Forms of cutting Precious Stones.
It would
not perhaps be advisable to conclude without some description of the
various methods used in the fashioning of rough stones into the
symmetrical and beautiful finished article; and also without a brief
description of the mode of buying and selling, and the manufacture of
artificial and imitation gems.
In
their rough state the qualities of lustre, refraction, and dispersion
of light, so much prized in precious stones, are but ill-displayed. To
bring out these properties to their highest perfection it has been
found necessary to form these irregular stones into symmetrical ones,
by grinding and polishing smooth faces or facets upon them, or as it is
termed, " cut them." An illustration of the principal forms into which
precious stones are cut is seen in the accompanying plate.
To
bring out the most beautiful form, it is often necessary to reduce the
size to a great extent, half the stone being occasionally removed to
secure a perfect gem, and it may be considered that in the cutting of
large diamonds about half the stone will be removed. The " Star of the
South," a Brazilian diamond, weighed in the rough 254-1/2 carats, and
when cut 125 carats. The " Regent" or "Pitt " diamond, weighed 410
carats in the rough, and when cut it was reduced to 136-7/8 carats, so
that in these two instances we see the enormous amount of material
sacrificed for the sake of mere beauty. Oriental nations were satisfied
to allow the stone to be one of size rather than beauty, and were not
so fastidious as to sacrifice quantity to quality. The unsymmetTical
contour of the " Koh-i-noor " when it first arrived in England is
sufficient illustration of this fact; the two principal planes indeed
being cleavage planes, and besides it had two or three flaws
remaining, which might have been a serious defect, and cause the
breaking of the stone; these were successfully removed in the
recutting. There were also two notches cut in the stone for the purpose
of holding it in its original setting. By the presence of these large
cleavage planes it is very probable that the Koh-i-noor was only a
portion of a larger stone, perhaps the original " Mountain of Light."
Tavernier,
who was himself a celebrated authority on gems, wrote a book of his
travels, published in Paris in 167G, in which he gives an account of a
celebrated diamond, the " Great Mogul," supposed to have been at that
time the largest diamond ever found, its original weight uncut being
787-1/2 carats. When he saw it, it had been cut, and. the weight
reduced to 279-1/2 carats. Now all trace of this celebrated diamond has
been lost, and it has been the subject of very great discussion whether
the Koh-i-noor is not a portion of this original gigantic gem. Dr.
Beke, in a paper read before the British Association, at Ipswich, in
1851, says, that at the capture of Coochan there was found among the
jewels of the harem of lieeza Kooli Khan, the chief of that place, a
large diamond slab, supposed to have been cut or broken from one side
of the Koh-i-noor, the great Indian diamond in the possession of Her
Majesty. It weighed about 130 carats, and on the flat side appeared to
correspond with the Koh-i-noor. According to particulars gathered
respecting this " slab " of diamond, it appears that it was taken from
a poor man, a native of Khorassan, in whose family it had served for
striking light
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