1U 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



combination was effected at Kim- 

 berly to regulate the output, and 

 so prevent a fall in prices such as 

 was feared under the competition 

 then beginning to be felt among the 

 mining companies. Since then, 

 the annual output has been care- 

 fully calculated each year to meet 

 the needs of the world, and prices 

 have consequently remained firm. 



Since the opening of the South 

 African mines, forty-eight million 

 carats of diamonds have been pro- 

 duced, valued at ^£60,000,000 in 

 the rough, or more than ^600,- 

 000,000 when cut. During the 

 past twenty-five years a duty of 10 

 per cent, has been paid on about 

 one hundred and seventy-five mil- 

 lion dollars worth of cut diamonds 

 imported into the United States. 



After the diamonds have been 

 collected in proper sized parcels at 

 the mines by the various mining 

 companies and licensed buyers 

 they are shipped by mail steamers 

 direct from the Cape to London, 

 which, until two years ago, was the 

 greatest market in the world for 

 rough diamonds. These parcels 

 were frequently sold within one or 

 two days after their arrival in Lon- 

 don. When the owners reside in 

 South Africa, and the price expect- 

 ed is not realized, the parcels are 

 sealed while the offers are cabled, 

 and the transaction is often closed 

 within twenty-four hours. 



On the arrival of mail steamers, 

 buyers from Amsterdam, Paris and 

 Antwerp visit London to make 

 purchases. The stones are then 

 cut; exceptionally fine ones are 

 sold separately, and the others in 

 parcels according to size and 

 quality. 



A clever trick was resorted to 

 during some negotiations in 1889 

 by Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the Napo- 

 leon of the diamoud world, and 

 the organizer of the mining com- 

 binations. A fellow director, 

 Barnato, made an offer for the en- 

 tire stock on hand, which Rhodes 

 agreed to, provided all should be 

 weighed together, saying that he 

 would like to see a bucketful of 

 diamonds. They were all put in- 

 to a pail, which they nearly filled, 

 and as the market had no supply 

 during the three months required 

 to separate the stones again, ac- 

 cording to grades, the price was 

 sustained, and the company tided 

 over the difficulty. 



In January of the present year 

 the Antwerp and Amsterdam deal- 

 ers endeavored to break the Eng- 

 lish control of the rough diamond 

 market by offering a higher figure 

 than the English syndicate had 



bid for a three months' option on 

 the entire output. The English 

 syndicate then made a higher offer 

 for the whole product of 1895, and 

 a sale to them took place of $17,- 

 500,000, the limit fixed for the 

 output this year. 



One of the curious phases of the 

 Amsterdam diamond cutting in- 

 dustry is the extent of the trade in 

 diamond waste. Most of this ma- 

 terial comes now from the cleav- 

 ers. Formerly, when diamonds 

 were still very expensive, cleavers 

 did not deign to set to work upon 

 a stone unless it was mainly of 

 fair quality, and the most of it 

 could be turned out as valuable 

 diamonds. But now, through the 

 competition in price, nothing may 

 be rejected. If a piece of boart 

 contains but one corner, though 

 not more than one-eighth of a car- 

 at in weight when polished, it 

 must be turned to account; and if 

 this little available portion lies in 

 the center of the stone it can only 

 be reached by a great deal of cleav- 

 ing, which will unavoidably pro- 

 duce many splinters and much 

 dust. Cleaver's waste is of sever- 

 al kinds, generally sold in a lump 

 to dealers. First, there is the 

 boart, or the remnants of stones 

 from which small corners have 

 been taken off; these realize the 

 full market price of boart. Out 

 of the other waste are picked the 

 few splinters yet fit to be worked 

 into rose diamonds, next the long 

 pointed splinters which, when in- 

 serted in a handle, are used for 

 points in engraving upon stone, 

 glass, etc. After these come the 

 smaller bits, some of which may 

 also be used for engraving, and 

 the stronger ones for boring holes 

 in porcelain, glass, etc. The 

 smallest material of this kind is 

 generally stamped into powder 

 and employed in polishing dia- 

 monds, and in the arts. The 

 coarser pieces, when smooth, are 

 used for slabs, in which holes are 

 drilled, and they are sold for wire- 

 drawing, being much harder and 

 more durable than any other sub- 

 stance for this purpose. 



A great deal of waste also comes 

 from the cutters. During the cut- 

 ting a variety of splinters and fine 

 fragments are thrown off, hence, 

 the waste material furnished b}' 

 cutters, and to some extent by the 

 cleavers, is the sweepings, of 

 which there are again two kinds, 

 viz: First, "bak fulles, " the resi- 

 due of the bak or box upon which 

 thd friction of the two diamonds 

 occurs, a mixture of minute dia- 

 mond particles and scrapings of 



cement; second, "table fulles," or 

 sweepings of the floor of the shop. 

 All these pass through complicat- 

 ed processes of cleaning, by dex- 

 terous and experienced hands. 

 At first nothing is seen but black 

 dusty fragments of the cement 

 used to fit the diamonds on the 

 handles, with here and there a 

 glimmering bit hardly visible to 

 an inexperienced eye. The buyer, 

 however, knows how to treat it by 

 sifting, burning and boiling in 

 nitric acid, so that out of this 

 black mass is brought, a fine snow- 

 white powder, mixed with minute 

 fragments of diamond used for 

 stamping. An extensive .trade is 

 done in these different kinds of 

 waste, and it is exported from 

 Holland to various parts of Europe 

 and America for technical pur- 

 poses. Over two hundred persons 

 in Amsterdam gain their living as 

 dealers in diamond waste and 

 sweepings. 



The subject of diamond cutting 

 in the United States is worthy of 

 consideration. Since 1868 more 

 than one hundred and seventy-five 

 million dollars worth of diamonds 

 have been imported into the Unit- 

 ed States, of which about fifteen 

 million dollars worth came in the 

 eleven years between June, 1882 

 and June, 1893. Of these the or- 

 iginal rough stones could not have 

 cost more than one-half. If these 

 stones had been cut in this coun- 

 try it would have given employ- 

 ment to five thousand men for the 

 past twelve years at the average 

 yearly wages of $1,000. The diffi- 

 culty in establishing the diamond 

 cutting industry in this country is 

 the inability of dealers to obtain 

 rough stones at first hand, and the 

 fact that diamond cutting is an es- 

 tablished industry, and in many 

 ways waste is prevented by a more 

 economic system of working. 



In the years of 1882 to 1885 a 

 number of American jewelers 

 opened diamond cutting establish- 

 ments, but the cutting has not 

 been profitably carried on in this 

 country on a scale large enough to 

 justify branch houses in London, 

 the great market for rough dia- 

 monds, where advantages can be 

 taken of every fluctuation in }he 

 market and large parcels purchas- 

 ed which can be cut immediately 

 and converted into cash, for noth- 

 ing is bought and sold on a closer 

 margin than rough diamonds. 



During 1893 diamond cutting 

 was carried on in the UnitedStates 

 by fifteen firms, each employing 

 from one to twenty men, the total 

 number amounting to from one 



