Page:A treatise on diamonds and precious stones including their history Natural and commercial.djvu/56

 to £20, but if they were in any degree inferior, would not cost more than from £14 to £16,

judge of Diamonds accurately, they should be laid loose in a good light, upon a sheet of white paper, on which their purity and brilliancy are bestseen, their proportions ascertained, and the tinges of color, specks, flaws, foul, &c. most visibly exposed. This is the proper and fair mode of exhibiting them for sale.

shaped brilliants, calculated for ear-drops, sell at capricious prices and are always in demand. It may be remarked that a dealer going among the merchants to purchase stones of peculiar forms, and ofacertain weight, will have to pay in many cases ten per cent. more than if he boughtthem in the usual course of dealing.

brilliants, single cut but finely propor-