Page:Handbook of Precious Stones.djvu/19

Rh Mountains." Forthwith the lady rejoined: "Well, after all, I do not think I care so very, very much for this bracelet; please show me something else." Not that she knew that there did exist a real objection to these green garnets—they are not quite hard enough to stand much wear. For the ignorance that prevails about precious stones, not only among the wearers and owners of them, but also among jewellers themselves, is indeed dense. A London goldsmith had six stones to mount as rings; in returning them finished, the invoice gave to the specimens five wrong designations! A few years ago how very few jewellers understood what was wanted when a tourmaline or a jargoon was asked for! and yet the tourmaline and the jargoon have been long known. Diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, pearl, opal, turquoise; turquoise, opal, pearl, sapphire, emerald, ruby, diamond—such is the range and variety of acknowledged gems. If a novelty has to be introduced it must be called by some modification of these well-known names, and must become a "Cape ruby" or an "Uralian emerald." In speaking further on, in reference to the artistic use of precious stones, something more will be said upon this point of the neglect of certain kinds of extremely beautiful stones.

From the statements just made it will be gathered that although a stone to be precious must have, in very good measure, the qualities of beauty, durability, and rarity, yet we cannot arrange precious stones in any fixed and definite order, by assigning them places in our list in accordance with the degrees in which they possess these three qualities. Even if all stones going under the same name were equally fine this would be impossible; much more is this the case when we learn that two specimens—say of ruby—each weighing the same, might be worth five pounds and fifty pounds respectively. In placing these three necessary qualities of beauty, durability, and rarity in this sequence, the intention has been to express the preeminent necessity for beauty in stones deserving the name of precious; 8445,