The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-09-21
DIAMONDS TELL OF GOOD TIMES.
Imnortatiou of Them and Other Jewels a
barometer as to Business Prosperity.

There is an old saying among diamond
dealers that by the volume of the import
alton of precious stones from abroad the
condition OF business in this country may
he correctly gagged. When times are good
the demand for diamonds is large; when
tires are bad, diam onds, being a luxury.
are less in demand and the importation
of them declines. just now there is q
largely increased demand for diamonds.
nd if there be merit in the claim made
in the saying quoted this should be. an
other indication of pervasive good times.
The Treasury bulletin recently issued in
Washington corroborates distinctly the
claim ofsenlarged importations of dia.
monds. Here are the figures for the two
years the two fiascal years, ending July
1, 1897 and 1898, of diamond importations
into the United States: 1897, 81, 9S5, $40;
1898, Sc, 955, 7S9. The increase of importa-
tions of diamonds is, khowever, not the
only one in the line of decorative jewel
ry," so to speak. The impoTtations for
the two years Of other precious stones,
rubeis. sapphires, emeralds, pearls, opals,
ETC., are as follows in amount 1897,
81, 573, 1888; 1898, SO, 44O, o76.
The two chief foreign ports from which
diamonds are sent to this country are
Amsterdam and Antwerp. From Great
Britain considerable amount of jewelry
is exported to the HUnited States. but
much of 1t comes from England in tran
sit, particularly from Switzerland, a
country having few direct trade relations
with the United States. In the fiscal
year of 1884, follDwing the depression
caused by tine financial disturbances OF
that year, the exports of Jewelry to the
United States fell off one-half in amount.
The expectations of French jswelry fell
off two. thirds and from Holland four
fifths, but the losses sustained in the
amount of the exports have been more
than covered this year, as the treasury
figures show. The American port which
practically gets all the jewelry, diamonds,
and precious stones sent into the United
States is New York, the importations into
other American ports being insignificant
in amount notwithstanding the fact that a
considerable share of the country JeWelry
business is done in New England, partlc-
ularly in the city of Providence. The ex-
PLANTATION of the matter is that New York
is the market Of supply for the whole
country in jewelry and precious stones,
trade in diamond and precious stone set
ting.
The largest country of export Of uncut
diamonds to the United States is Holland,
and England follows through the develop
ment of the diamond interests in Africa.
In the importations of jewelry and preo-
ious stones other than diamonds. France
leads and Holland follows. The variances
in the amount of business done in dia-
monds and precious stones "a trade pecu.
liary susceptible to trade conditions } Is
it's total expectations to the United States
were to the value of ,Oo0 in diamonds,
jewelry, and precious stones, The year
before they were $40, 900, or three times
as much. The year after they were $780,
600, or seven times greater.
The same assertion which is made con-
corning diamonds and precious stones as
a trade barometer has been made assidu-
ously for champagne, the importations Of
which are always la gest when business is
good and smallest when times are dull.