New Britain herald., 1928-01-19
TOURISTS FOOLED
 BY FAKE JEWnRY
Dyson Says '0riatl Gems"
 Come From By Stlts

ASts @OEOA0, n made in AttleborO. Mass. according to George H. Dyson, president of the Retail Jswelers' as- soetation of Connecticut, in an ad- areas to the members of the Rotary clHh. of which he is . member. to- day. Nr. Dyson took as his subject
 Ths Straight and Crooked in the Jswslry BusineA."
 Opening his address. he went into the history of the Jswelry bushes. and said that methods used by early Egyptian gold and silversmiths have undergone little change to tho pres- Int day. He told of tho birth and growth of guilds among jewellers and sold and silversmith. for the pur- poee of discipling those who de- liberately mtsrepreseut their pro- duets.
 A early e 1900 and 1900 years ago. hs said. trade marks were es- tAblished by law in Europe. At pres snt in this country. he said. efforts were being made to enact laws to protect the public from crooked and interruptions jewellers, manufactur- CTS and dealerA He said there are just as many crooks who are out to swindle, deceive and rob the un- suspecting public as there are hon. est men in the jewelry busine1.
 Even in New Britain people have been stuck" by dishonest jewelry sales. MT. Dyson stated. He told how . jewelry hrm advertised that it was going to 'sell out at auction" He said "a firm of auctioneers got held of tho business and the junk that has been turned out of that place is remarkable" Stating that several tn- stances of dishonesty by this anne firm had come to his attention. he cited one case of . woman purchas- ing diamond ring at auction which had an imperfect stone and which cost her more than | first class stone would have cost at full retail value.
 He said in many auctioneering places in Connecticut ''loads of junk are brought in to which the public will flock in droves to see how near they can get to the fire without be- lHk OutAC0s 4ACa SAAoy eS " O~%AAS teweler in whom they have confi- Gence to see how badly they have been swindled."
 Mir. Dyson spoke of the code of ethics drawn up a few years ago by the National Retail Jewellers assoct- ation for the government of its members. He added: There &S class of men in the jewelry business today who will not jjoin any organ ization for the simple reason that they are very much afraid they will be compelled to live up to the prin- ciples and morals of these organiza- tions."
 He referred to the work of the federal trade commission which has been Instrumental in eliminating much fraudulent advertising. He ex- plained that 1t s against the law tn this country to sell electro-plated goods q Sheffield plate." He men, toned other things which he said are samples of goods which he claimed arc using misleading trade phraseA such as Sterling" silver old" "starlite." and quoted . para graph from the Keystone magazine, the national jewelry paper. which referred to French pearls which are not pearls. green jade which is green but not jade. French ivory which Is not ivory. sterline as substitute for sterling.
 "One of the greatest frauds prac- ticed today in the jewelry business" according to MT. Dyson, "ts the branding of imitation articles as genuine. or using some trade phrase that will lead the public to believe the article in question is genuine"
 He told of . concern which a few years ago flooded the country with Japanese pearls" selling them for tl0 and t1s string. with the ex- planation that they could be sold that cheap because they were snug gled into the country. The pearls were artificial and were made on Cape Cod. he explained.
 "Very few tourists from this coun- try go to Europe and the Oriental countries who doesn't purchase some alleged Oriental or foreign made jewelry. Ninety per cent of that truck is made in Attleboro, Mass. and the principal ingredient is brass or copper with . very thin plating and the crudest sort of imitation stones." he concluded.
 Rev. William H. Alderson, vice president, presided. There was a large delegation present from Hart ford. Several local jewellers also were present.
 ONE NEW CASE
 New Haven. Jan. l9.-One more