Page:A treatise on diamonds and precious stones including their history Natural and commercial.djvu/48

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DIAMOND.

fection, or as the retailer may think fit to charge them,

For brilliants of three carats, if tine and well formed, from seventy to eighty pounds may be obtained. Stones of this size and larger are more liable to capricious fluctuations of price than the smaller ones before named, being chiefly required for the centre stones of saleable necklaces,

Brilliants of four carats, if fine, are worth from £100 to £130. I have sold stones, single cut, a little off color, of this weight at eighty guineas. I possessed one of seventeen grains, perfectly white, having a surface as large as that of a seven carat stone ought to be, it was consequently very thin, but being much in request on account of its great spread or surface, it was sold for £160.

Brilliantsof five carats are not frequently