The leader., 1905-11-01
NUMBER 5S.

metal fork which form part OF the
apparatus, the diamond is held against
the revolving disc, and as sometimes
stone less than an eighth Of an inch
in diameter has 100 facets, great nice.
ty on the part Of the workman is re-
Quired, and the position of the dia-
mond is changed more than 100 times
before the requisite lustre and finish
are secured. The polisher works al
ways with a magnifying glass, and
makes from $500 to $500 day.
Three Hundred Diamonds in Necklace
In the 100000 necklace mentioned
there were 300 diamonds. Allowing
three days. brutage trough shaping),
and three months polishing on each,
the sum expended for these two items
alone amounts to $110,700.
After the stones arrived at the jew.
eller's, they had, of course, to be
mounted To this end the big shops
of Paris employ staff of designers,
goldsmiths, Silversmiths, settlers and
polishers. Usually, the designers are
men who have come into the shop in a
less important capacity, shown talent
been sent by the firm to an art school
and put through a course of instruc-
ton. According to his ability, a de-
signer earns from $50 to $160 a month.
He may work for months without pro-
ducfng a single sketch that goes to the
studios, then in a week he will turn
out two or three that meet the diff
cult taste OF the employer. Designs
are done in water colors.
In Paris, the real jeweIler is not the
owner of the shop, but the craftsman
who fashions the gold or platinum in.
to the skeleton that holds the precious
stones. In America he is called a
gold or silversmith. Each separate
clasp or gem-holder, goes first to the
lpOlisher. Then to jeweller who
Ensembles, or Joins together, the entire
frame for the necklace, tiara, or
whatever the design may call for, and
again to the polisher.
The setter, as his name indicates,
fastens or sets the diamonds into the
framework and sends it on a last visit
to the polisher.
PoIlshers are Women.
| The polishers are usually women.
As rule they work in groups Of five
Ior six under a patroness, who keeps
La little apartment in a narrow street
of Montmartre, Gallon, Mail, or some
other cheap and crowded quarter Of
Paris. With good luck the patroness
makes from $1,000 to $1,000 a year.
The polishers are taken as apprentices
at IA years of age. At 16 they may
get forty to sixty cents a day, and at
Is a dollar to dollar twenty.
The labor Of all these craftsmen on
the necklace in mind amounted to
labout $500, which added to $11O,7OO
for preparing the diamonds, and
deducted from the. selling price of
100000 left only $4,000 to cover cost
of rough stones, incidental expense of
handling, ETC., could not have left
any phenomenal profit for the mine
owner who dug and delivered them to
the cutter. Such necklace is said to
8 furnish work enough to support 400
families for year. OF course, this
does not take into consideration the
workers in the mines, nor the heavy
staff of clerks and officials necessary
to carry on the big diamond producing
fields. The business of finishing the
raw diamond for the final purchaser
offers the best paid labor to be found
In Europe. Owing to the duty on cut
gems brought into this country, Amer
lean dealers are building up a similar
industry in the United States, and #
is rational to suppose that the crafts.
men employed in this country viii
receive even still higher wages than
those paid abroad.