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Ch. 6: Emerald

Ch. 6: Emerald Page of 515 Ch. 6: Emerald Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
EMERALD.
237
into pieces of different colors. Th.e purest tmeralfls are called the Peruvian.
The emerald is found in micaceous schist at Salzburg, in the Sahara mountains, in gangues in Peru, in the argilla­ceous and in hornblende slate. Formerly, the finest emeralds came from Warta, in Peru; but the mine is either exhausted, or the Indians filled up the mines before they left them at the conquest. The best are now found in the valley of Tunca, in Santa Fe, where they occur in granite. The emerald has lately been discovered in Siberia, in the micaceous schist, and is equal to the Peruvian in every respect.
The emerald is sawed into pieces with emery, cut on the copper wheel, and polished on a finer wheel with rotten-stone, pumice-stone, tin-ashes, and water. .The step-cut, and the mixed step-cut, or the table-cut, are mostly used, yet it is sometimes cut as a brilliant or rose-cut. They are set with a green foil or green satin on their back; 'or some­times in a back colored with mastic, and very black; but if perfectly pure, and of fine color, they are set a jour. On exposure to air, emeralds grow by degrees paler.
The'emerald is, on account of its agreeable green color, a very favorite ornament, and is used' for the most exjjen-sive kinds of jewelry. Its value depends altogether upon its pure and fine color, vivid lustre, and the size of the specimen. The price of emeralds was much higher before than it has been since the discovery of Mexico; the prod­uct of the mines of Peru reduced their price considerably; now they are getting dearer again, and always command a good price. A small box of fair 'emeralds from Peru, which I saw a few years ago, ai the office of the American and Fm-eign Agency, in this city, which weighed from three to four pounds, was sold afterwards at Paris for nine thousand francs. A good emerald, of fine color, is worth
Ch. 6: Emerald Page of 515 Ch. 6: Emerald
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