Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-12-29
pEDDLING DIAMONDS
MEN WHO GO AROUND WITH THEFT
POCKETS FULL OF GEMS.
Il IL NO Uncommon Thing For One Of Them
to Have SO. 900 Worth Of Tiny Trifics In
His Clothes--There II No such Thing ~
Bargain In Diamonds.

q Bargain In Diamonds.
One of the most surprising lines Of bust
ness that a man can go into-surprising,
that is, until you have time to think about
it, and then 1t isn't surprising at All--is thu
2eddling OF diamonds.
Men go about the country with from 80,
200 to $40. 600 worth of the costly, tiny tri
flies in their clothes, hunting for customers
in all sorts Of place where they are likely &c
find customers, and they make. at least
some Of them make. good living out Of it.
And one really curious thing about it lie
that very few of them own the goods they
carry. They do not in some cases even give
bonds or put up any sort Of security except
ing that Of their own personal character.
They are known or believed to be thor
oughly honest and reliable and the mer-
chants who really have money invested IN
the goods trust them fully and freely.
A New York man, who travels almost
continually. met one of these peddlers in
the redding room Of hotel in Hartford
some time ago and told afterward how as
toliished he Was when the stranger ap
preached him and began showing his goods.
HE was "a tail, good looking young fel-
low,' said the New Yorker, and was
dressed very quietly and tastefully. ! no
ticed that there wasn't single article Of
jewelry visible on his person. not even q
gold button or swatch chain
THE only thing that looked like jewelry
was key chain, and l observed afterward
that that was made very strongly and APP
peared to be, as presume it WAS, made Of
the very finest steel.
He sat down beside me, and pulling at
his chain drew out Of his pocket a chamois
| leather bag or purse. Out Of this he took
what looked like handful Of small pack
ages. each wrapped up in fine white tissue
paper. These he unwrapped one after an
other and showed me the contents,
In each one was a gem. There were
dian onds, rubies and emeralds and two or
three pearls, but nearly all Of them were
diamonds, and only three or four were
what would call unusually large stones.
They were without settings, and as he IN
folded the papers he rubbed each stone
gently and deity with a small piece Of
flannel
Naturally, he was talking while he did
all this, and soon got very much interest
ed" the speaker continued. He began by
asking if he could not sell me diamond,
and told him thought not, but said it
hesitatingly because I wanted to hear what
he had to say.
81 have them here said the peddler,
all the way from $50 up to 50, 500. but can
sell you one that any gentleman would be
pleased to wear for 600 or $500. Most per-
sons, even those who can afford it. do not
care to wear very large ones, though have
some customers who won't look at a small
stone'"
You have regular customers then"
asked the man from New York, and he an
swered; "Oh, yes. My trade is mostly
among actors and hotel men, and know
nearly all the prominent ones east of the
Mississippi"
>. And then he took out a powerful glass
and asked the New Yorker to look at a
beautiful brilliant he had just unwrapped.
Il looked at it and admired it, but told
him was no Judge of diamonds" the New
Yorker went on. IAN stones of the same
size looked pretty much alike to me, though
could see that some seemed to be more
brilliant than others. He laughed a little
and said that he found that comparatively
few people were judges. but that a great
many were reluctant to own it and either
believed or pretended to believe that they
could tell genuine diamond from the best
tad one.
such people, he said, buy diamonds
whenever they can be made to believe that
they are getting bargains, but as rule
they pay more than they need to. Strictly
speaking, there is no such thing as bar
gain in diamonds, excepting in buying one
from somebody who is ignorant or careless
of the true value of what he has, because a
INT 1-1li1a wall 6a-
fined as that of gold.
However he continued, 4 am always
glad to meet any body who is on the look
out for bargains, because | generally man
age to sell them something at good price
Then he went on to tell me that he only
carried the other stores as a sort of side
show. Once in II great while he would sell
a pearl or ruby, but nearly all his bust
ness consisted Of sales of diamonds and
watches.
He kept Gu chatting, even after had
satisfied him that didn't intend to buy
anything, and he kept some of his parcels
open for n considerable time while he was
slowly wrapping up the others.
Il thought ~ first that he seemed to be
careless about It, but az | watched him
noticed that he never looked anywhere ex-
cepting either at his goods or straight in
my eye, and | could see that his vigilance
was never re.axes, for an instant"
This description affords a very fair no
ton of the business these peddlers do. and
there are more GO them going around the
world than most people have any notion Of.
The stuff they take with them, too, Is of
kind that it would be practically impos
sible to trace. for diamonds, even good
sized ones. are hard to identify, as rule.
There are cases, of COZ Sc, in which some
popularity Of cutting or the accident of
great size renders Identification possible,
but the stones that could be positively
sworn to are very rare.-New York News.