you will be mulcted before you realise you have fallen prey to a gang of crooks.
Again,
take no strong drink while on business and certainly accept no treats
from friendly strangers, not even a cup of innocent coffee or a
cigarette. Either may be doped. Late nights of the festive order unfit
a man for being custodian of gems the loss of which may mean all the
difference between competence and penury. I won't say don't take nights out—merely, don't work the morning after! A dealer in gems must be alert the whole of the time.
One
principle that has always stood me in good stead is to keep good faith
with the man behind the counter, the retail jeweller (or any other
customer). The importance of being trusted cannot be overestimated.
Therefore no statement should ever be made which cannot be borne out.
If a shopkeeper asks me "Is this stone flawless?" I give him an honest
reply. There is a world of difference between "fairly clean", "eye
clean" and clean under the searching magnification of a powerful lens.
Such
advice as that in the last paragraph might apply to any trade, but
there is another piece of advice particularly applicable to those who
handle gem stones, and I give it as it was given to me at the outset of
my career by a dealer in Paris, a dainty little Frenchman of the old:
school: "Soignez vos mains, mon mm, car se sont vos étalages" "Make
the most of your hands, my friend, for they are your show windows," is
sound advice to the man who must needs display his wares on the back of
his hand; for it is common practise to lay out the gems to be shown
