Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-05-03
ALTABOUT DIAMONDS
IMpoRTArloNoF oFTHEM ABARoMElEt
 AS TO BUSINESS PROSPERITY

A
 mendeus Business Done in Precious
 Stones of All Kinds.
 There is an old saying among ula- mond dealers that by the volume or tue importation of precious stones rom abroad the condition of business ln tn!s country may be correctly gaugeu' When times are good the demand for diamonds is large; when times are oaa' diamonds. being a luxury, are Ill less demand and the Importation or them declines. Just now there is a Iargely increased demand for diamonds, ana if there be merit in the claim maae in the saying quoted this should De al. other indication of peryasiye good times. The Treasury bulletin recently issued in Washington eorroborates dls. tfnetly the claim Of enlarged importa' lions of diamonds. Here are the 1s. ures for the two years, the two fiscal wears. ending July 1, of 1897 and 1858, of diamond importations into the United States; 1887 $1l985.81o; 1S9s. St. 955.7S9. The increase of importa- tions of diamonds is however, not the only one in the line of decorative jewelry," so to speak. The impofta- tions for the two years of other pfe- eious stones, rubies, sapDhlres, emer- aids, pearls. opals, &se., are as follows in amount. 1887, .788; 1898, s. lE0,076.
 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 1t comes from England in transit. particularly from Switzerland, 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 ths United States fell off one=half in amount. The expectations 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 insig z6cant in amount, notwithstanding the fact that a considerable share of the country 8 ieWeIry business is done in New Eng- land particularly ia the city of Provi- dence. The explanation of the matter is that New York is the market of sup ply for the whole country iu ieweiry 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 ieWelry 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 sts- ceptible to trade condiaons) is shown in the case of Belgium. In 1894 it's total eXportations 10 the United States were to the value of $74,000 in dia- monds jewel1y, and precious stones. The year before they were $210,000, or three times as much. The year after they were $500,00j, or seven times greater.
 he same assertion which is made concerning diamonds ard 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.