Imitations and Reconstruction 223
countries
to successfully make blue sapphires, and, although they have been
successful up to the cooling point, they always lost their colour and
became gray when cool.
Mr.
A. H. Petereit has had a German chemist working on a formula of his own
for two years past, and has had his efforts at last crowned with
success. At a meeting of experts in the gem business the reconstructed
sapphires were placed among the real stones and they had to admit they
were equal if not superior to the real gems.
When
Mr. Petereit took up the mineral business his inventive mind was turned
into a new channel, the manufacture of artificial gems. Already stories
were being told of great successes accomplished in this line, but when
it came to produce the stones they failed in one form or another;
either the colour or hardness was wanting.
The
new sapphires he has invented are perfect in every way. The cannot be
scratched by the natural sapphire, they have a beautiful deep blue
colour, their brilliancy is only equalled by the diamond, their
specific gravity is exactly the same as the natural stone.
His
success with scientific rubies was due to the fact that those he
handled were the best in the market. They were made from small natural
stones hy a secret process and not from aluminum and other chemicals,
as many now on the market were.
The Deutsche Goldschmiede Zeitung, a German jewelry trade journal, has supplemented an article, from which we quote, published upon
