Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading

Louis Kornitzer's book, Gem Trader, is partly autobiographical and partly woven round the lore of pearls. It's educational + explains the distribution chain of gems, as they pass from hand to hand, from miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to receiver of stolen goods, shaping human lives as they go + the unique characters in the industry.

(via Gem Trader) Louis Kornitzer writes:

I have traveled over the stream from my years of opal to my years of Jade—from childhood to past middle age—from Vienna of the Old Emperor to China eternally the same. I think there are no more gems to symbolize the years that remain. As I write the threat of war hangs over London, a city wide open to the air attacks of an enemy. Putting off the ledgers, the corn-tongs, the balances, of the gem merchant, I put in my lapel the badge of the air warden and proceed to fit several hundreds of my fellow citizens with gas masks instead of with necklaces and rings. There is no gem for this stage of my life, when every day is itself a jewel hung on a brittle thread.

But I cannot stop here without giving you some idea of the procedures and customs of the trade, although I have already mentioned these here and there in passing. Something of the people, too, who deal in gems I must tell you. Many intelligent people with whom I have had occasion to discuss the subject of precious stones have labored under the impression that the dealers in that commodity are necessarily men of considerable affluence, if not of great wealth. That is far from being so, and in fact most of the men engaged in this highly specialized commerce depend upon the credits extended to them by the trade itself or by accommodating and enterprising merchant bankers in such trade centers as Amsterdam, Antwerp and Paris.

Trading in gemstones can at worst be as prosaic, or even as sordid, an occupation as that in any other goods. But at its best it can be sublimated into something that reflects the romance inherent in those beautiful and rare substances, the elite of the mineral kingdom.

An experience extending to well over half a century has taught me that those dealers who concern themselves least with the manifold aspects of the noble merchandise which passes daily through their hands become the greatest successes in a worldly sense. ‘Profits’ is the one beautiful word with them and it cannot materialize until they have got rid of a gem; they are not thrilled at sight of an uncommonly fine jewel, they are not puffed up with the pride of possession when they chance to outbid their competitors for a lovely thing, and they have no pangs of parting when it passes from their hands into those of others. Never having taken the gem into their hearts, its departures creates no void. They neither buy nor avoid selling out of sentiment. Such men die rich, Heavens help them.

But apart from lack of sentiment, there is often a sheer lack of knowledge among dealers about the goods they sell. That the diamond, for instance, is essentially pure crystallized carbon is a fact very well known to most people, and yet I have actually come across diamond merchants to whom they was news, and news to be taken with a grain of salt at that! Nor do many dealers in sapphires and rubies know that the blue stone and the red are full brothers. And as for the dealers who know nothing about any of the precious or semi-precious stones except those in which they themselves happen to deal, their name is legion.

This does not speak well for a large proportion of the merchants who trade habitually in articles which are a perennial source of wonder and romantic interest to the general public. But fortunately there are others and their number is not inconsiderable. They are all well informed, keenly appreciative of the distinguishing features of the many gemstones which go to make up the long list of the precious minerals. Amongst these men there are not a few all-round connoisseurs, and being known as such far and wide, they receive rare specimens from all parts of the world to enrich their collections. While no trader’s pocket is deep enough to permit him to acquire every fine gem which is offered him, these experts do not lightly pass by a stone which appeals to their imagination; and having acquired it, they defer the date of parting from it until the commercial instinct within them gains the upper hand. This is the reason why the connoisseur, who knows all there is to know about gems, frequently has a much less important bank balance than the dealer who does not know and does not care.

I have in mind a dealer friend of mine, to whom £1000 in hard cash would be a godsend, not because he is poor or in want, but because his mania for collecting fine specimens has left him frightfully short of ready money. His latest acquisition is a specimen ruby he could have sold many times over at a good profit. Instead, it sleeps in his wallet on a snowy pad of cotton-wool, eating its head off in interest. In fact, it eats up more in interest on his money than a pedigreed hunter would require for a year’s oats. For the dealer who cannot bear to sell his goods might as well keep a racing stable and be done with it!

But my friend says: ‘I haven’t got wife, child or hobby. When I feel lonesome or depressed I bring out that ruby and know that life is worth living.’

To those unfamiliar with the procedure in marketing gemstones it may of interest to learn that as soon as a consignment of stones in the rough—that is, in the uncut state or in the state which is called ‘Indian cut’ (imperfectly or not fully faceted)—reaches the consignees in London or Paris all the well-known dealers are advised. They inspect the goods, make their choice and submit their offers, which are cabled out to the respective owners, be they in Ceylon, India, Siam, Australia or any part of South America, for all these parts of the world contribute their quota of gem material to the great trading centers. If the offer is accepted, the transaction is closed forthwith; the merchandise is delivered and cash is paid, for spot cash is de rigueur in these transactions.

Foundations Of The Bridge: The Technicalities Of Gem Trading (continued)