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Show FORTUNES IN GEMS CHANGE OWNERSHIP OVER CUPS OF TEA When it was stated the other day that a scientist had discovered n process which enabled him to make synthetic diamonds, indistinguishable from the real ones, but very much cheaper, a great many people were alarmed. j Diamonds are a favorite Investment Invest-ment and those who possess them would suffer enormous losses If stones exactly the same could be made commercially. It is Impossible to say exactly how much money would be involved, but the total would probably not be far short of 1,000,000,000. Fortunately for the owners of jewels, however, tests of the "synthetic "syn-thetic diamonds" by the experts of the London Chamber of Commerce have revealed Important differences between the manufactured gems and the genuine article. Business in diamonds Is one of the best barometers of world trade. When diamonds boom It Is a sign that there Is general prosperity. When the demand for them falls off commerce generally Is slowing down. But no other form of "big business" busi-ness" is carried out in so modest 9 way. There Is no palatial diamond exchange, housed in "marble halls." Instead, you have the marble-topped tables of a teashop, where men sit over twopenny cups of tea or coffee discussing the prices of the "sparklers" "spark-lers" that lie spilled among the breadcrumbs. bread-crumbs. That's how they do busl ness in Hatton Garden, the center of the diamond trade. London Answers. |