Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1919-09-25
DIAMONDS GO UP
ON EUROPE MART
Antwerp Clubs Reveal Efforts OF
Germans to Control
Gem Trade.
MONEY DEPRECIATION HELPS
Men of Wealth, Nervous as to Finsn-
cial Outlook, Buy Diamonds In
stead Of Securities Because
the Safest Investment.


Antwerp.-Antwerp is in the throes
of a diamond fever" such as has
never been known anywhere before.
Not less than six diamond clubs"
have been opened in the last three
months
These are clubs" only in name, for
they have nothing of the usual com
Portable accommodation generally as
ISOLATED In our minds with such In
situations. Their main feature is
large room filled with rows Of small
card tables The room looks for all
the world like a card playing estab-
lshment
1t is the guests, however, who pre-
sent the Strangest appearance. There
are smart young men dressed in the
latest styles, ard important looking
men bearing tie unm!stakable mark
Of the stock exchange hnbitle and Pc
cuiar old men with lorg boards and
soiled linen and ancient Prince Albert
suits all mingled toge tn II and driving
bargains among themselves at figures
that would rejoice any banker even in
America.
Handling Diamonds.
Two by two they sit opposite each
other at the little green tables, care
lessly lingering handouts of uncut dla-
monds as If they were common poker
chips.
The conversations are pretty much
the same all over the room;
How much did you pay for this
lott"
1.-TWO hundred thousand crowns"
"All right; I'll buy it with per
cent profit for you"
Ozone"
And the money is handed over at
once in cash. Then the seller looks
around and having nothing. better TO
do, leans over the shoulder Of an ac-
quaintance at another table. driving
another bargain. And the gambler
fever gets him again and he feels
sorry he has sold SO he buys an
other lot and sometimes he buys back
the very one he has sold.
Thus the prices are pushed up in
this extraordinary diamond ex-
change" Of the world.
One of the oldest firms has given
the following figures concerning dia.
mond prices:
Before the war the uncut stone cost
S23 a karat and S32 after cutting.
Immediately after the declaration OF
war the price slumped to S23 and re-
NAMED that low as long as 1915, when
the Germans, beginning to get nerv-
Gus about the value of paper money
started buying all the diamonds they
could find on the market.
France, Switzerland. Italy and Eng
land followed suit, and the price went
mp by leaps and bounds. On the eve
OF the armstice the karat was worth
$40 and fell again to s34 within
few weeks of the cessation of hostil
tiles.
Since the beginning of the year the
diamond market has doomed, owing
to the general depreciation of Euro.
pean money, the difficulty Of exchange
and the embargo on export Of curren.
cies from one to another European
country.
Demand Is Heavy.
Today a karat of uncut stone finds
an easy market at $3.50. Merchants
need no longer seek customers. Cred.
1t Is no longer given. AS soon as a
new consignment arrives from Lon.
don the diamond clubs are filed to
overlooking and the bidding starts
with unheard of zest Many accounts
are settled in America, and even
there merchants prefer to be paid In
kind rather than in money
II seems certain that the price OF
diamonds win continue to rise until
the economic condition of the world
is better balanced than at present
In every country there is an aston.
ishlng number Of rich men who ara
still very nervous as 10 the financial
outlook, especially in relation to pos
sible labor troubles These men do
not buy securities and do not keep
large bank balances. They buy dia,
monds because they know they ars
the safest investment and the easiest
TO transport
The fact that Germans have been
the heaviest purchasers of cut and
uncut stones since 1915 is beginning
10 worry the allies who find in It the
explanation Of the apparent optimism
shown IN Germany ms to the economic
future Of the country 1t Is said that
the greatest supply Of diamonds 10
the world is now safely stored by Ger.
mans who when they choose are In a
position to command the market.