PEARLS & DIAMONDS GREAT RISE IN VALUES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 75, 30 March 1914, Page 9

PEARLS & DIAMONDS GREAT RISE IN VALUES.

If the dealers in precious stones are to be believed, it is no longer an extravagance for women to spend their money upon pearls and diamonds (writes the London correspondent of the Sdney Telegraph). The clever woman of to-day, in persuading her husband to buy for her a pearl necklace or earrings containing stones of great size and the best quality, urges that an investment of the most profitable kind is being accomplished. At Christie's recently a string of_beautiful pearls was sold at auction for two and a-half times as much as it cost in a Regent-street shop 30 years ago. One can safely say that in the last 15 or 30 years the value of all large pearls has increased by anything from 50 per cent, to 200 per cent. The advance in diamonds has been scarcely less. Money invested in these atones has been earning a. sound rate of interest^ while infinite pleasure is given to their proud po3aessors. How long this rise in values will continue- cannot accurately be estimated, but that it is certain to go on at least fojr some years is the unanimous opinion of the loading jewellers of London and the Continent. The enhancement its coiiftucd, however, almost solely to large Uones of the best quality. Single peaWa or diamonds coating less tlKm J3SO apiuce arc not sharing in the upward movement. There appears to be no limit to tiie supply of what good JiwcHm* contempeuously call "hundreds *nd thousands," but when you get to di.itnonds a fid pcavls abovo that- price there are two strong forces ,»t work m favour of their owners. The demand is increasing and iho supply diminishing. This is especially true of pc-arls. " We are faced with the fact,"' s*id the head oi 'one of the first jewellery firms in Regent-street, and the possessor of some of the finest pearls and' diamonds i« the world, to m<3 this week, "that feha pearl fisheries, so far as large pnarls s.ro concerned, are giving out. Thoro is plenty of small atutf to be had, but each year the divers are finding fewe* ter^e stones. A number of fisheries have actually been closed down to recoup, and this means that they will be out ot tue warket for at least five or seven yeara. At the samo time, as the wealth of Ui«, world increases, and with it the love of display, the demand is immeasurably greater than it was even ten or fifteen years ago. If you want a really sound investment for your money, put it into pearls of the first quality. The beat diamonds are' also a good investment, but not quite so " profitable, I think, as peark. The man who wants to bo iv favour with his wife, and at the sam-o time bo sure of a big return for his capital, should give less attention to mines and railways, and take a walk up, Regent-street or along Bond -street, and make his investments with us." It ie an interesting fact that the sharp advance in values has not been shared, by precious stones generally. The craze is only for diamonds and pearls. All tbo coloured stones become temporarily fashionable in their turn, but none enjoy sustained popularity. Just now thero ia a run on emerald 6, but experts regard it. as merely a passing fashion. Rubles are acoually in disfavour, due to a large extent to the wonderful reproductions manufactured in Paris. The increasing vata© oi pearls and diamonds is quite uuafteoted by the flood of remarkable faked articles now on the market, and this is all the more extraordinary because of t.lie AXceUence of the faking. So close to reality are the best reproductions of hofcb pearls and diamonds that it has become higiny dangerous to .pla^e jewels either for keeping, Tepainng, or raising money with any but firms of the highest r#put-e. It is common for society wom^n who are temporarily embarrassed to pawn their peaTls and diamonds and t?plac© thorn with reproductions, which, wifcli a«y luck at all, are undetected by their husbands, or friends. It is well known, too, that many notable possessor,* of famous jewels have reproductions made for general wear^ and display the originals only upon great social occasions. But despite all this> substitution, the value of pearls and diamonds steadily increases. < You can see a million pounds' worth of immense pearls and diamonds in a few minutes' walk on any day along Bond-street. But London's display o? stones of first quality is a long way behind that of Paris. For instance, there is probably ten times the money shown daily in the Rue de la. Paix in Paris as (in Bond-street. The difference to some extent is due to the fact that the Parie jeweller puts more of his goods la l bh/ 3 > shop window. But the Teal reason js that the Parisian is a larger buyer of superb single stones than, the Londoner. The Continental fashion is in faAOur of the wearing of single stones of great pri^e and beauty, which, worn in the same way in London, would brand the wearer as flash. According to London merchants, most of the world's best pearls and diamonds pass .through the English market, although most of them now are bought by foreigners. St. Petersburg is a heavy purchaser, and the wealthy American, a,s might be expected, buys 'increasingly. The East, too, ha&, m receni years, become a stout competitor, the Japanese in. particular showing a disposit.ipn for the most expensive jewellery. , Enquiry shows that Australia is s> negligible factor in the market.