The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-12
GAMBLING CANE IN DIAMONDS
LARGE SUMS OFTEN LOST on
Matching. AT0NEs.,


More diamonds are being sold every
year In this city. and the finest stones i'm
ported nowadays are kept by the importers
for the New York trade. That makes thf
diamond expert pretty busy man in these
days. '.-------.. -.-.--..
In nearly all jewelry stores there Ia some
man who pretends to be an expert. Per-
haps he " and perhaps he isn't. II he
has made a study OF diamonds all his life
he probably knows more about them than
the ordinary person or the ordinary jewelry
salesman does, for that matter. As q
matter OF fact, however, there arc only
few men In New York who are reoo gnised
a. experts, and they are connected with a
few big jswelry houses.
In most cases the expert b. the head OF
the house himself. He buys the diamonds
for the firm. and, despite the fact that the
stones have been carefully examined by
the persons from whom they were bought.
after their purchase each stone ts ex-
amined over again before the retail price
h. put on. People buying diamonds in
such place have the satisfaction OF know
ing that their price was set by an expert,
and that therefore they are in possession
OF the real article and weren't cheated.
But II isn't only In examining the dia-
monds imported or purchased here by the
house to which he belongs that the diamond
expert Ia kept busy. Private examinations
for individuals take up lot of his time.
Since the wave OF prosperity struck this
country q good many Of IT, citizens have
been investing In diamonds, b The Custom
House figures show, Persons with atones
which have become scratched 20 that they
may have to be recut want the expert to
look at them. Then. too, q lot Of people
want to sell stones they may have worn
for years, or they may wish TO have the
satisfaction Of knowing what a stone IL
worth In the present state Of the diamond
market, These keep the experts busy.
because the latter arc usually willing to
look at such stones In the hope Of discoy-
ering an exceptional one. to obtain which
and to sell It again at profit for the house
may depend entirely on the experts eye.
Perhaps the most Interesting individuals
who solicit the aid Of the diamond experts
are gamblers. It dossn't figure much In
the newspapers. but the gambling on the
value OF stones in this city alone amounts
to q small fortune every year, 70 the dia-
mond experts say.
Betting on diamonds 10 a side show In the
temples Of chance uptown and II Ia usually
done by the small fry. With gamblers
the matching Of stones seems to Be In the
blood and goes with the trade as does the
matching Of cards Thousands OF dollars
are peeled OF fat rolls on the opinion OF
the diamond expert whom they have sought
out In his little glass partitioned Office down
town after an argument on the value OF
two stones.
The average gambler IL a lover Of dia-
monds. His prosperity is often gagged
by their number and size But the diamonds
he wears do not include the diamond that
he bets his money on. That stone, ten
chances to one, he keeps tucked away In q
little paper In his pocket. he brings 1t out
to show to his friends after they have ad-
mired the diamond In his shirt front. In
almost all GASES this stone he has In his
pocket y Q fancy stone. that Ia one which
has more or less OF BLUSH tinge. As the
experts Judge diamonds, such stones are
worth almost twice as much as the pure
white stones no matter how luminous the
latter may 10.
To the Ayman the blush tinge n not
always discernible. Even the average
diamond salesman may not catch 1t. But
the experts do and they value the stone
accordingly. When the soldier Of fortune
wants to pass the time away With a friend
he gets him talking diamonds. The friend
probably IL very sure that the searchlight
In his shirt front beats the stone the gambler
produces from his pocket Sometimes the
bet Is for 500. sometimes It's Tor $4,000.
The pair submit the two stones 30 an eI-
pert without any moro explanation than IL
necessary. The blush stone wins and the
gambler pockets the money. It 70 between
gamblers Of the same typo and net gamblers
and the ssuckers- that ths u,oet OF this In
done, however. a. the sxpsrts VIII tail you.
Almost all gamblers big or little, have
q Fancy stone they have picked up some
where, and In matching thsss II often comes
down TO q point which y difficult to de-
eide, A stone which may loss one day.
when matched the next against . stone
pulled out by another man Wiling to wager
money on It's merit. may WIN. And 90 It
eoes. In nine oasss out Of ten the diamond
expert won't AJAX or tx&S any money for
skiing up the stones. He guesses the cir
cumstanoes and is enough OF a lover OF
stones TO be recompensed by the sight OF
some he knows will be good ones
In judging brilliants the big experts
usually have in their safe test stone. that
ia, q diamond with more or les blue In y.
IL 10 by comparing tho other stones with
this that their values are determined. Some
times the best experts lose money by piAc-
ing the value Of stones too low. II has
been said sometimes that the BUSINESS II
self ID largely q gamble.
Not long ago, said an expert the other
day, "a diamond broker picked up stone
from a lot just brought over and paid $27S
for it. He brought it to an expert, who
found that Il was fancy etone-that v.
had the blush unge. He also found that
IL had q scratch on Il. Well, the stone was
recut to get rid of the scratch and then
the expert bought It from the broker for
S47s. Il was O carat and q sixteenth. He
sent for . man who he knew was looking
for fne stones, and that man gave 1915
for Il. The latter took Il 70 the expert
Of q famous Union Square house and got
$500 for II.
"A few days later the seller happened
to mention 70 the former owner what the
big Arm had given for the stone, 90 the
expert sent up a man to find out what the
Arm was asking for It. The stone had just
been cold for ii ,oOO
That's where the first expert miscaicrS
lated, to his own loss. That, stone hAS
simply gone on incr asing In value, becsn=,
IL was the only stone OF it's kind and size,
and its price depended entirely on the