Huntsville gazette., 1885-01-24
A POOR INVESTMENT.
The Custom Of Putting Spare
Cash in Precious Stones.

''The time-honored custom of put
ting your spare hundreds or thousands
during flush times into jewelry and sill
under the impression that you
are at any rate laying away a nest-egg
for rainy day, is great mistake that
people are waking up to, remarked a
broker and an agent who is an old and
prominent citizen of San Francisco,
and into whose possession has fallen in
a special way of late large quantity
of the valuables of which he spoke.
ut is a custom fruitful of sorrow
and disappointment to many of the
persons who indulge in it, and in more
Instances than you would imagine,
upon first thought, source of serious
annoyance and difficulty to their
friends. All the conditions under which
the habit is practiced, favor such re-
suits. In San Francisco during the
last few years the facts Of the case have
been demonstrated in most peculiar
and forcible way. The public knows
very little about the matter. how the
trade in these costly articles is con-
Quoted, or what is the ultimate DISPOSE
ton of the wares, and it should be pro-
vided with general information con-
cerning the subject. Then consider
able vexation might be avoided, es-
pecially on this coast. The subject is
an interesting one, full of novelty and
suggestions of the lights and shades of
life on the high tide of success, as well
as the low ebb of financial depression,
and will try to give You a few points.
Probably there have been few instances
in history where there was such uni
versal disposition on the part of every
one to buy these costly goods as dur
ing the bonanza times of California;
the noteworthy era of colossal fortunes
made in day; the time of inflated
values in all property: the days when
people of all social grades, into whose
hands, as if.by magic, heaps of gold
had fallen, plunged into all sorts of ex-
travagances, and the vendors of dia-
monds and precious stones, and costly
ornaments, and wares of gold and sill
yer, reaped harvest. Millions were
spent.
"Not only did large establishments
Offering these gems and luxuries pros
per here, but Eastern dealers sent out
large consignments to be sold here.
The Eastern dealers continue to do SO
now. The sales in this city were enor-
nous, and there was another extremely
large influx of goods which were
brought here by old settlers and min
ing magnates who had gone East to
visit their homes again after making
their fortunes. When the large major
ity found that the untrustworthy stocks
had swallowed up their money with
the same startling speed that it had
been amassed, the gems, ETC., in their
possession went for the most part to
the pawnbrokers. As a matter of
course none of their owners received
anything like the amounts the goods
originally cost; Many people, yet re-
tanning their faith in the stocks they
held, put up their jewels as security in
the hands of their brokers. Then came
the first realization of what small
percentage of the original cost can be
obtained under any circumstances.
wish to emphasize particularly the case
of jewels and precious stones, because
it is natural and widely prevalent be-
def that at all hazards jewel-a dia-
mond earring, for example, would be
worth at any time, and in any place,
very nearly what it cost, for the set
ting is an inconsiderable portion of the
value, and the stone remains the same
always. But the belief has no founda-
tion in fact. In actual practice it
would only be question of extraordi-
nary luck if the owner obtained, under
q forced sale, more than thirty-fve to
fifty per cent. of what he paid for it
when he bought it out of the store.
One of the most astonishing examples
of this kind that has come to my knowl-
edge occurred in this city.
"A gentleman took a magnificent set
of diamonds, which he had presented
TO his wife while in affiuent circum-
stances, to his broker, and delivered
them up as collateral for stock that he
was holding. The set consisted of
earrings and a cross, and the man had
paid firm in this city five thousand
six hundred dollars for them He sup
posed, of course, he could dispose of
them any day for at least from three
to four thousand dollars, and nearly
any man owning jewelry in the city
would believe the same thing. But
they would be far from right. When
the stocks that the broker was holding
for the gentleman sank lower instead
OF going up, it became necessary to
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
dollars-not one-quarter of what the
goods first sold for. 1t is very plain
case. The firm admitted that the
stones were the same that they had sold
for the large amount, but the price at
which they would take them back indi-
Gated that a profit of about four thou
sand three hundred dollars had been
made on them. This is only one of
many 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
bali what is paid at first for any jewel.