gems, gems general

An annual review of the United States gem and precious-stone industry for 1915, with production statistics, comparisons with the preceding five years, and detailed notes on individual gem materials and localities. Schaller records a total domestic production valued at $170,431, the second-lowest figure since 1898; Montana ranked first, chiefly because of sapphire production, followed by California. The report discusses beryl and aquamarine, sapphire, Arkansas and California diamonds, feldspar gems, garnet, opal, numerous quartz varieties, jasper, rhodonite, staurolite, thomsonite, topaz, tourmaline, turquoise, californite, and thulite, giving information on new discoveries, mining activity, quality, cutting, and marketing. Of particular interest are accounts of Montana sapphires, Arkansas diamonds, California tourmalines, Maine and Massachusetts beryl, and the diverse agates and chalcedonies of the western states. It concludes with import statistics—precious-stone imports in 1915 were valued at $26.19 million—brief notes on the foreign gem industry, and a useful contemporary bibliography of gemological literature.