to come at an exact price-current, and the following average prices come nearest to their commercial value:

Page of 515

Table Of Contents

Annotate/ Highlight

Feuchtwanger. Treatise on Precious Stones.

Existing selections:

1 Page 399 second in August and September; and the more rain, the more
comment:

delete edit

2 Page 401 weight of twenty-four grains is counted as thirty; so that a
comment:

delete edit

3 Page 398 body on, or by boring a hole in, the shell. The Chinese are
comment:

delete edit

4 Page 400 At the Pearl Islands, near the Isthmus of Panama, the pearl
comment:

delete edit

5 Page 406 In 1620, King Philip IV., of Spain, purchased a pear-shaped
comment:

delete edit

6 Page 401 weight of twenty-four grains is counted as thirty; so that a
comment:

delete edit

7 Page 402 reach the age of seven or eight years, and in the fourth yea
comment:

delete edit

8 Page 403 found in the Elster river, in the kingdom of Saxony, from it
comment:

delete edit

9 Page 404 nearly two millions of francs ; Julius Csesar presented to S
comment:

delete edit

10 Page 404 nearly two millions of francs ; Julius Csesar presented to S
comment:

delete edit

11 Page 405 The seed pearls, when quite round, are worth about one hundr
comment:

delete edit

12 Page 411 and on the Continent ; around Southampton, in England, these
comment:

delete edit

13 Page 412 Artificial Pearls. Artificial pearls or beads are of variou
comment:

delete edit

14 Page 406 n 1620, King Philip IV., of Spain, purchased a pear-shaped p
comment:

delete edit

15 Page 409 near the town of Paterson, New Jersey, went to a neighbori
comment:

delete edit

16 Page 410 of Messrs. Tiffany & Co., was purchased from Mr. Howell for
comment:

delete edit

17 Page 415 The shad-fish, as well as the white-fish of our lakes, must
comment:

delete edit

18 Page 413 decomposition, and for their preservation numerous chemica
comment:

delete edit

19 Page 414 Heidelberg, Nuremberg, Sonnenberg, Meistersdorf, in Bohemi
comment:

delete edit

Saving current selection: No selection.
Comment:

Search
Books

Tag
This Page