The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1921-05-20
DIAMOND SLUMP
RUINS DEALERS
Market Range 300 to 500 per Cent
Below Tlnt of Eighteen
Months Ago.

diamond Is all but at an end.
This remarkable statement was
made by one of the leading figures in
the diamond industry. He made the
assertion in a moment of impulse for
70 one would wish to decry his own
wares
Yet it is a fact. Diamonds no long
err stand for affluenoe. "As rare as
diamond" is today as obsolete a
saying as precious as a gem"
The following prices per karat fer
the rough, uncut stones SHOWS how
the make; has slumped within
year:
Early in 1920 .............$45
End December 800, ......... rs
April 1921 .............. II
The above prices supplied by a
prominent diamond broker, are the
actual figures at which he disposed
of small parcels of stones.
"The slump in prices began about
last June" he said. To-day | can
not get 100000 for a parcel of stones
for which l then refused 100000"
Disaster to the diamond industry
is being averted only thru the efforts
of the controlling syndicate, which is
able to stem the fall in prices some
what, Notwithstanding the almost
complete absence of trading.
Are Hard Hit.
Many dealers, as well as private
spectators, have been hard hit ow-
ing tC their being unable to dispose
of their large holdings except at
heavy loss.
For many years past diamonds
have been the shrewd mans invest
ment. The knowledgable person.
with money to put away, has looked
for something more stable than gov
ernmLntal bonds, less liable to mar
ket fluctuations than the finest brand
of trustee stocks. And he found it,
as he thought. in diamonds Dia-
mouds were not only attractive and
decorative to look at, but they repre-
scented cash and could be converted
into ready money at any time, proba-
bly, with a profit to himself.
That, at all events. was how he
reasoned, and he was right-then
Today. however, there is a very diff
feranL tale to be told.
The vogue in diamonds reached its
climax in 1919, when there was an
absolute craze for diamonds. People
who had been almost afraid to look
in a jewelers. shop window before.
now bought at any price that deal
ers liked to ask. Apparently it had
been the ore wish of all the people
to whom the war had brought wealth
to possess diamonds, and at their first
moment of prosperity they rushed to
the jewelers.. The demand had ma
tural sequel; prices scared, and rose.
to as much as 500 per cent above
their previous value. Buyers scour-
ed the continent buying up jewels of
impoverished Russian, German and
Austrian noble families. The craze
spread to America and Japan, and
this overseas demand contributed to
keep germs at their fabulous price.
Sales Of famous collections brought
in unheard-of sums. Suddenly the
picture changed and within a month
Jewels for which fortunes had been
given were being offered for sale at
almost any price.
Desperate Efforts
The millionaire mine owners are
making a desperate effort to right
the output Some of the most ia
nous mines in South Africa are par
TALLY closed down, and the output
from the rest is only being put on the
market in minute quantities. Elk
perts who had imagined that the val
ue of the diamond could never drop
to any appreciable extent have been
dumfounded to see diamonds being
actually exchanged for maize and
meal round some of the wealthiest
mines in South Africa.
When one recalls the romantic his
cries and tragedies connected with
some of the worlds famous stones,
one is forced. to ask were they worth
it. All the worlds greatest stones
have stories attached to them which
rival the widest flights of fiction.
Most precious of all, probably, is the
great Koh-i-Noor. This great stone
is believed to be part of a still great
err diamond known as THE Great
Mogul," which was shaped like half
an egg, and weighed nearly 500
karats. The other part Of this is be-
lieved to be the OrloOf, once in the
Russian sceptre, and now heayen only
knows where. Probably it was part
Of the jewelry disposed of by the