Mines,
Ltd., has sold its annual production to the London Syndicate of diamond
merchants, who handle most of the products of the mines of South
Africa, with the exception of the German mines. The London Syndicate's
methods of conducting business are quite unusual. In general the
procedure is as follows. When the managers have a lot of goods for sale
they notify the buyers of the rough who are on their list as being
entitled to buy from the Syndicate direct, that a " sight of the goods"
may be had on a certain date. The buyer must declare his intention and
make application some time in advance of the time when a sight of the
goods is expected, in order to secure the opportunity to make his
purchase. If the favored buyer who is allowed to buy the rough does not
then buy, he is omitted from the purchasing list for several months.
The goods are sold in lots of some $200,000 in value and upwards, and
must be paid for in spot cash. The prices are absolute. The goods mined
at South Africa are sorted and classified at Kimberley as follows:
1. Close goods
2. Spotted stones
3. Rejection cleavage
4. Fine cleavage
5. Light brown cleavage
