The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-03-24
TRICKS OF DIAMOND-sELLERs.
How a Man Buys One Jewel and Gets
Another.

NO "Jo OhO cc"Ci ohu "Ols
Another.
"1f you want to buy a diamond you
must be careful to go to a trustworthy
house or you will got awfully cheated"
said a young man to a friend who con-
templated purchasing a diamond for
his Christmas gift. do you see this
ring?' he added, extending one of his
hands, on which a fine diamond SPAR
killed. and glittered in the sunlight.
well. that's a pretty nice sort of a
ring and had a hard time getting it.
That's why l like it and that's the rea-
son | warn you to be careful where you
go to get one.
"A o a year g / had q surplus
one hundred dollar bill in my pocket,
and, getting an idea that l would like
to invest in a ring, I went down to a
Jewelry store to make the purchase.
There was in the show window on ex-
hibition this diamond that you see on
my finger. 1t was marked for sale for
one hundred dollars. 1t struck my
fancy and l asked the clerk to show it
to me. After examining it with a great
deal of care and finding that it would
fit my finger, l decided that / would
take it.
81 am sorry said the clerk, but we
are not allowed to sell show goods,
but | nave the mate to the stone here
and you can buy it."
"He took the ring to the rear of the
counter, and when he returned he had
a perfect counterpart of the which
| desired. After the usual details /
put the ring on my finger, took the
guarantee which he proffered and
started up town, and luckily happened
to meet a friend who is an excellent
judge of diamonds. / was proud of
my ring, and, as you can imagine, lost
no time in showing it to him.
Thunder he exclaimed, where
did you get that chunk of glass? 1t
looks as if it had been run over by a
street car
81 was highly indignant for a mo-
ment, but a glance at the ring as l
seld it up to the light convinced me
that he was right. 1t did look as if it
had been run over by car wheels. 1t
was a terrible-looking affair, without
lustre or merit. l had been swindled.
The ring / had selected was still in the
store, but l had the guarantee, and l
determined hat on the following day
/ would have the stone changed, as l
was sure that it was all a mistake. But
next day l found out differently. They
would not exchange the ring for the
one that l desired, nor would they give
me my money back. They were will
ing to exchange for something else,
however, and l finally took a serpent
ring with a diamond head which cost
the same as the other ring. The clerk
again gave me a guarantee and 1 went
away trying to make myself believe
that | was satisfied. The serpent
proved to be a hoodoo to me. So in a
weeks time | wanted the ring changed
again, especially as the recollection of
the first one still haunted my mind.
Finally l resorted to my friend, the
diamond expert, for aid, and he
suggested that he should visit the store
while 1 remained on the sidewalk, and
after he had told the clerk that he
wanted to buy a ring and had found
one that was worth one hundred dol
lars he would take his handkerchief
from his pocket. This would be a
| signal for me to come in and take the
ring and give the serpent and uaran
tee for it. Well, he went into the store,
and when he found a ring that pleased
him-which happened to be the same
ring hat was shown to me-he TOOK his
handkerchief from his pocket as we
had agreed upon and I walked in like a
little nan My friend asked me if hat
ring suited me. 1 took it and gave the
guarantee and the serpent ring in ex-
change for it. The clerk made a ter
rible rumpus, bat 1 was desperate and
could not be 'bluffed of." So here l
have a ring which is cheap for one hun
dred dollars. There are plenty of peo-
pie being swindled the same way every
day, but if they will only insist on their
rights they will come out all right in
| the end, but | would advise them to buy
of a house that does not resort to tricks
| of that Sort."-N. Y. Tribune.