SC - Re: Dream kitchen

[Nanna Rognvaldardottir]

At 12:38 AM -0500 6/13/00, Stefan li Rous wrote:

>Is it possible to get second-grade, non-jewel grade precious
>stones that would work fine for this? Or is there even
>such a thing?

I missed the original message, but I assume you are trying to get 
gemstones for culinary purposes--perhaps for Maistre Chiquart's 
chicken soup or something similar.

1. "Precious stones" is a technical term--diamond, ruby, saphire, 
emerald, are the usual ones on the list. I have a vague impression 
that some people include pearls, which aren't really stones at all.

2. Generally speaking, junk grade precious and semiprecious stones 
are available and cheap--meaning dollars an ounce or even dollars a 
pound. Typically that means opaque stones of uneven color, when the 
valuable ones are clear and pure of color. Many semiprecious stones, 
such as lapis and malachite, are available at that sort of price in 
qualities that are good enough to be worth cutting.

Commercial grade pearls are more than that, but still cheap compared 
to what you buy in a jewelery store.

The Cleopatra story is that she is supposed to have dissolved a very 
valuable pearl in wine. I gather it doesn't work, unless the wine is 
pretty close to vinegar, and even then slowly--probably days not 
minutes according to my lady wife, who dissolved a lot of calcium 
carbonate in strong vinegar in an earlier stage of her life.

David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/