St. Landry democrat., 1885-01-24

| sell the jeWelrY, and the very best offer
| that the firm who had sold them to the
| gentleman would make to take them
| back was one thousand three hundred
1ollars-not one-quarter OF what the
goods first sold for. 1t is a very plain
case. The firm admitted that the
stones were the same that they had sold
| for the large amount, but the price at
1 which they would take them back indi-
Gated that profit of about four thou
sand three hundred dollars had been
made On them. This is only one of
manr cases, and nearly all dealers
| seem TO prefer to deal with the trade
and bring more and more stones to the
market in preference to offering even
half what is paid at first for any jewel.
Many thousands of dollars worth of
precious stones and expensive jewelry
are held in the safe vaults of this city
to-day which must be parted with by
the owners at a great sacrifice, as
| many of the owners are among our old
and most respected citizens. In flush
tj@es they accumulated the property in
| the way of presents from their friends
or individual purchases, and now when
hard times have come upon them the
treasure relics of bygone prosperity
must go to pay for the necessities
of life, and to secure money with
which to tide over temporary penury.
1t would surprise any one to hear the
names of our local men who have been
reduced to this method of raising
funds, and the array of gems brought
| together would be q further revelation.
E.The men in question shrink from
going to pawnbroker. They seek out
friend and ask him to lend some
money on the goods. The friend
knows that the man is not telling
falsehood, and, after viewing the orig
inal invoice for the Jewels, he advances
with good viii two thousand dollars
on three thousand dollar set of
diamonds st fair rate of interest.
| Finally the man to whom the money
has been loaned goes to his friend III
perfectly good faith and says that times
| are not much better, that even the liz
terest is burdensome-and the jeWeiry
must be sold. Then the mistake of the
whole transaction is brought to light.
The price obtainable for the jewels is
much smaller than the money loaned.
A few examples of these cases are:
One lot of silverware, consisting of
wedding presents and various pur-
chases, costing in all more than two
thousand dollars, was sold for five
hundred dollars. Come in here and
look at these sets and see what you
think of them, Here is a pair of dia-
mond earrings and a brooch that cost
Io11 1rNfc oil
them for four hundred dollars. Here
is a seven hundred dollar set Of
silver ware that can go for one
hundred and fifty dollars 20 any
purchaser That diamond locket
was bought for eleven hundred
dollars, and it goes a begging when
offered at four hundred dollars.
And, as you see, not any of them show
wear in the slightest degree. Undoubt-
edly in some cases the owners of these
jewels paid exorbitant prices in the be-
ginning, for there are INSCRIPTIONS
dealers who are apparently trustworthy,
but as a rule the gems are of the finest
quality, and the men who handle that
class of goods are not usually objects
of suspicion. However, you will no
tice a strange thing when you go to
jeweler to have an expert place value
on a set of diamonds upon which you
wish to make loan. He will tell you
that he would not sell the set for GER
tain amount he names; but upon the in
stances above enumerated it is evident
that he would not give you half as
much if you were to offer the set to
him.
s'This expert valuation is an inscruta-
BILE system. / suppose there have been
several instances where the amount of
money loaned on a set of diamonds
was based upon an experts valuation,
which, as | have said, proved to be a
considerably larger sum than could be
realized at forced sale. A lady in
New York is the possessor of jewels
bought at Titfany's for eighty-four
thousand dollars, and she concluded to
sell them, because they were SO much
trouble to her. Tiffany would not
take them back and pay more than
thirty thousand dollars. carry a
good watch, and have for a long time
been living in the happy belief that by
means of it / could get home at any
time happened to be caught out of
town, but [ am every day growing to
consider my heretofore happy belief
delusion and snare. I don't know
but that would be obliged to walk
home if the. car fare was too big,
yene if the place where I was
literally sWarned with pawn-shops.
People for the last two years have
been melting up their old silver
to get the bullion. At one time
one concern alone melted up an aver
age of six sets per week, and at the
present time sets are continually sent