Bright Brown 



Deep Brown 



Bort 



Yellows 



Large Yellows and Large Bywaters 



Fine Quality River Stones 



Jagersfontein Stones 



Splints 



Emden 



Fine Fancy Stones 



214 SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES 



cleaving, give fine stones. Large blackish diamonds are referred to as " speculative 

 stones'"; their value depends on their size and on the probability of obtaining good 

 cleavage fragments from them. For stones of this sort (cleavage) weighing less than 

 I carat the trade name is Chips. 



A collection containing black cleavage, stones of a brown or poor yellow colour and 

 bort, forms a " parcel inferior," the contents of which are unsuitable for cutting and are 

 pulverised for grinding powder or applied to other technical purposes. 



The London jeweller, Mr. Edwin W. Streeter, in his book " Precious Stones and 

 Gems," gives the following list of trade names for the various kinds of rough Cape 

 diamonds : this differs somewhat from that given above, but will be easily comprehended by 

 the reader of the foregoing pages : 



White Clear Crystals 



Bright Black Cleavage 



Cape White 



Light Bywater 



Light White Cleavage 



Picked Mele 



Common and Ordinary Meli5 



Bultf ontein Mel6 



Large White Chips 



Small White Chips 



Mackel or Made (flat, for roses). 



These different sorts of stones naturally differ widely in value ; moreover, prices which 

 were current before the discovery of the Cape diamond-fields have been somewhat 

 modified in consequence of the enormous increase in the production due to this discovery. 

 Thus, stones which were rare elsewhere, but abundant at the Cape, have fallen in value, 

 while those which are rare also at the Cape have retained their former value. 



In this way the price of perfectly colourless stones of the first water has not fallen in 

 conse([uence of the discovery of the Cape diamond-fields, but is as high as ever it was. The 

 price of yellow or yellowish stones of 10 to 150 carats in weight is, on the contrary, much 

 lower. To such stones Tavernier's old rule, according to which the value varied with the 

 square of the weight, is inapplicable, the price of such stones now varies directly with the 

 weight; sometimes, however, it is in a still lower proportion, so that when the weight of a 

 stone is doubled the price is not always necessarily doubled. 



Naturally some considerable time must elapse before prices adjust themselves to new 

 and unknown conditions. Thus, for the first large stones found at the Cape a price in 

 consonance with Tavernier's rule was demanded ; such prices were seen to be too high and 

 were soon regulated to accord with the changed conditions. As early as 1876 rough Cape 

 white stones of good quality, and up to 6 carats in weight, had fallen in value from 30 to 

 50 per cent., the largest and smallest stones having suffered the greatest depreciation. It 

 should be borne in mind, however, that these Cape whites were not quite equal in quality to 

 the white Brazilian stones. The discovery of the Cape diamond-fields caused a still greater 

 depreciation in the value of bort, the price of this material having in 1873 fallen 85 per 

 cent. ; in 1876, however, the depreciation in the price of bort was only 70 per cent., and it 

 continued to rise in value owing to its increasing application for technical purposes. 



The price of diamonds at the Cape, as elsewhere, depends not only on the quality of 

 the stones but also on the conditions of supply and demand, and varies from day to day. 

 According to the statements of E. Cohen, the price of bort varied from 1875 to 1880 between 

 Is. 9d. and 5s. 8d. per carat ; for Cape whites, of 2 to 6 carats in weight, between ^3 15s. and 

 £1 10s. per carat, and for fragments of 1 to 2 carats, between 8s. and 24s. per carat. 



