The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-09
GREAT GEM TRUST.
south Africa Controls the worlds
Diamond Trade.

w. r.. Holt in the London Daily Ex-
press.
The diamond merchants of Hatton-
garden do not disguise the fact that
the failures in Antwerp and London
represent a crisis in the trade, but they
take refuge in the hope that the end
of it is in sight.
THE trouble was inevitable" ex-
plains one of the leading merchants
of Hatton garden After two lean
years the Antwerp spectators count
ed upon a big coronation boom. They
bought a lot of stones in the rough,
and now that they are cut find they
cannot sell them. Being men of linn
tied capital, they have gone to smash.
But that does not affect the trade gem
orally"
A diamonds merchants Office is as
little as possible like the shilling
shocker' conception of it, The Mar
quis of Anglesey made more show with
his paste ornaments on his pantomme
tunic than all Hatton-garden and Ely
place combined.
A safe stands in the corner of the
room, and there is a pair of delicate
scales on the writing table. For the
rest. the room might belong to an in
surance agent or an accountant in
small way of business. There are no
outer and inner guards, no man traps,
none Of the sensational apparatus of
the transporting drama.
AThief Resisting safe.
The safe is specially constructed to
resist thieves and fire and fall from
g.. -.
cautions are no more obvious than they
would be in grocer's back parlor. Yet
the safe always contains enough to
make rich mans mouth water. When
a dealer of repute locks up his Office
and goes home to dinner he seldom
leaves less than $125,000 worth of pre-
cious stones behind him
A few days ago there reposed in one
of the Hatton- garden safes two pearl
necklaces worth $500,00O between them.
Occasionally when Il merchant has been
round the Garden" collecting Jewels
for the approval of some rich custom
er, he may lock up half a millions
worth of stuff i'm his safe. And even
the expert declines to give an esti-
mate of the total value of all the pre-
cious stones in Hatton- garden and Ely
place on any given night.
The modesty of the display is as as
tonishing as the value of the stock
and more astonishing than either is
the absolute confidence repose, In
each other by men in the trade. A
merchant neither gives nor takes a
receipt for. his parcels" and a par
Gel of diamonds may be worth any,
thing up to $4,000. Between and 10
in the morning a merchants office is
crowded with travellers and brokers.
81 want sueh-and-such a grain"
says the traveller. Here you are re-
plies the merchant, handing him a
tiny paper parcel. on which is in
scribed the weight and the price per
carat. He looks at the stones, and
takes them or leaves them. If he takes
them the parcel is entered to his name.
He may keep them for a day. or he
may keep them for a week, but the
merchant bothers no more until he re-
turns.
POcketfuIs of stones.
Calling upon a West End jeweler, it
is a common thing for a traveller to
produce $4,000 worth of stones from
his pocket The stones are in
their parcels and the parcels
are contained in a specially-made
leather book. The parcels pass from
hand to hand, and nobody thinks of
counting the stones or of demanding
a receipt.
The trade is dazzling in sentiment,
but remarkably prosaic and business
like In practice. The merchant or the
broker examines his diamonds just as
he would examine specimens of cut
glass, and that is very much what
parcel of diamonds looks like in the
cold light of day. In a diamond mer-
chants office they never seem to re-
member that there were such persons
as Aladdin and Monte Cristo.
But for real cold business, with about
as much sentiment as if they were sell
ing bales of sugar. you must go to the
fountain head. The diamond trade of
the world is in the hands of the De
Beers Company. and the syndicate in
London take the whole of their out
put. Consequently, every dealer in the
world has to come to London for his
rough stones. Very few firms are in
the position to deal directly with the
syndicate. They have to deal through