The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-11-28
IMPORTED GEMS
SHOW INCREASE
Official Figures for First Nine
Months OF 1913 Announced

Washington. NOV 2S.--Damond i'm
porrauons into the United States
made their highest record IN the cal
endar year 1918 The value Of dia-
monds and other precious stones mn
/ ported during the current year Will
approximate - million dollars. this
/ being The FIRST occasion on which the
rota. has CROSSED the 50-milliou- dollar
.ine. Twenty years aeo, according 10
/ The official figures 81 the Bureau OF
Foreign ano Domestic Commerce De-
/ Isrtmeut of Commerce. the total i'm
ports OF diamonds and other precious
STONES We're but n million dollars, in
l.03. IS million and ina 1913. approx
mately B, million dollars this estimate
being based upon the known figures
Tor the nine months ended with Sep
tember which are 80 per cent in eN-
cess Of the highest record heretofore
made. These totals necessarily include
limitations Of precious stones, which
ROW form about . per cent Of the to-
taL hut were not separately shown
prior 90 1912
The latest official figures show for
The nine months ended with Septem-
beer importauons Of eleven and one
half million dollars worth Of uncut
diamonds. against seven and one
fourth million ia the corresponding
months OF last year; Of diamonds cut
bat not set, tweuty-three and one half
million dollars. against eighteen mil
lion .u the corresponding period Of last
Year, of AN precious stones. forty
three and oue-third million dollars,
against thirty and one-f fourth mil
lion in the corresponding months OF
last year. These figures justify the es-
innate Of approximately hfty-seven
million dollars as the value of the i'm
portations Of this class OF articles in
the year which ends with next month,
against forty-two and one-half million
in 1912 and fortyfour and one-fourth
million in The former high-record
year 1906, and making it perfectly APP
parent that The record of 1913 will far
exceed that of any earlier year.
U. S. Has Half Worlds Supply.
This large gain in recent years &C.
ours chiefly Ia cut diamonds; the un-
cut diamonds, which form little over
one-fourth Of the total Imports, show
ng slight gains over earlier years Of
the past decade The value Of uncut
diamonds imported in 1903, ten years
ago, was ten and one-fourth million
dollars and in 1913 viii approximate
sixteen million Will" that of cut dia
monds was, in 1903, thirteen million
dollars, and in the current year viii
approximate thirty million.
Most of the diamonds imported into
the United states, while originating in
South Africa are inyOiced from the
Netherlands, Belgium, France and the
United Kingdom. About two-thirds of
the uncut diamonds are imported from
the United Kingdom. in whose South
African possessions the principal dia-
mOnd mines OF the world are located.
OF the cut diamonds imported, more
than three fourths ale from Belgium
and the Netherlands, about equally
divided between those two countries.
While the United Kingdom, Belgium,
ana the Netherlands are large import
crs Of diamonds, a considerable pro-
portion thereof are, i'm each case, re-
exported.
The people of the United States are
the worlds largest importers of da-
mOnds for permanent ownership, and
they, according TO a statement by Mr..
George T. kunz, in the Encyclopedia
Americana, own practically half the
diamonds of the world. The state
mont IN question, published in 1903,
estimated tho value of all diamonds