OCR Text |
Show MAKING DIAMONDS GROW. It Is Not V'.ry Dllllmilt If Vou Torn Them - U.r Oftau Eaoogh with Profit. "Look at th t'umn" anii. nnnn . Journeyman it!' n "treat car the other day, jfeujovitig a tissaepaiierwTap ping from at piece of white wax, in the uuui.i -o ttitiij-h a beautiful diamond blazed. "Tha)'; is worth at fuo least ; iiao." "How is it that yon can afford to buy : such a valuable stone as that?" asked 1 one of his friends who knew his circum-; circum-; titan;es." i "I will pnt you on to the snap," said the joweler. "That stone has been grow- ing for a year, and I think it has got its ! growth." "What do you mean by a diamond growing?" adred the friend. "I will tell you. You remember the little spark I had in my scarfpin Christmas. Christ-mas. Well, this is what it has grown to in less than a year. That litrlo stone cost, me a dollar and tlx pin cost me $2.80. I sold the pin for $3, and bought au eight carat stono a little off shade for a trifle over $5. I bonght a stud setting. You know you can get those things quite low now. They are made up by the thousands by firms which do not take finished goods. Well, I put the stone in the setting on a spiral and sold it the Siimo week for $18. Then I went to the office ami bought the best stone 1 conld get for $15 and mounted that in the same manner. I wore it a month and then sold it for $30, and I put $25 into another stone. It was a little beauty, and I traded it for another one of about the same size, and got $5 to boot. That put the stone down to $20, and I put it j into a setting which cost me $3, and sold j it a few days later for $35. I got another stone for $30, and had it two months before be-fore I made a turn with it; then I cleared $12 and put the money into a beautiful stone, which brought me up to $60, when I sold it in a handsome stud setting. "Then I got a chance to sell a ring for $75, and I made it to order, putting in a stone which cost me $45.50. I pat the whole $75 into another stone, which I carried aronnd for a while, and had fully made up my mind to keep, but a butcher offered me $100 for it aud I sold it to him. It was iu a crown setting, which cost me $6.25. For the hundred I got a dandy stone, and I was sure I could keep that one, but I have had four bettor ones since, and have got up to $180. I can't go much higher than that, I guess, for there are few men among my acquaintances who can afford to tempt mo with a profitable offer for it. I wouldn't soil it to-night for $200, because be-cause I know that I have got a bargain. I'm a pretty good judge of diamonds, and when I put that stone into a nice ring I will make it look like $250 worth, and I don't think that anybody can persuade per-suade we to sell it for anything less. In all tho changes 1 don't think that I have put in more than $10 or $18 of my pocket money. Tho rest has all been profit on the stones and settings." New York j -Art.. |