DIAMONDS COME TO AMERICA
nue. which is West 47th Street is today the main street of the diamond world- The diamond area engulfs Rockefeller Center.
If
you stroll through West 47th Street you will find little knots of men
standing on the edge of the sidewalk holding pieces of paper in their
hands and studying something, or peering at small glittering objects
through a loupe. During the stroll down that block you may pass about
$10,000 in diamonds held in the hands of men who are almost
contemptuously indifferent to your curious stares. Why are they out on
the sidewalks? Because they want the natural light. Artificial light is
not good for the study of a diamond. What is the best time? Morning—to
be precise, the best time and place to study a diamond is eleven
o'clock in the morning in 3 northern light.
The
thought may occur to you that it is a wonder these men aren't afraid of
being held up. They're not. Forty-seventh Street, between Fifth and
Sixth Avenues,, is one of the most heavily guarded blocks in the world.
The elevator starter in any one of the buildings may be an armed
detective. So may the fellow who runs the candy counter halfway down
the block. So may the affable stranger who corries up and asks: "Got a
match, buddy?" and then, as he lights his cigarette, calmly and
leisurely studies and appraises you. So may the fellow leaning lazily
on the second-floor windowsill of that building a few steps up the
block, as though he had nothing better to do all day than, to watch the
passing throng. He hasn't.
But
if it has been said that 47th Street is the Main Street of the diamond
world, it should be remembered also that New York is not all the
diamond business. It extends to San Francisco, to Chicago, to New
Orleans, Baltimore, Detroit, Boston, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Denver,
Atlanta,
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