The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-06-06
HER UNIQUE EMPLOYMENT.
Matching Jewels Is Her Forte and She
Makes 1t Pay.

The In tricate Art of Mating Pearls and
Other Precious Stones, and How This
Woman Came to Acquire It-No Dealer
Can Say How He Knows the Quality OF
a Gem, just Knows 1t, That's All.
1t is an interesting business, she is an
interesting woman, and, moreover. she
is the only woman in the business in
this city, and probably the only woman
in the country who is similarly engaged,
says the New York Times.
Although the subject of business for
women or women for business has been
nearly talked into a much needed grave,
and made the lives of the women who
have not done the talking such burden
that they have almost wished there were
no women, and no business either, there
is once in while branch of the topic
that is of genuine interest.
One of these interesting branches is tn
business of handling precious stones by
women, for whom jewels of all kinds
are supposed to and do have particular
fascination.
This woman is said by people who
know her to be an expert in her knowl-
edge of precious stones, their merits and
demerits and the delicate variations of
color which an expert must know to COM
bine stones of the same or different
kinds.
Her business is down, where she has
her headquarters. She has her regular
customers, with whom she buys and sells
as diamond brokers do. She was speak
ing Of the business. it's attractions. and
her connection with it the other evening
at her up town house.
81 simply love to handle precious
stones" she said. "It is most interest
ing And yet you might be surprised to
know that I have never been fond of jew
elry, even when I was very young girl.
l never bought piece of jewelry fol-
myself in my life.
sit was by chance that I went into the
business. My husband, who was en-.
gagged in it, was obliged to give it up.
He had considerable stock on hand and
I was anxious to dispose of it, The
business men down town suggested my
continuing his business, and I did So
That Is ali. y
81 knew nothing about it, and 1t is
business, in which there is great dea
to learn. 1t is one in which there is al.
ways something new coming up, come
thing now to learn. suppose I mus
have had a good eye for color. That is q
nprasCiEy for who GGoiC N ion
AMI semi precious stones.
1.-THE more you know Of them the more
marvellous seems the infnitesimal differ
ence in shades you will find in one varie.
ty of stone. Thele sem to ba millions
of them. There is very little you can
learn from books about stones, although
there are several very good ones. 1t is
only by handling them constantly, the
good ones and the poorer qualities, that
you learn to know them. don't think
any dealer could tell you how he knows
the quality of stone. He knows it, and
that is ALL
81 don't think it is possible for any
on9 not dealing in stones to become ex-
pert. The majority Of people do not
handle any number Of jewels, certainly,
but even for people of great wealth, who
own for. ines i'll precious stones, do not
believe they can learn to know them per
fectly.
4 think my first transaction in the
business was to match pearl There
WAS one in my husbands stock. I came
across another exactly like it and got
permission to take it. and disposed OF
the pair
'Owing to the difficulty in matching
stoAes, a pair is much more valuable in
comparison than single stone. | sold
my pearl for more money and made ms
commission on tho other. That is the
hncippsC nf d1nnlnnn hpplYan bQuf
my regular customers. Some give me
orders to buy or match stones for them,
and others give me stones to sell. Some.
times l see IL stone that think l can dis
posesof, and take it. ] always have G
stock of stones on hand. l know the
people l deal with on both sides.
know what certain customers will want,
and / know the different places to buy,
as housekeeper does the best places tc
buy each of the different articles pertain
inU to her housekeeping.
"Perhaps my customer says TO me that
he is getting up a pearl necklace and
wants ninety pearls of from five to ten
grains each. | go to a house where ]
think | am likely to get what I want.
take paper with, perhaps, 100 pearls tc
my customer. Out of that number he
may find only ten which will answer his
purpose. 70 get up necklace of ninety
pearls, it may take eight months or pos
g. bly, year, if the pearls arc very fine.
"Today l had diamond to match, ant
/ went to eleven houses before / ooult
find just the thing. And that was only
an ordinary stone in size, shape, and
color. People think it is very easy, bu
sometimes you can hunt a long time ant
not find the kind of stone for which vol
are looking. 1t is difficult thing to do
and requires great deal of labor
s'I have seen sapphires that..seem to..hav,
millions Of shades. 1t is almost impossi
bic to match a ruby. No one who ha
n lot tried it can understand. Last year
had black pearl TO match. They mad
a rair of very fine jewels. They weighe
sixteen grains apiece, and the price wa
$50, 900. I don't think that black pearl
cost more than fine white ones, but they
are more rare.
within the last few years we have ha,
great many very beautiful pearls com
in from Sugar River and from Wisconsin
They were i'll all colors. and of wonder
full shades. They were of beautiful greel