Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-09-19
DIAMONDS co UP
| on EUROPE MART
Antwerp Clubs Reveal Efforts Of
Germans to Control
Gem Trade.
MONEY DEPRECIATION HELPS
Men OF Wealth, Nervous as to Finan.
ciai Outlook, Buy Diamonds In.
stead Of Securities Because
: the Safest Investment.

Antwerp. is in the throes
OF 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 maine, for
they have nothing of the usual COM
Portable accommodation generally as
ISOLATED in our minds with such in
situations. Their main feature is Il
large room filled with rows Of small
card tables. The room looks for all
the world like card playing estab-
lishment.
1t is the guests however. who pre-.
sent the strangest Appearance There
are smart young men dressed III the
latest styles, and important looking
men bearing the unin.stakable mark
Of the stock exchange habitue aud pc
cullar old men With long boards and
solIed linen and ancient Prince Albert
suits all mingled together 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 hundfuls of uncut dia-
monds es II they were common poker
chips.
The conversations are pretty much
the same all over The room:
How much did You pay for this
LOTT"
Two hundred thousand crowns"
"Al right; I'll buy it with s per
cent profit for YOU
Done"
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 aud sometimes he buys back
the very sne 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 figules concerning dia-
mond prices:
Before the war the uncut stone cost
$23 q karat and S32 after cutting
Immediately after the declaration of
war the price slumped to S23 and re-
manned that low as long as 1918, 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
up by leaps and bounds. on the eve
Of the armistice the karat was worth
$40 and fell again TO S34 within Il
few weeks of the cessation of hostil,
tiles.
Since the beginning Of the year the
diamond market las doomed, owing
20 the general depreciation of Euro
pean money, the difficulty of exchange
cies from one to another European
country.
Demand Is Heavy
Today a karat of uncut stone fuls
an easy market ut $50 Merchants
need no.loneer seek customers. Cred
1t is no longer given. AS soon as a
new consignment arrives from Lon. /
don the diamond clubs are filled to
overlooking and TIE 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.
It seems certain that the price of
diamonds will continue to rise until
the economic condition of the world
Is better balanced than at present.
In every country there IS an aston
ishing number Of rich men who are
still very nervous us tn the financial
outlook. especially in relation to pos.
sble labor troubles. These men do
not buy securities and do not keen
large bank balances. They buy dia.
monuS because ilicN KNOW theN are
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
to worry the allies who find in ii the
explanation Of the apparent optimism
shown IN Germany rs to the economic
future Of the country. 1t is said that
the greatest supply Of diamonds in
the world is now safely stored by Ger.
mans who, when they choose, are In a
position to command the market.