"DIAMOND QUEEN"

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19128, 24 September 1936, Page 14

"DIAMOND QUEEN"

GREAT JEWEL MERCHANT AMERICAN VISITS LONDON LONDON. July 16. A little motherly woman stepped out into the Strand yesterday morning and quizzk-aily scrutinised the sky. To bustling Londoners she was just another woman. To millions of Americans and to wealthy celebrities the world over she is .Mrs. Olga Tritt—the '•Diamond Queen" of New York. Money-laden women look to Mrs. Tritt as the greatest woman jewel merchant in the world. Queens and princes have commissioned her to seek rare gems for their collections. Diamond dealers all over the world know her name, her soft smile, her sharp eyes, her skilled fingers. They send her gems. They seek her advice. .Mrs. Tritt scrutinised the sky. Quietly she said: "'1 cannot search for jewels today. The light is bad. 1 always depend on the sky. When it is dull I cannot see the gems 1 am buying. L never buy under artificial light—only the sky.'" , The tittle woman, whose jewel hunts ihave taken her to the pearl fisheries of the South Sea, through whose fingers fabulous wealth i.s silted daily, went back to her room in the Savoy Hotel and hoped for brighter skies on the morrow. Instead of appearing bedecked with precious stones, the Queen of Diamonds wore only a plain little brooch of emeralds and a pearl necklace. RAINBOW COLOURS "I love jewels," she said. '"But not to wear. Just to work with—to arrange in beautiful settings—to buy—to sell. These two pieces are ail 1 wear. I have a sentimental feeling for them." Mrs. Tritt was reluctant to say exactly how long it took her to become the Diamond Queen of New York. "I started buying jewels many, many years ago. Don't ask how many. The minute J. admit it's been over 2i> years, people will think I'm getting old." She smiled to hide the tender wrinkles in her cheeks. "People don't know anything about jewels, really. Hardly any one I meet is aware, for example, that diamonds come in every colour of the raiubow. Haven't you ever seen a green diamond, or a red one? And pearls, too. Blue pearls and black pearls and all colours."