LURE OF PRECIOUS STONES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23827, 30 November 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

LURE OF PRECIOUS STONES

An Englishman w ~ For Gem Worth Five Shillings

MR. LOUIS KORNITZER'S work as a diamond merchant and dealer in precious stones has taken him to many parts of the world. Once, when he was in China, he had occasion to visit the Chief Magistrate at Amoy, and on the way to keep his appointment was horrified By the sight of a public flogging, prelude to the execution of the criminal, which was to take place on the following day.

IN his book, "The Jewelled Trail" (Bles), Mr. Kornitzer tells us that byS-a coincidence the Chief Magistrate- recognised a jade ring *>vorn by the author as an heirloom of his own family's. He naturally wanted to buy it back and offered through Hung, the interpreter, to pay Mr. Kornitzer whatever he asked for "at:— Still under the effect of the sight I had witnessed on my way to his Louse, and picturing the terrible fate of the victim on the following day, I said to Hung, "Tell His Excellency that there- is only one price for my ring, the price of a life. .If he will pardon the man condemned to be beheaded to-morrow I Avill give him this ring in exchange." Death on His Conscience The magistrate hesitated. If he ••agreed, he would be depriving the people of Amoy of a free entertainment, and might damage his own popularity. Finally,, however, he consented and Mr. Kornitzer went off happily. • A week 'later he was not SO happy. He had returned to Hongkong, and !happened to mention to Hung the satisfactory outcome of his business in .iAmoy, adding:— "I am afraid, though, that I defrauded the townspeople of a morning's entertainment." "Oh, no. Your Honor need not trouble your head about that," said my interpreter, with his most . pleasant smile. "His Excellency, the Chief Magistrate, told me that he intended to<,'execute another man, one looking as much like the criminal as possible, so that the crowd should not be disappointed." There was nothing Mr. Kornitzer could do, "but," he says, "to this day I have the death of an entirely innocent Chinese badly on my conscience." Rubies played a sinister part in another story told by Mr. Kornitzer. A young map called Tonv Elton, accompanied by another Englishman and a few natives, went prospecting for rubies in a mountainous part of Borneo, where

the natives were known to be unfriendly : For six months there was no news of him; then one day the officer commanding the nearest British outpost received a grim reminder of the expedition in the form of poor Tony's head mounted on a pointed stick. Accompanying it was a note scribbled on the torn leaf of a diary. The writer was the remaining white man of the ill-fated party. The writer explained that they had not had much hick with their prospecting. but that Elton had seen an enormous ruby in a native chief's hut. When the chief refused to sell, Elton had taken it by force, leaving behind what he considered an adequate sum of money, and so came the tragedy. A little while later, Mr. Kornitzer met Elton's companion, who was then on his way home: — After telling me his terrible adventure, he said", "By the way, I've got the ruby with me. I'm taking it back to Tony's people. They can sell it or do what they like with it." .1 said 1 would like to see it, so the stone was brought out. Tony's friend turned away when I uncovered it, and I was glad afterwards that he had done SO, for he might have read my face. The precious ruby that had caused Elton's death was 110 more than a garnet, worth about five shillings. International Thieves

The problem of transferring valuable jewels from one place to another often troubles jewellers. Thieves have their own ways of finding out what is going, and precautions have to be taken against.their activities. One well-known jeweller who had to take a valuable pearl necklace from London to Paris booked a seat on the Golden Arrow express. Suspecting that his movements were being watched by a gang of international criminals, he cancelled his seat at the last moment and did not make the journey after all. Yet the necklace reached Paris at the scheduled time: —

I What the thieves did not know was that the sister of one of the firm's most trusted employees was travelling. not on the luxurious Golden Arrow, but in a second-class compartment of the ordinary express, look-

ing just like an average English business girl on a Jiolidny trip to the Continent. A keen observer might havo found her lacking-in dress sense, for she had evidently a strong inclination for cheap fur and artificial jewellery. Hei> 4 necklace, bracelets and ..'airings had obviously been bought at a sixpenny store.

Not all of them, though. The middle row of her three pearl necklaces was worth £">0,000 Mr. Kornitzer has seen precious stones in many queer places, and has bought them from surprising people in odd parts of the world. It was not odd. he says, that once

when I Was walking down crowded Sauehiehall Street in Glasgow, a shabbily dressed man pushing n barrow laden with oranges awl bananas should have accosted me and after a few moments' conversation pressed into my hand a pair of solitaire diamond cufl'-links which he begged me to buy.

The explanation in this case was a simple one. The coster had once been a wealthy Covent Garden fruit importer to whom Mr. Kornitzer had originally sold the cuff-links.