Center for stones
Posted May 4th, 2009 by adminThe center for working these stones was Idar-Oberstein, really two large villages which lie adjacent in the valley of the small river Nahe, on the railroad running from Bingen on the Rhine to Saarbruken. Some stones were also cut in Hanau and Pforzheim, but Idar-Oberstein, with the surrounding villages which lie in the valleys, made up the chief area for the fashioning of the many semi-precious stone varieties as well as for the manufacture of synthetic stones. To this area, rough stones from all over the world were sent, agates and amethysts from Brazil, rock ‘crystal, rose quartz, and aquamarine from Madagascar, opals from Australia, Ceylon stones of all kinds, garnets and tourmalines from South Africa, turquoise from Persia, chrysoprase, tourmaline, and kunzite from the U.S.A., and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.
Every mining area of importance is known and exploited by the Germans; they have their representatives and buyers of rough stones in every country, and from long experience they are able to buy and ship the material at the lowest rates. Normally, much is brought to Idar-Oberstein in the first instance, where it may be inspected and then bought by auction on specified dates. Merchants buy the rough stones according to their requirements and separate markets, for after being fashioned, the cut stones are again exported to every country in the world.
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