Jack I don't know how involved you want to get with the diamonds, how much you want to learn, but here some leads. The easiest thing to do is to take them to a jeweler to get an idea of how good their quality is and how likely that they can be faceted. Keep in mind that it's common that 1/3 to 1/2 of the rough stone will be lost in the faceting process. Not all stones are suitable, depending on their internal structure. As for the cost of faceting, I don't know what it costs. There are some people on line who do faceting and it's a hobby for a lot of people. The machines they use in this country have become very sophisticated. I do know that all the wholesalers I know have the faceting done in Sri Lanka and other places in the Orient. The labor cost is lower, and also is far less automated--usually teenaged girls, and their eyesight is pretty well shot by the time they're 20, from all the 'close' work. As for knowing quartz from diamonds, there's a lot of difference. Glass is softer, diamonds weigh more, the crystal form is very different, but the rough crystals may not look like the drawings of perfect crystals. Here's a site where you can learn more: http://www.webmineral.com There's an alphbetical listing. Also: www.mindat.org Same thing. Under "quartz" you'll see a photo of some Arkansas quartz, usually some spectaluar stuff, both clear and smokey, from the Mt. Ida area. Jan g. ----Original Message Follows---- From: "JACK CHILDERS" <jaxone1234@msn.com> Reply-To: BLACKSHEEP-CHAT-L@rootsweb.com To: BLACKSHEEP-CHAT-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [BSChat] DIAMONDS Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 22:02:33 -0500 Golly, maybe I should put mother's diamonds in a bank lock box !! Those are the ones she mined in Arkansas. Jack Childers in OKC International Society of BlackSheep Genealogists http://www.gbnf.com/genealogy/childers/html/surnames.htm "I've traveled a long way and some of the roads were not paved" Jaxone1234@msn.com ==== BLACKSHEEP-CHAT Mailing List ==== Unsubscribe from the list: Mailto:Blacksheep-Chat-L-request@rootsweb.com?subject=unsubscribe&body=unsubscribe ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com