558 



SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION OF PRECIOUS STONES 



A one-carat brilliant of the first water was worth ^20 to £25, one of the second water ,£'15, 

 while one-carat roses of the first water were worth only ^g'lS to dClS ; a brilliant of ^ carat 

 would fetch £6, one of f carat £12, and one of Jg- carat d£'l ; for small roses, of which 

 50 go to the carat, d£'15 per carat was paid; very small roses of about 1000 to the carat 

 cost about 6d. each. Only at most prosperous times, in the sixteenth and at the beginning 

 of the seventeenth centuries, were such high prices paid as were cxurent for diamonds in 

 1869. In the following table, compiled by L. Dieulafait, may be seen the prices in francs 

 (25 francs = £1) which were paid for brilliants of 1 to 5 carats in the years 1606, 1750, 

 1865, and 1867. The prices current in the year 1878, which are given further on, are 

 incorporated in this table in order to show the fall which took place in consequence of the 

 discovery of the South African diamond-fields, and which followed a steady rise in the years 

 1867 to 1869. 



The prices current for brilliants of ordinary size at the end of the 'seventies is best seen 

 from the following table, which was compiled by Vanderheym, on behalf of the syndicate of 

 Parisian jewellers, for the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Two brilliants of weights from 

 J to 12 carats and of four qualities were exhibited, and the prices in francs given in the 

 table are for the pair of stones : 



