gemstonesbuy.com

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.