Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-03-10
ALL ABOUT DIAMONDS.
iMPoRTATloNoF oFTHEM ARARoMETEf
 AS TO BUSINESS PROSPERITY

AS TO BUSINESS PROSPERITY.
 NIneh of the Supply of the United States
 Comes From Great Britain-The Tre-
 mendous Business Done in Precious
 Stones of All Kinds. @
 There is an old saying among dia- mond dealers that by the volume of the importation of precious stones from abroad the condition of business in this country may be correctly gauged. When times are good the demand for diamonds is large; when times are bad, diamonds, being luxury, are in less demand and the importation of them declines. Just now there is a largely increased demand for diamonds, and If there be merit in the claim made Tn the saying quoted this should be an~ other indication of pergasive good times. The Treasury bulletin recently issued in Washington eorroborates dis tinetly the claim of enlarged importaI tfons of diamonds. Here are the fig ures for the two years, the two fiscal years, ending July 1, of 1897 and 1898, of diamond importations into the United States; 1897, $1,985, ,810; 1898 S6.955, 7S9. The increase of importa- tions of diamonds is however, not the only one in the line of decorative jewelry." so 10 speak, The importa- tfons for the two years of other pre- eious stones, rubies, sapphires, emer- aids, pearls, opals, &c., are as follows in amount: 1897, $1,578,7 ,788; 1898, $B,- 440,076. t
 The two chief foreign ports from which diamonds are sent to this coun- try are Amsterdam and Antwerp. From Great Britain a considerable amount of jeWelry is exported to the United States, but much of it comes from England in transit, particularly from Switzerland, a country having few direct trade relations with the United States. In the fiscal year of 1894, following the depression caused by the financial disturbances of that year, the exports of jeWelry to the United States fell off one-half in amount. The exportations of French jewelry fell off two-thirds and from Holland four-ffths, but the losses sus- tained 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 8 5eWelry business is done in New Eng land, particularly in the city of ProYi- denee. The explanation of the matter is that New York is the market of sup ply for the whole country in jewelry and precious stones, though New York has only part of the trade in diamond and precious stone setting.
 The largest country of export of un- cut diamonds to the United States is Holland, and England follows through the development of the diamond inter- ests in Africa. In the importations of jewelry and precious stones other than diamonds, France leads and Holland follows. The yariances in the amount of business done in diamonds and precious stones Ca trade peculiarly ,sus- ceptible to trade conditions) is shown in the case of Belgium. In 1894 it's total exportations to the United States were to the value of $74,000 in dia- monds, jewelry, and precious stones. The year before they were s210,000, or three times as much. The year after they were s50o;OO0, or seven times greater #i 8.
 he same assertion which is made concerning diamonds and precious stones as a trade barometer has been made assiduously for champagne, the importations of which are always larg- est when business is good and small- est when times are dull. tet9Mq8