Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-07-10
pAn1ns AND p1AmoNps.

suspending, and the Bank Of England itself
was in correspondence with the Chancel-
lor of the Excequer upon the necessity of
suspending restrictions in its charter to
preserve the city from a universal crash.
there were, at that very hour, sales going
on at the West End Of costly paintings
and jewelry at such prices as only a pie
thora Of money could have warranted. A
pair Of diamond earrings brought S7.26o
in gold. or $lo,25o in greenbacks; q ring.
with one diamond, $4,000; $4,000 to
$1,000 were given for diamond necklaces
Of a single row, while others, Of pearl.
brought $1,000 and more. About the
same time pictures and drawings BY mod
ern masters, brought from seven to ten
thousand dollars. Twenty.six pictures
and three drawings produced about $751;.
900 in gold. and another sale, four days
later. with i, produced a total Of $l42. 900.
A pair Of views in Holland brought
$4,000; the gem Of the sale, $4,000; and
a "a Coast Scene" $4,000. Another
pair Of pictures brought $4,000. In fact,
at the very time that the Bank Of England
would only lend money at ten per cent.
on Government securities, pictures, horses
aud gems were selling at rates like these,
quite unprecedented until within q few
years.
The secret Of this appears to be. that
there the world Of commerce Is so perfect
" disconnected from that Of the landed
sris,ocraey and gentry. that the former
may be suffering agonies while the latter
will be entirely unrufaed. 1.-THE pur-
chasers Of sapphires and rubies at six
thousand guipeas an ounce" know moth
ing about the rates Of discount. There
are. indeed, plenty Of buyers at the most
exorbiiant prices who have made their
money In commerce; but then It is not
until they have realized and retired from
business and invested in real estate that
they begin to put their money into costly
luxuries Of this sort.
Il is true. that Of the most ~extravagant
men in this sort Of things, most have made
their money within the present generation.
In nine cases out Of ten, even in London.
the fortunes that are invested in these
works Of taste belong to those whose fam
lilies thirty years ago were in quiet and
humble circumstance. There are, indeed,
noblemen, both in England and on the
Continent, Of the style Of Prince Ester
hazy. who recently died at the age Of
eighty-one. and whose vast estates were
deeply involved by enormous purchases
of the most costly jewels. and who appear
ed in a blaze Of diamonds as. the repre-
sentative of Austria at the coronation Of
George ".
But, as q general thing, it is men Of
newer fortunes-parvenus-who are now
buying up the pictures and precious
stones. Every year the number Of these
increases. There are fifty men nov in
London, and five hundred in this country,
who can afford these things, where one
could do so half a century ago. And
thus it happens that the demand increases
faster than the supply. This is the case
in the United States, more even than in
London. It is the commercial classes, the
bankers, capitalists and contractors, with
US, who make the largest fortunes, who
catch up the costliest pictures, and buy
and give and wear the most expensive
jewelry. And therefore it Occurs that
with US when times are most prosperous
we buy heavily, and pay such enormous
prices for jewels as to cause them to be
rapidly drawn to this side Of the ATTAIN
tic. But let a crash or convulsion Of the
money market come, and with Us the de-
mand for ornaments ceases, and the prices
at once fall as bank discounts rise.
It is true that we are getting to have a
class Of capitalists who are beyond the
reach Of the fluctuations Of any ordinary
times, whose investments are in lands
paid for, and mortgages well-secured. and
city property of ample revenue But
these are not with US the purchasers Of
the most costly jewelry. They make in
N Of the sane kind annually, and
also in the endowment Of colleges and
hospitals, in building churches and estab-
fishing scientific institutions and public
libraries, and lectures and schools Of art.
l, is not the diamond sparkling on the
brow of beauty that is the pride and
adornment Of the families of such men,
bu, that imperishable lussre that shines
from a living. cultivated soul, alive to all
that is truly great and glorious in the
universe. and spending vast sums to Sc
cure that.