DIAMOND THIEVES AT WORK

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 61, 6 December 1926, Page 11

DIAMOND THIEVES AT WORK

DIFFICULTY OF DISPOSING OP VALUABLE GEMS. Stolen gems, if they are of any considerable value, have their trail blazed in all their wanderings as thoroughly as a Bank of England note (says David Neville, in the “Daily Mail’ ). The larger, stones have each an individuality of its own. Their weight, colour, shape, and any flaws are carefully recorded in the books of every merchant through whose hands they pass. To disguise a diamond m a slow and unprofitable task. Recutting involves a loss of at least 50 per cent., and to split a cut stone is virtually impossible. Moreover, the value of a stone increases in proportion to its weight by a geometrical progression. That is to say, a stone of 10 carats, is worth very much more than douoie the value of one of 5 carats. Even should a thief decide to accept the loss incurred as the price of disguising his loot, he must find a porkman able to carry out the highly-skilled task of reciting. , A “crook” diamond-cutter must first equip himself with an expensive plant. A power-driven steel wheel, rotating at 2000 revolutions a minute (so fast that to the eve it appears to be motionless), is the first essential. Diamond paste, made up of powdered scraps and worthless stones, is smeared upon it. and the stone is pressed down upon the spinning surface by a leaden weight. Even then the process is a long one. A stone of any considerable size will require at least a month to cut, toi diamonds vary in hardness, the bluewhite'’ being the hardest as well as one of the most valuable. With pearls, however,, the procedureis different. Variations m their natural shape—round, oval, button, or baroqu . -added to their colour, perhaps marks or flaws, leave. only one wav to disguise them. A pearl is deposited in the oyster •shell in . a ies of concentric layers, and at- very great risk of spoiling it, be “skinned”—that is. have the outermost Inver removed. There are only two or three men in England who undertake this work, and the process Is a secret which they c, w-