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Precious Stones and Gems

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xii
In the division of family jewels much injustice is often done by persons incompetent to form a correct opinion of their values. A study of this work may serve to demon­strate the difficulty of an accurate discrimination. In all cases, whether for valuation or for probate, it would be wise to submit the jewels to a practised judge.
A lady had bequeathed to her some family jewels, consisting of a Sapphire and Diamond suite. As they had passed probate several times, and been valued by one of the first jewellers of the day, there was no doubt in the mind of the legatee of the genuineness of the. Sapphires. On being applied to in relation to their value, I had the unpleasant duty of pronouncing the " Sapphires " to be only paste. Had they been genuine they would have realised from .£30,000 to .£40,000.
A gem should be a real possession, capable of affording pleasure to the wearer and the spectator, and, with fair usage, retaining an intrinsic and marketable value, undi­minished by lapse of time, and, if fine, rather increasing in value than otherwise. I have sometimes seen in wear gems so scratched that their lustre has been seriously im­paired, and a suspicion was thus excited in the minds of wearers and friends that there was a defect in the hard­ness of the stones, and consequently of their genuineness. If mounted stones are carelessly kept together and allowed to rub against each other, the Diamonds will inevitably scratch all the other stones, and thus disfigure them. It may be worth while to point out that a small sum ex­pended in re-polishing such stones would restore their original lustre, revive the pleasure derived from the posses­sion of them, and prevent the risk of their being sold by executors as paste or imitation jewellery.
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Streeter: Precious Stones and Gems
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