Valdez daily prospector., 1913-03-26
O|AMONO|MPORTS
 MANY MILLIONS
$40, GOO, 900 In 1512 and Totaled $500, ,oo0, 900 For the Last
 Ten Years.

amount of money a fleet of bat tlcships of the drcadnaught class might be built and equipped. So large a sum would maintain a standing army OF pay war debt.
 The year 1912, as predicted, proved a great gem year, and ev- en in the face of the hue and cry about "the high cost of living the figures show that in the year just closed the gem imports amounted [ siO,57l,543, which was slightly under the year 1911, but greater than the previous five years. The current production of rough diamonds is about 8,00O,- 900 carats a year. valued at about 5O,OOO,OOO. Ii is distributed as follows:
 British South Africa, 5,887,- 625, carats; value, S4l,000,0O0. German South Africa, 1,000,000 carats: value, S6,000,000.
 Brazil, 100000: value, SI ,OO0,- 900.
 British Guiana, 5000 carat $ /; value S30,000.
 United States, value S2,O0O. All others (estimated) l,0O9,- 375; value, $l,968,000. Total. 8,OOO,OOO carats: value, S5O, O,OOO,O00.
 Added to this, the export du- ties and commercial profits, S40,- OO0,OOO, plus the dealers profits of SIO,OOO,OOO to $l2,000, 0,000, the total cost to consumers is now $iOO, ,OOO,0O0 year, of which | he United States pays one-half.
 Every precious gem imported into the Port of New York which is the largest port of entry, passes through the hands of one man. Uncle San's gem eXamln- CT. William B. Treadwell. prob ably has handled more diamonds, pearls, rubics, sapphires and ot h. CT precious stones in a decade than anv Other individual in the world.
 We are acquainted |" some de- gree with the prices that many world famous diamonds have been i sold for. The kuhinoor has been the spell of intrigue and war all 1 through it's history. and many priceless gems have been oblaIl- ed at times with bullet nr a 1 dagger thrust.
 The BraganZa diamond, the sizr of a outlets egg. possessed by the house that up to the rev olulion ruled over Brazil. was 'valucd' by court lapidaries at a million and a half. But in days when money was worth more than it is at present single diamonds
 found purchasers at staggering prices. The Pitt diamond, often called the Regent" was sold tt the Regent of Orleans in~l7lt by Thomas Pitt, grandfather o1 the statesman, for a sum var
 iously stated. the smallest amount named being s400,0Oo and the largest s700,000. Fol the Orloff. OF Sceptre diamond weighing I9i 3-i carats. and the choicest of the Russian croWl
 jewels. Prince Orloff in l172, it ls said, paid si50. .O00, that he mlgh' present it to Catherine II.
 They tell us that Pitt stole the
 diamond that bears his name
 "They say" that the Fl"re'ntin' diamond, one of the Austrian
 crown jewels, came legitimately
 though by chance, into the pos session of a private soldier. NO
 knowing it's value, he sold it fol
 florin. The Sancy diamond
 they say, stolen from the Duke o
 Burgundy, was on it's way to b' presented to the King of Portu
 gal when the servant who convey ed it was attacked by robbers. H' swallowed the jewel and it was af ilerWard recovered from his dea' body.
 All sorts of weird and myster ious stories have been woveI
 about the famous Hope dia mond," most of them untrue, SC all in all, one must discount al
 legged values" and history o
 the greatest majority of the mor notable gems.