When the local agates were exhausted, the merchants went farther afield and started to import stones from all known sources. The industry was at a low ebb when it was saved by the discovery of huge quantities of excellent rough agate and carnelian in the neighborhood of the river Jacuhy in Brazil. This was in the year 1825, when it is said that a number of Idar-Oberstein emigrants were traveling through this area as musicians, there being no call for their ordinary work at home.  Regular shipments of these and other stones, especially amethyst, followed, and although civil war in Brazil interrupted this business, by 1840 a good and regular supply was forthcoming. Cutting mills in Idar increased in number, the year 1859 seeing about 140 at work, employing some 1,200 polishers. Rock crystal, amethyst, citrine, and agate were in great demand, and it was some years before the call for these stones began to diminish.
Fortunately, the discovery of the opal fields in Australia at about that time gave the industry a fresh impetus, and since then, changing fashions and the discovery of further gem bearing areas have enabled the lapidaries to be kept employed. Unfortunately, wars, tariffs, and international financial depressions have had considerable effects on the fortunes of all who are employed in this trade, for although much is normally consumed in Germany itself, Idar-Oberstein lives by its export trade. The War of 1939-1945 naturally had a disastrous effect on all concerned; the English and then the huge American markets were cut off, the exploitation of the various conquered countries being of little avail. With the man power shortage, almost all the skilled craftsmen were called upon to do war work, and this unessential industry almost died out for the time being. Its recovery will be gradual; many of its members succumbed to the toll of war, no new apprentices came into the trade, and the arrangements for importing rough stones will have to be organized once more. Skilled Jewish and other refugees have settled in other countries, where they have started lapidary workshops, and they will be loathe to return to a country which has served them so badly. For the time being, the manufacture and fashioning of synthetic stones, such as ruby and sapphire, have of necessity become more prominent. The trade of cutting and polishing diamonds on behalf of Antwerp firms, a concern of considerable and growing importance in the few years preceding 1939, has now recovered to a large extent and the industry is nourishing once again, although output is restricted owing to supply difficulties.

As we have noted, stones are very seldom used in their natural form. They need shaping and polishing to bring out their full beauty, and each stone of value has to be considered individually.
If we examine any transparent gem stone which has been cut, a number of small faces, or facets, will be observed covering the surfaces. Such facets have not been ground on the stone in any haphazard manner. They are there for a purpose, and in the case of diamond, their number, their proportion to each other, and their mutual inclination should be mathematically exact if the utmost beauty of the specimen is to be revealed. With other stones, the proportion of the facets to each other and also their direction are of great consequence.

Generally, transparent white stones are so cut that their dispersive powers and their sparkling brilliance are shown to the best advantage. Colored stones are fashioned so as to bring out the full beauty of the body color, their fundamental color being, as a rule, their greatest attraction. There is seldom any advantage in faceting an opaque stone, while others possessing peculiar internal effects, such as asterism, have to be considered individually.

Ceylon is a prolific source of a great variety of gem stones, and cutting there is an old craft which has been practised for many centuries. It is largely in the hands of the Muslims. Primitive tools are used, and practice and observation are the teachers. It takes from ten to fifteen years for an apprentice to pass from the stage of cutting imitation stones to the cutting of the precious varieties. Simple hand-operated machines are used, and the fixed idea of retaining as much weight of stone as possible nearly always results in a detraction of the value of the stone when it leaves the island. This has led to many importers buying the rough stone direct instead of the finished material.

Generally, the cutting disc is a leaden plate, the edge of which is coated with an abrasive powder such as corundum or garnet, according to the hardness of the stone being worked. The plate is rotated backwards and forwards by a hand operated bow string, small stones being held in a specially shaped tool. A similar wheel, but of copper or brass, coated with a fine paste, is also used for polishing. Experience only guides the native lapidary; he uses no electric power, and apart from custom, he uses no scientific knowledge regarding the optical properties of individual stones.

We will now consider the actual forms of cutting, that is, the general shapes into which stones are cut so that their individual properties are best brought to light. At the same time, these shapes will best lend themselves to their application in mounted forms of jewelry.

Large holes or thicker slabs of material are usually drilled by electrical power, high speed electric drilling machines being used, and these have needles or tubes which are charged with diamond dust and oil. But all small stones, such as beads, earstuds, ring stones, and stones for links are drilled individually and by hand. Moreover, there are certain stones such as jasper, malachite, tiger-eye, and lapis lazuli which vary slightly in hardness owing to their composition. Such materials are always drilled by hand as a machine operated drill would be quickly broken if used. The touch of the cutter and driller is so practised that they can almost always tell the hardness of a stone, and they are able to distinguish its species from its resistance to a drill. A cutter is also able to say in most instances where a stone has been mined. For instance, a diamond cutter can tell from which area a given diamond has originated, and whether it is an alluvial or a mined stone. This is not so easy now that many new fields have been developed. The mined stones from Namaqualand in South Africa are very similar in working to alluvial found stones. The latter are generally considered to be whiter, but they sometimes develop a tinge of color when cut. Chilean lapis can be differentiated from Persian lapis, American turquoise from Persian lapis, and so on.

Many stones are cut in their country of origin, although many of these need recutting when they reach the European or American markets since they often do not satisfy the standards demanded in these western countries. For instance, most of the Ceylon cut stones, such as sapphires, rubies, and garnets are refashioned on their arrival in Europe. Russian cut amethysts from the Urals are generally cut too deeply so that they appear “thick,” and such stones are very difficult to mount in jewelry. Siam cut zircons are often well cut, and jade from China is usually so well designed and finished that no improvement is necessary. Brazil now cuts many of the stones found locally, and an important industry has developed there since 1942. Opals cut in Australia are usually too thick and the shapes are often unusable. All these faults are primarily due to the desire to retain as much weight as possible without proper regard to shape and proportion. We have dealt further with the cutting of certain species when they were described individually in their individual chapters.

The large pieces of rough, such as agate, are slit by means of a wheel, which revolves vertically, its edge being covered by a paste of ground boart and oil. The stone is held in both hands and pressed against the wheel, the work thus being somewhat arduous. Shaping is done in a like manner, a large sandstone wheel being used. The old custom, which still prevails in a few mills, is for the workman to lie on his stomach over a specially shaped wooden stool, pressing the stone against the wheel which revolves in water. Water is sprayed in all directions, and the position assumed by the workman is far from comfortable, although he is able to exert considerable pressure with the stone against the wheel. Every few minutes he must rest, and after a short period, he changes to another wheel and works at slitting or polishing.

The work is laborious and unhealthy, quite a number falling victims to silicosis or to what is known locally as “cutters’ disease.” These men seldom live beyond middle age. But the erection of small factories with electrically driven machinery in the last few years is now almost universal, and these old mills with their huge sandstone wheels lying along the river’s edge are already almost a thing of the past. The Idar stream, the river Nahe, and the neighboring streams once furnished the source of most of the power used in the cutting of the cheaper stones, yet in 1923 there were only 62 establishments using water power. Some 1,151 were using electricity, and 3 were run by steam power.