QUARTZ (AGATE): CUTTING 519 



is described to be of local origin this is not actually the case. The agate-cutting industry 

 has been monopolised by Oberstein for centuries, and in no part of the world, not even in 

 India, has it anything approaching a rival. Wherever a cut agate is seen it may be pretty 

 safely stated that it was worked at Oberstein. The mineral is not only cut, bored, engraved, 

 and coloured in these works, but frequently also mounted, usually in gilded brass. 

 Specialisation in these works has been carried out to such an extent that each workman 

 executes his part with perfect skill and the greatest possible rapidity. The consequence is 



Fig. 90. Agate-grinding and polishing workshop at Oberstein. 



that the agate goods produced here are more perfect in workmanship and lower in price 

 than those manufactured anywhere else. We will now consider the methods employed in 

 rather more detail. 



Agaite-cutting. — The primary cause of the establishment of agate-cutting works at 

 Oberstein was the presence of abundance of rough material in the neighbourhood. The 

 earliest authentic record of the existence of the works dates back to 1497, but they were 

 doubtless in existence before that date. After flourishing for some centuries, the industry 

 gradually declined owing to the exhaustion of the native stores of rough material. The 

 discovery of the Brazilian deposits about the year 1830 gave a fresh impetus to the trade, 

 all the greater because the fresh material was specially suitable for the application of artificial 

 colouring methods, which had been discovered a short time previously. At the present 

 time scarcely any agate of local origin is cut at Oberstein, the rough material being obtained 

 principally from Brazil, though some Indian chalcedony, especially certain varieties such as 



