where;
it's the past I started to talk about, not the future of jewelry. Here,
you can see for yourself in these figures just when the bigger
depressions hit the world. Depressions and wars. Diamonds don't like
war, and they're very sensitive to trade recessions. All luxury goods
are. See here where the record went up steadily after 1902. More than
six million the year after, and the same, practically, for 1905, and a
little jump here in 1906, up to more than eight millions. I remember
how pleased we were with ourselves. Then it began slumping. Way down in
1908, to only two and a half. It was bad here in the City that year—bad
all over. Then a sudden jump in 1909, up to nearly eight again and so
on pretty steady to the beginning of the war, World War I that was.
Three and a third million in 1914. Less than three in '15. Then the
trade recovered, right in the middle of the war; people began investing
in diamonds the way they usually do sooner or later in times of
international stress; they figure it's better to put their cash into
something solid and valuable and small. By the Armistice we were doing
a record business; more than ten million in 1918. Let's see now —'19
made more than fifteen million. Nineteen twenty wasn't too bad, but
then—oh, oh!—1921 was a bad slump, a very bad slump; we didn't sell a
million. That's when the place was full of goods that couldn't find
buyers. Here's a fairly good recovery in '22. Nearly six again, and it
climbed steadily until 1930 when it tumbled from over twelve million to
just over three. You can cast your mind back to 1930, I suppose; we all
can, vividly. Lower again the year after and then a steady climb, not a
rapid one but good enough, through the years to 1938. Well, we all
remember that, too, I expect. The market fell to the 1914 level, only
by this time it seemed much lower when it hit the same
