tell
you. Many intelligent people with whom I have had occasion to discuss
the subject of precious stones have laboured 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 specialised commerce depend
upon the credits extended to them by the trade itself or by
accommodating and enterprising merchant bankers in such trade centres
as Amsterdam, Antwerp and Paris.
Trading
in gem stones 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 élite 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 materialise 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 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 departure creates no void.
They neither buy nor avoid selling out of sentiment. Such men die rich,
Heaven help them.
