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330 GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES
knots,
thistles, shepherds' crooks, nails, horse-shoes, crescents, daggers,
keys, spears, umbrellas, and many like shapes. In 1880, thousands of
so-called mineral clocks, each in a plain wooden case, usually in the
form of a house, completely covered with specimens, about an inch
square, of pyrite, galenite, amazon-stone, ores from celebrated mines,
and other Colorado minerals, were made. The minerals are glued on, each
bearing a number referring to a list of the minerals on the back of the
case. The interior consists of common Connecticut clock-work. Fully
$15,000 worth have been annually disposed of. This form of decoration
has also been applied to paper-weights, inkstands, and a large number
of objects.
The
fossils known as trilobites, which are found in various parts of the
United States, are used, when fossilized, or curled up into proper
forms, as charms, scarf-pins, and other ornaments. Most of those
employed for such purposes are procured from the vicinity of
Cincinnati, Ohio, and from near Covington, Ky. The species of trilobite
used is principally Calymene senaria, which is generally found curled
up, evidently in dying, and therefore appears either round or slightly
oval in form, making a very suitable charm or an ornament for a
scarf-pin. They vary in size from \ inch to 2 inches in
diameter, and are sold at from twenty-five cents to $5.00 each,
according to beauty and perÂfection. The casts of the Calymene senaria,
variety blumen-bachii, if entirely flattened out and perfect in form,
have been worn as scarf-pins. As they are pure limestone, the surface
is generally covered with thousands of brilliant microscopic crystals
of calcite, that glitter beautifully in the sunlight.
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