Evening star., 1947-08-26
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NEW YORK, N. Y.
It could be any busy street in mid
town Manhattan but it isn't. For
on Forty-seventh street, on a good
day, over a million dollars in precious
stones and diamonds are handled
right on the street.
Much has been written about the
diamond mart down in the Bowery.
But every person we spoke to on
the street and inside the many
exchanges that dot Forty seventh
street told us that the market has
moved from Canal and Nassau
streets. "Eh," they'll tell you with
a nod, cts all retail down there
now" This midtown Johari. an
Indian word for jewelry bazaar,
they will also tell you. is now the
center of the diamond and precious
stones industry. For on this street
fierce trading goes on and more
business is often transacted in 8 or 9
diamond houses than is done on
most Of Fifth avenue.
Not any one can roam the street
and sell diamonds. Nor can just
any one buy booth in one Of the
exchange buildings. The great
majority Of the people in the busi
ness have been born into it. From
father to son is usual procedure
Nearly every one in the business
knows one another.
The selling that is done on the
street is noisily conducted. High
pitched voices. and gestures are the
order of the day. There Is no defi-
mite time specified. The sale may
start out as a conversation and
turn into a furious free-for- all
wherein a stone may change hands
to times in the course of 10
minutes. Stones are usually shown
not in velvet cases or streamlined
boxes, but in crisp white or yellow
paper. The diamonds that are
bought are loose merchandise. And
in realityi what the great majority
of the dealers on the street are
are wholesalers to wholesalers. Here
on this street one may buy 40 per
cent to so per cent cheaper than by
buying from so-called "legitimate'
firms.
The men who make up the dealers
section of the street are mostly from
Holland and Belgium. One man we
talked to said that his people came
over from Holland over 300 years
ago.
Diamond imports come from Hol-
hand, Belgium and South Africa.
The dealers import rough stones,
buy rough stones. cut rough stones
and sell loose diamonds in papers
among dealers. You will seldom find
man who doesn't know hds bust
ness thoroughly. If he doesn't, as
one young man remarked rather
sourly, then he shouldn't be in 1t.
He'll get hurt" People on this block
compare their work with the stock
market. 1t is, they claim, trading
on a market price.
Nos. so, 50, 81 and 40 are we'll
known exchanges on Forty-seventh
street. No. 26, on the street, oper-
ates on a unique principle. In this
building, booth after booth in the
exchange is occupied by craftsman.
In this unusual spot everything con-
cerned with jewelry may be done in
one place. 1t now takes dealer
one hour to get done all the work
that he needs. Instead of going to
one place to have a ring soldered to
size, another place to have a piece
of jewelry or. a watch repaired, still
another to buy mounting, to have
diamond set-he can have 1t all
done in this one exchange. Dan
Mariotty, who occupies booth in
this building and manufactures
crystals, also passed on an interest
ing bit concerning them. He stated
that New York City makes IS per
cent of the crystals In the United
States and so per cent of the
crystals in. use today throughout
the world.
But we're getting away from dia-
monds. And yet diamonds aren't
the only commodity traded on this
street. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires,
cats eyes and alexandrites are also
passed over counters and bargained
for in the street.
Many people have the idea that
the jewelry sold on Forty-seventh