Ch. 6: Beryl Gems and Spodomene (Hiddenite)

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	BERYL GEMS AND SPODUMENE (HIDDENITE). 47 millimeters) by 1/2 inch (14 millimeters) by 1/3 inch (8 millimeters). One end is of very fine color, and would afford the largest gem yet cut from this mineral, weighing perhaps 5-1/2 carats. In Dr. Augustus C. Hamlin's cabinet is a fine gem weighing about 2 carats; and a cut stone of fine color, and a good crystal are in the collection of Col. W. A. Roebling. Dr. J. Lawrence Smith⁸ says that the crystals, when cut and polished, resemble the emerald in luster though the color is not so intense as in the finer varieties of the latter gem. Prof. Edward S. Dana says that, owing to its dichroism, it has a peculiar brilliancy which is wanting in the true emerald. Thomas T. Bouve, of Boston, says: " One might infer from the statement made of the great brilliancy of both the hiddenite and garnet, when compared with the emerald, that this should decide their relative beauty; but it is not the case, for the emerald has a beauty of its own, in its deep and rich shade of color, that will ever make it rank at least an equal in loveliness with the newer aspirants for favor."" When the hiddenite was first introduced, it had a considerable sale because of its novelty as an American gem and because of the newspaper notoriety it gained through the controversy that arose as to its discovery. Hence for a time the demand exceeded the supply, which, from the desultory working of the mine, was limited. Thus a 2-1/2 carat stone was sold for $500.00, and a number of stones brought from $40.00 to over $100.00 a carat. The total sale of all the gems found, from the beginning of operations in August, 1880, to the close of 1888, amounted to about $7500.00, the yield in 1882, during which the preparatory work was done, being about $2000.00. At the time of the discovery, this was supposed to be the first occurrence of transparent spodumene; but Pisani, in the Comptes Rendus for 1877, announced a transparent yellow spodumene that had been found at Minas Geraes, Brazil, where it exists in large quantities and has been extensively sold as chrysoberyl. The writer saw nearly a ton of broken crystals of this mineral at Idar, Germany, in 1881, whither it had been sent for cutting. A stone from Brazil weighing 1 carat is in the United States National Museum, as also a series of crystals and cut stones from North Carolina. At Branchville, Conn., spodumene is found in opaque crystals 4 or 5 feet long and a foot in diameter, almost entirely altered to other minerals. In spots, however, it is transparent enough to furnish small gems of an amethystine color. The alterations which have taken place have entirely changed it to what might almost be called a defunct gem; otherwise, these crystals would have afforded gems

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