The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-17
THE DIAMOND CLUB.
Organization In London Where Pre-
cious Stones Change Hands.
From the London Express.

FROM tls London EEC-eSS.
This IS an age for clubs. Each protes-
sion, almost each calling. has its own
particular club where members can NEE.
one another or their friends. dine. read
The newspapers. transact bus ness or pl ~
games Of some sort The majority OF the
clubs are well known. if only by name
but very few have even h a If the Dta
fnoad M-chants' Club. in datton Gar
dea.
The name spsaks for itself It is Gale
the Diamond Club-or TO give il its ful.
name, the Diamond Merchants a-d Jewel
lers' CluD-Limited-and the chief reoui-
site for membership is that the newc -mer
should be concerned with o. in the dla-
mond trade. Hatton Garden is a busy thor
oughfare, and see ms to ? elk of dia.l-o as
SO 10 speak. The principal room OF tas
Diamc nd Club has half glass roof which
-ets IN a glare Of light on the transaclio1s
Whicn take place. In this room may be
seen more miilionaires at one time than
IN any other spot in the world. Anctre-
room Is cunningly dark ned s. as to give
relief to tired eyes
one member may he reading a newspa-
per. when another comes o, er an, ? Is
him he wants few diamonds) explain
n
me1iately give him TWO or thIee Ilt-ls ma
per packets to inspect. naming the price
ana the second man VII take them e.
u the window, while tie first will CALMLY
continue reading his papsr.
The first man is probably a broker. who
mas obtained the diamonds from a mer-
cnant' and he has a cerialn price from
"hl ne cannot abate. II the purct asar
cohslders The price fair and the stones
eocd he viii suggest that h Y e iuro
one OF the little partitions or cubicl 5
"h.cn are set apart for this purpose TIL s.
niue divisions fa-e the ght-for il is all
solutely rec ssarY to have a brght uehf
very htiIe business beng done IN a ash
oay-are htted up with a shelf and a pair
~ sea IS. ana when the small b-lt is
sliped on the door The buyer and seller
are tre7 fr m any interrupt n.
Inc scales are in a glass case for sha
sHshtest DIT OF dust would affect the DEL =
4cale mechanism, single hair making
dlnerence in the working OF this won
oerIuI httle contrivance. The largest
weights are made OF metal but -
others from kind Of tinsel so ligbt ,b he
breath will blow them away. Some 49,
may De gathered OF their minuteness when
one realizes that the smallest one onIv
weights the sixty-fourth part OF a carat
For the purpose Of showing I'D the bean
des OF the stones they are laid on ain
efent coIored papers-blue for pearls
black for opals, etc.
Inc CLUB was originally started BY two
men who had at last realized that n was
not safe 20 hold these business confer
ences IN a public house, which had hither-
to been the custom. II was such a sue
cess that the members soon bought out
the proprietors and turned It into a limit
ed liability company. 1t has progressed
SO rapld!y that Il has quite recently NOV
ed into new premises which The r,-ast
dent Of the club, H. Bernhard, was most
courteous in showing me over.
Mr. Bernhard is the diamond merchant
from whom most Of our great actors ana
actresses buy their diamonds, and II
speaks wen for him that when they have