THE PEARL MERCHANTS OF PARIS
F
OR a long time, a
very long time, Paris has been the center of the pearl-trade. The
reason for this escapes me, unless it is that the many wealthy
foreigners who visit it spend their money there more readily than they
do anywhere else.
That,
of course, would only be a partial explanation, as would also the fact
that the French gold- and silversmiths are more than ordinarily skilled
workers in precious metals. But as most of the important pearl-fishing
stations are situated in British possessions, or adjoining them, and as
nine-tenths of the pearls fished all over the world are consigned to
London bankers and import houses, it is rather strange that Paris and
not London should have become the great distributing center for this
gem.
Within
the last fifty years that part of the Rue Lafayette which runs from the
Gare du Nord to within a few paces of the Grand Opera House has
attracted numerous pearl-merchants and brokers, whose offices are
located in that thoroughfare. The Rue Lafayette is to Paris what
Hatton Garden is to London and Maiden Lane to New York—the
headquarters of the trade in precious stones and pearls.
In
any of these three thoroughfares there are to be seen throughout the
whole year, irrespective of the season, and in practically all weathers
short of a tropical downpour or a hurricane, groups of men, for the
most part sallow-com-plexioned, beak-nosed, and falcon-eyed, standing
on the pavement or in the gutter, so that it is sometimes difficult to
pass. It is a hundred to one that these are more than fresh-air
fiends—that they are dealers or brokers in precious stones. Those who
have a more refined appearance are undoubtedly
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