Diamonds at the Paris Exposition.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 443, 5 February 1890, Page 3

Diamonds at the Paris Exposition.

The diamonds shown in the Exhibition must be at least of the value of £.7,000,000 or £8,000,000. There are many specialties and tours de Jorce , such as a model of the Eiffel Tower, made entirely of diamonds, 3:) feet high, which is going off to America. The Imperial diamond, belonging to. a syndicate of London merchants, which weighed in the rough 457 carats, and now, cut and polished, is 180 carats. This stone is believed to have been obtained surreptitiously from one of the South African mines, and is expected to sell for about £40,000. The Koh-i-noor only : weighs 103£ carats, but there are brilliants shown more than double that size. To Bruges is attributed the credit, in the Fifteenth century, of first polishing the diamond with its own dust. The troubles of the sixteenth century, however, drove a greater part of the experienced workmen to Amsterdam, but Belgium has now regained its old prestige for diamond-working. To Antwerp belongs the honour of improving the cleavage and polishing of these precious stones, which have increased considerably the brilliancy of the diamond by adding to its fire and lustre from the regularity of the facets. In order not to waste any of the material the lapidary now shapes the gem according to its natural form. , Hence it is rounded gracefully, which adds considerably to ifcs value. Since 1830 the cutting of rose diamonds has become a specialty of Antwerp. The fine jewels shown in the Belgian section are marvels of workmanship and the admiration of all connoisseurs. Nearly all the Cape diamonds are now sent to Antwerp to be cut and polished. Since 1840, when the first steam diamond-cutting firm was established in Antwerp by Messrs Bovie.tho industry has made rapid progress, there being now about fifty workshops, employing 3,500 operatives, and a skilled workman, according to the work he turns out, can earn per week from £8 upward. The discoveryNii the South African diamond mines about twenty years ago created a complete revolution in the trade. The finding of the famous ‘ Star of South Africa,’ a stone weighing eighty-three and one-half carats in the rough, caused a great rush to-the district, and the banks of Yaal river were found rich in diamonds. This large brilliant, when cut, weighed fortysix and one-half carats, and now figures among the jewels of the Countess of Dudley; but this has been far exceeded by subsequent finds. The river, diggings were soon abandoned for the farms of Du Toft’s Pan, Bultfontein, and the locality where now stands the town of Kimberley. A circle of about three and one-half miles in diameter indeed incloses the four principal diamond mines which have been worked to such advantage. The depth to which these principal mines have now, been excavated is from 400 to 500 feet. The public have a general impression that the Cape diamonds are usually of a yellow tinge, but this is not so.