, 1888-09-16
BUYING PRECIOUS STONES
npnuon ana Paris Are the Markets for
Saie-TricLs of the Trade.

upnuon ana Paris Are the Markets for
Safe-Trick of the Trade.
As no diamonds are produced in North
America, the supply must come from
foreign markets. The temptation to
smuggle would be great were it not that
the government has wisely placed the
duty on all cut and unset precious stones
at the nominal rate of 10 per cent. This
low rate secures more income from this
source than a tariff of % per cent. or
more, as h incentive to smuggle is not
sufficient to tempt any but the most ava
racious or foolhardy among importers.
To buy diamonds, and the same may
be said of all other precious stones and
pearls, in Europe advantageously the
buyer must be sufficiently well informed
from long practice in buying in these
markets and from a special study of the
nature of precious stones, to enable him
to place correct values on parcels sub
mitted for his inspection. The novice,
or one having only the limited knowl-
edge of the subject of gems which is ac-
quired by occasionally handling them,
cannot possess the qualifications needed
to deal successfully with the ''sharpest"
n shrewdest lot of merchants and
brokers in any line of. trade, as the dia-
mond merchants and brokers of Hatten
Garden and Paris are admitted to be.
Amsterdam is the great workshop
where most of the diamond cutting has
been done for centuries. Antwerp,
HARLEM, London and other places now
cut large quantities of diamonds, while
London has always led in the cutting and
polishing of the fine colored stones like
the ruby, sapphire and emerald.
Although Amsterdam cuts a large per-
centage of stones, the markets for their
sale are London and Paris. Not only
are he large stocks of cut and uncut
diamonds owned in these cities, but the
controlling interest in the mines is owned
here also. On the discovery of the great
deposits of diamonds in Africa mining
was done by claim owners, who were
known as ''diggers." Now these claims
are owned by several corporations nav
ing headquarters in London and Paris,
n these corporations regulate the pro-
duction of the mines. Prices are thus
kept at more uniform rates, and a break
in the market is prevented. If there
should be a sharp demand in Paris stocks
are sent over from London, and vice
versa. Brokers are the mediums through
which most transactions in precious
stones are made. The craft is made up
AAOLh JUL oC4Co. Ii WHICH hdo ISCOl-
lections of quite extensive transactions
with a female diamond broker, who dis
played as much shrewdness and business
intelligence as any Of the male members
of the profession he has met.
There are tricks of the trade'' in
Vulnerable. One consists in showing
h very lowest grade of stones first, SO
that when at last a rather inferior grade
is reached by a crescendo process the
buyer becomes somewhat confused in his
efforts to fix in his eye the exact quality
under examination. For aid in selecting
very high grade diamonds a 'test stone"
of known quality is invaluable.
Diamonds of staple or medium quail
ity, ranging from one grain to six grains,
or from one-half to one and one-half
carats weight, may be purchased as ad-
vantageously of the New York importers
as in the foreign market, but the larger
and finer grades are found in London and
Paris in much greater quantities, giving
a wider choice for the judicious buyer.
In these higher grades there are very
slight fluctuations in prices from year to
year, n therefore as en- investment
they are the better goods to buy, particu-
larly when they are well bought.
Even in so large a market as London,
if a dealer wants a pair of unusually fine
gems or a very fine solitaire, it is not
prudent to place an order with more than
one broker, for if two or more are started
on h hunt a process of bidding against
one another ensues and prices go up.
The 'still hunt" is the most profitable.
Should a ruby of three carats and the
finest quality be desired, the intending
purchaser would find it necessary TO wait
perhaps for months before such a stone
could be found, and then at first hands
it would cost the price of a kings ram
som-say about the ransom of a Sand
witch Island king-$10,0 00.-Edward j.
Smith in Detroit Free Press.