Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-05-08
TRICKS OF THE TRADE,
7o" ADVANTAGE Is TAKEN OF THE
IGNORANT PUBLIC.

diamonds Painted and Other Precior.
Stones yeneered STUFF Sold for ga.
"oid which Is Poorer Than a Good Ar
ucie OF Piate-smal Profits,
There is no line of business in which
purchasers are SO completely at the mer.
cy OF store keepers as the iewelry trade"
said leading dealer. THE masses are
caught by mere appearances. They know
what pleases them, but have little idea
OF actual value. Few know the differ.
ence between machine made and hand
made goods; still less can tell whether
gold Is six carats fine or whether a stona
Is worth $40 or 500. Public trust in
these matters is absolutely pitiable.
Popular pride and ambition are stupen-
uous, Mere looks and alleged price are
practically all the buyer has to 90 by.
ana the honesty of the dealer is his only
safeguard. Then in addition to actual
grades of quality there are numerous
snlde practices that are resorted to bv
dlsreputabe merchants and manufact-
urers, so that if person contemplates
buying anything where the risk is con-
siderable it behooves him to know some
thlng about the man he deals with
PAINTING AND vENEERINo.
1.-TWO diamonds, for instance. NAV be
OF the same size and cut, yet one will be
worth twice, thrice or perhaps dozen
times as much as the other. Yellow
white diamonds are common and blue
White are scarce, and even experts find
difficulty in giving the intermediate
shades their proper place in point of dol
lars and cents. Among irresponsible
dealers 1t is common practice to paint
the stones so as to make the yellow dia-
monds whittier and the white diamonds
bluer. The paint will not even resist
soap and water. and will wear off more
quickly than the thinnest possible film
OF gold oil brass ring Yet for a time
1t makes the stone look twice as valuable
as it really is A few days ago a gentle
man brought couple Of diamonds to me
to determine their value After | had
washed them in soapsuds be could scarce
ly believe they were his own jewels, they
were SO yellow. 1t is common trick of
confidence men to paint diamonds and
then get loan on them of twice or
thrice their value. | will venture to say
that two-thirds of the people could not
tell paste from genuine diamond
Then there is the process of veneer
ing other precious stones. A piece of
erloea nv fol ,,f 10 L.
appearance is taken as body and a thin
covering of the genuine article is super
imposed SO as to convey the impression
of being genuine. Such stone in e
setting designed to cover up the de-
ception would make dupes of half the
purchasers. The danger of being taken
in would not be so great were people
better posted. Show man lot out on
the prairie and tell him it is worth 500
front foot and he will laugh at you for
! presuming upon his ignorance, but show
him a ruby or sapphire and tell him it is
worth $1,000 and lie will believe you
The masses know nothing about relative
values in gems, and the scope for de-
ception is enormous.
SOLID AND STUFFED GOLD.
"Then as to quality of metal and work
manship. There is jewelry in the market
sold for solid gold which is SO low in
purity that a respectable plate would be
far preferable to the so called solid stuff.
! a certain amount Of alloy is. of course,
necessary for durability, but the gold
that is actually manufactured into
iewelry varies in purity all the way from
four or six carats fine to twenty. Four
teen carats fine is the standard, but there
is an immense amount of solid stuff of
the low grade sold annually, and a good
share of it is palmed off for the standard
purity. This cheap stuff is often dipped
In bath just so as to color it. The null
titudes who are ignorant enough to ac-
cept a guaranty that an article is sole
rarely think, perhaps, of degrees Of
purity, and they are wofully taken in
As a rule, there is something about al
plated and cheap stuff that betrays it:
quality to the experienced eye. Every
manufacturer has his own designers
and, though copying is rife among the
workmen. YOU will rarely see goods
cheap in price without finding then
cheap in design and workmanship.
LAS rule, think people have crude
ideas about our profits. The price o
iewelry is due principally to the scarcity
of the material used and the amount o
labor expended upon it. | do not thinl
that we get more than Is per cent. gros
profit on the average, When it is born
in mind that styles are constantly chang
ing that large amount Of capital i
bound up, bearing no interest, and tina
the value of the goods is constantly de
preciating, owing to the hux of styles
this is not above or even up to the ave
rage. If we could turn our money owe
rapidly and not suffer loss from depre
citation we would have pretty goo,
thing; but the numerous failures in tn
iewelry business bear witness to what
saw about small margins of profit. Dia
mond dealers have possibilities of max
ing great profits lesitimately, since
when bought in the rough, the stone
often turn out exceptionally well.
have known diamond valued at 81, so
to be recut and then sell readily for So
900. "-Chicago News.
Iron aud Wood Ties.
Iron cross ties have proved failur
T ~, tho Pennsylvania railroad where the