The opal is a non-crystalline mineral of hydrated silica occasionally displaying a beautiful play of colour, hence its value as a gem stone. The precious or “noble” opal, as the real gem is called, is, however, but one variety, and is only found in a few places. Read the rest of this entry »

The best diamonds are usually colourless, but a blue-white shade is very rare, and one such, known as the ” Hope ” diamond, though only four and a half carats in weight, fetched £25,000. The value of stones from one to twenty carats is roughly calculated by multi plying the square of the weight in carats by the price per carat;  above twenty it is far more.

Diamonds have been discovered since in many parts of the world, and particularly in Brazil, South Africa and West Africa; and in almost all cases by accident. Each discovery has been a romance, but these stories and those of the wonderful methods and results of diamond-mining in South Africa belong to the romance of mining. Read the rest of this entry »

Two remarkable instances of the profitable commerce in diamonds are those in connection with the ” Orloff ” and ” Regent ” diamonds. The first was stolen from a Brahma temple by a French soldier, who sold it for £2000 to an English captain. He sold it to a Jew for £12,000, the Jew sold it to Prince Orloff of Russia for £90,000, and Orloff gave it to the Empress Catherine II., who rewarded the donor with a pension of £4000 a year. Read the rest of this entry »

For many years the only source of supply of diamonds was the East, and there the stone was not valued for its usefulness, but for its magnificence as a gem and ornament. Each of the great historic diamonds of the East has its own romance.
The ” Great Mogul” and the ” Koh-i-nur ” were the most treasured gems of the great Mogul conquerors of India. The first was lost during the sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah of Persia, and has never been found. Read the rest of this entry »

From time immemorial man has loved to bedeck himself with ornaments of all kinds, and every¬thing in nature which appealed to him as beautiful or mysterious, or a combination of both, has been eagerly sought both for the gratification which such possession gives, and for its commercial value in exchange for other commodities. Read the rest of this entry »