The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-09-29
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

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 a
large room filed with rows of small
card tables. The room looks for all
the world like a card playing estab-
lishment.
1t is the guests, however, who pre-
sent the strangest appearance. There
are smart young men dressed In the
latest styles, and important looking
men bearing the unmistakable mark
of the stock exchange habitue and pc
culiar old men with long boards and
soiled linen and ancient Prince Albert
suits all mingled together and driving
bargains among themselves at figures
America.
Handling Diamonds.
Two by two they sit, opposite each
other at the little green tables, care
lessly lingering handfuls of uncut dia-
monds as IL 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 1t 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 and sometimes he buys back
the very one he has sold.
Thus the prices are pushed up in
this extraordinary diamond I ex-
change of the world.
One of the oldest firms has given
the following figures concerning dla-
mond prices:
Before the wal the uncut stone cost
$23 a karat and $50 after cutting.
Immediately after the declaration of
war the price slumped to $23 and re-
mained 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
up by leaps and bounds. On the eve
OF the armistice the karat was worth
$40 and fell again to $34 within a
few weeks of the cessation of hostil-
tiles.
Since the begin ming 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 filled 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
! rather than In money.
1t seems certain that the price of
diamonds will continue to rise until
n 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 as to 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 are
the safest investment and the easiest
to transport.
Inc Iact n a Germans have been
the heaviest purchasers of cut and
uncut stones since 1915 is beginning
to worry the allies who find In 1t the
explanation Of the al parent optimism
shown In Germany as 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.