PEARLS AND DIAMONDS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12755, 26 September 1919, Page 2

PEARLS AND DIAMONDS.

GERMANY WANTS THEM. Fabulous prices are being paid for diamonds and pearls in London. Never before has there been such a boom in precious stones. (j There are many reasons for the “boom,” but the most sensational revelation, made on good authority, was that German war profiteers are using every means at their disposal to purchase diamonds. “ People think that there is no money in Germany, but the Germans are _ waiting all along the frontier to begin buying on a big scale as soon as peace is signed- “ 1* or a long time it has been known in the trade that German war profiteers will give almost any price for precious stones. Brokers have left the county for Belgium (and Holland, where they have bought diamonds, ana when they have returned to London they have found lower prices offered tiDon the Continent. One broker said that he found the London trade price left him with 25s per carat loss, so he returned to Holland, where ho resold his stones and obtained £4 per carat profit.” Some idea of the increased value ot stones and their settings since pre-war days are shown here:— Diamonds.—Largo Stones (second quality), 75 per cent increase. ' Small (first quality), 150-200 per cent increase. Pearls.—3oo-400 per cent increase. Coloured stones.—Rubies and emeralds (Siamese -and Indian), 50-100 per cent increase, according to quality. Settings. 100-500 per cent increase, oo far as pearls are concerned, thd reasons for ihe still increasing prices are varied. The long and brilliant senes of Court and society functions has created a big homo demand since the armistice, the fisheries are exhausted, and the important .people in the trade, who deal in what are technically called “ready” (pearls have kept them back from buyers with a view to making a “ comer ” in anticipation of bigger prices. First quality diamonds weighing 4 carats before the war, and fetching £4O, are now bought bv the traded from £IOO to £l2O. Unlike nearls which have been imitated to sucli a gree as to cause experts to pause diamonds have no substitute, and ’it is calculated that unless unforeseen circumstances pise normal levels will hot be reached in ten or twentyifive yeara-