The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-03
FALK CLOTHING co.
Her UNIQUE EMPLOYMENT.
MATCHING JEWELS is HER FORTE
AND SHE MAKES 1T PAY.

The Intricate Art of Mating Pearls
and other Precious stones, and
How This woman Came 10 Ac-
quire It-NO Dealer Can Say How
He Knows the Quality of Gem,
Just Knows 1t, That's AII-Inter-
cstinE Talk by woman Expert.
From the New York Times.
1t is an interesting business, she is an
interesting WOMAN, and. moreover she is
the only woman in the business in the
city. and probably the only woman in the
country who is similarly engaged.
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 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 a while a branch Of the topic that
is of genuine interest.
One Of these Interesting branches is
the business of handling precious stones
by women for whom jewels 6 all kinds
are supposed 70 and do have partic-
ular fascination.
This woman is said by people who know
her to be an expert in her knowledge Of
precious stones their merits and dement's,
W
an expert must know 10 combine stones
of the same or different kinds.
Her business Is down town, where she
has her headquarters. She has her reg
ular customers, with whom she buys and
sells, as diamond brokers do. She was
speaking Of the business. Its attractions,
and her connection with It the other even
ing at her uptown house.
stones" she said. 1T is most interest
ing. And yet you might be surprised to
. lFHnf hat f.s..s .
jewelry, even when l was a very young
girl. / never bought a piece Of jewelry
for myself In my life.
1t was by chance that / went into the
business. My husband, who was engaged
in it, was obliged to give It up. He had
considerable stock on hand, and / was
men down town suggested my continuing
his business and ! did so. That IS all.
Il knew nothing ABOUT II, and 1t is a
business in which there Is a great deal
to learn 1t is one in which there Is al
ways something new coming up, some
| thing new to barn. / suppose ] must
have had a good eye for color That is
a necessity for one who deals In precious
and semi-precious stones
The more you know of them the more
marvellous seems the infnitesma differ
ence in shades you will find in one varie-
ty of stone. There seem to be 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 II, and that
is all.
not dealing in stones to become expert.
| The majority OF people do not handle
any number Of Jewels, certainly, but even
for people Of great wealth, VINO own for
tunes in precious stones, l do not believe
they can learn TO know them perfectly.
Il think my hrst transaction in the
business was to match a pearl. There
was one In my husbands stock. l came
across another exactly like it and got
permission to take 1t, and disposed of the
pair.
stones a pair IS much more valuable in
comparison than a single stone. l sold
my pearl for more money and made my
commission on the other. That is the
business of q diamond broker. / have
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 a stone that l think / can
dispose of and take II. / always have
stock of stones on hand. / know the
people / deal with on both sides. / know
what certain customers will want, and
know the different places 10 buy, as
a housekeeper does the best places 10
buy each of the different articles pertain
ing 10 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 I
think 1 am likely to get what l want
| take a paper with, perhaps, 100 pearls
to my customer. out Of that number he
may find only ten which will answer his
purpose. To get up necklace Of ninety
pearls, it may take eight months, or pos
sibly a year, II the pearls are very fine.
To-day l had a diamond to match, and
/ went to eleven houses before / could
find lust the thing. And that was only
an ordinary stone In size, shape and color
People think It is very easy, but some
times you can hunt a long time and
not find the kind of stone for which
you are looking. 1t is a difficult thing to
40. and requires a great deal Of labor.
II have seen sapphires that seem to
have millions Of shades. 1t is almost i'm
possible to match a ruby. No one who
has not tried 1t can understand. Last
year / had a black pearl to match. They
made a pair of very fine jewels. They
weighed sixteen grains apiece, and the
price was s32, 000 1 don't think that black
pearls cost more than fine white ones, but
they are more rare.
within the last few years we have had
a great many very beautiful pearls come
in from Sugar river and from Wisconsin
They were all colors and Of wonderful
shades They were of beautiful green.
Durple, pink and lavender. There was a
very large demand for them
Yes; those were found In this country.
I may say that the finest opal / ever
saw was also found in the United States.
II was not large one, but was very