A
large diamond, free from flaws, was picked up by a native in September,
1917, on the Dutoitspan mine dump at Kimberley, The stone weighs
442-1/4 carats and is a record stone for this mine Although slightly
smaller than the large diamond of 503-1/4 carats discovered in
the De Beers mine in 1896, the stone picked up recently is the most
valuable diamond ever found at Kimberley in the mines of the De Beers
Consolidated Mines Co.
It
is said that there are not enough new diamonds in the world to supply
the unprecedented increased demand from nearly all coun-tries in the
last few months. The shortage is due to the four and a half years of
war, during which mining operations were completely suspended for a
period of a year and a half and were resumed on a greatly reduced
scale. The diamond dealers in the United States have in the meantime
been replenishing their stocks from the accu-mulated surplus that had
been mined prior to the war.
The
competition which formerly existed in the world's diamond market has
completely disappeared because of Germany's loss of German Southwest
Africa, the output of which was large enough to be a factor in the
market. The former German possession is now held by the British. With
this competition eliminated, it is pointed out by leading American
diamond dealers, 95 per cent of the world's production of diamonds will
be under control of the De Beers Con-solidated Mines Co. and its
selling agents.
Holland
and Belgium did most of the diamond cutting before the war, France and
England cutting smaller quantities. The industry has been practically
suspended in Belgium, has increased in Holland, and remains about the
same in France and England.
It
is estimated that about half of the mined diamonds of the world are
owned in the United States and that their value exceeds a billion
dollars.
AGATE AND AMETHYST IN TJRTJGTJAY.
Agates
and amethysts are found in the Departments of Tacuarembo, Paysandu,
Salto, and Artigas, in the northwestern part of Uruguay Agate is
abundant in many curious and beautiful forms and in a
g
reat variety of
colors. Amethyst occurs in geodes, which are col-lected in the fields
at a nominal cost, taken on mule-back or in carta! to the nearest
railway station, shipped from there in barrels to Salto, and thence by
river boat to Montevideo. The finest amethysts, of a deep violet color,
equal to the best European material, come from Artigas, near the
Brazilian border.
Little
exact information as to the output of amethyst is available. In 1909,
which was a normal year, exports are estimated to have beenj between
13,000 and 15,000 pounds. Practically the entire output on rough
amethyst and agate was formerly exported to Germany to be cut at Idar
and Oberstein. The value of rough amethyst varied greatly according to
purity and color, ranging from 10 centimos (10.34 cents) to 12 pesos
($12.41) per kilo (2.2 pounds), and except tionally as high as 40 pesos
($41.36) per kilo has been paid. The output since 1914 has been very
small and irregular, owing in part to the depletion of the supply of
stones of good quality.
The
Morgan Gem Hall of the American Museum of Natural History, New York
City, has recently acquired a beautiful statuette, 8 inches high, of a
woman dancing, carved out of an unusually perfect block of translucent
natural sapphirine (blue quartz) from Uruguay.
