El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-07
DIAMONDS HARD TO SELL.

DIAMONDS HARD TO SELL.
Worth Thirty Per Cent Less Than
Twenty Years Ago Despite the
Transvaal War
In spite of the general advance in
the price of diamonds owing to the
war in South Africa, diamonds today
are worth 80 per cent less than twen-
ty years ago. Yet the belief is firmly
fixed in the minds of a great many
persons. judging from the INQUIRIES
made of jewelers., that diamonds are
a safe investment and that their val
ue rarely. if ever f1uctuates. Dia-
mond dealers are constantly receiving
yisitSfrom people who think that a
diamond purchased years ago has re-
tanned its value and that they will
have little or no trouble in getting
for it almost if not quite as much as
they paid twenty years ago. To
the average diamond dealers these PEG
pie are. as a general thing. a source
of annoyance, for the reason that they
are always incredulCus when told of
the change in value diamonds have I'M
dergone. When the jeweler offers
them, say 20 per cent. of what they
paid for the stone years ago, they
generally regard it as an absurd prop
oSition and make for the next deal
ers. only to find that his price is the
same and that the possession which
they had looked en- as a valuable as
set had deprecated in value.
AS a matter of fact, in these days
diamonds are much like stocks in be-
ing up in value one minute and per-
haps down the next. The Boer war.
of course, is largely responsible for
this. The largest source of the
worlds diamond supply being in the
territory affected, the market for dia-
hostilities began. Diamonds today
are worth so per cent more than they
were just before the trouble in the
Transvaal startd. Even with this abb
normal influence on the market di-
almonds have not reached the pri-
ces of twenty or thirty years ago.
for the reason that the output today
is about third greater than then.
That is one of the reasons why per-
sons with heirlooms in the way of
gems to sell do not get the prices they
expect. Another reason is that the
style of cutting has changed almost
as radically as the fashions in clothes.
Today to the diamond dealer a stone
purchased twenty years ago is N ap-
pearance as old-fashioned as suit
of clothes OF that period is to the tail
or. Instead of being cut oval or
cushion-shape as diamonds were then
stones to lay are cut round, thus in
creasing the number of surfaces. 1t
used to be the style to have a large
table. as the upper surface of dia-
mOnd is called, and to obtain this
style was changed not many years ago
upon the discovery that by cutting
a stone round and increasing the num-
Der of bevels a stone was cut m the
form of a cushion This style has
come to be adopted to the exclusion
of all others, and diamonds value
today depends upon it's size WIN re-
duced to this form.
All diamonds of an old-fashioned
todya depends upon it's size when re-
cutting can be reduced to the round
form, and as a result of the process
greater brilliancy is added to them
but the change from the oldto the new
shape is not accomplished without a
considerable loss in size. Hence a dia
mond heirloom brought to the dealer
to be converted into cash is apt to be
less valuable as a trade article than its
owner imagineS. If it was purchased
more than twenty years ago he will.
indeed be lucky, if he realizes a third
Of its original price.
The other day a man made a tour
of the diamond houses in Maiden
Lane with a pair of diamond ear
rings, for which he had paid. twenty
years ago, 800. In all but two places |
the stones were pronounced faultless, |
but old-fashioned. The highest offer |
he received anywhere for them was |
$50. although he expected three times !!
as much.
That only illustrates" said dia
moDd dealer, what hard thing it. is |
10 sell diamond jewelry and get any
hing like what you paid for it. Dia-
nond dealers are constantly COMPEL
I'd to disabuse peoples minds of the
dea that because they have good look
ng diamonds they ought to get big
price. Diamonds are a great deal
more plentiful than they were when
great deal Of the jewelry that is Of
cred for sale was bought. 1t is not
o very long ago that the Kimberley
nine was the only one in South At
lea. and a diamond from it was look
ID upon as a great thing. In fact. the
lame added little TO its intrinsic val
le- With the opening of Our new
mines the prices have gradually fallen
Until they are nothing like they used
o be.
There is also another reason why