penalised by being omitted from the purchasing list for six months.
The
United States of America is about the only nation that levies a duty on
diamonds, under the present tariff, ten per cent, on cut diamonds,
while the rough are admitted free. The London Syndicate assorts the
diamonds according to qualities, and in general, the American cutters
purchase the best. The finest quality, the stones of the purest water,
are brought here by American importers and cut in American
establishments in a way to satisfy Americans, the most critical buyers
of diamonds in the world, who demand the best effects, regardless of
waste in diamond-cutting. Even the imported cut goods are frequently
recut here.
The
other great market for diamonds is Amsterdam in Holland. The industry
of cutting diamonds which originated in India, and first appeared in
Europe in the town of Bruges— where it was initiated by the Dutch
lapidary, Ludwig van Berquen, who invented his particular process in
the year 1476—was afterward centred in Antwerp, Belgium. After a
struggle for the supremacy, however, Amsterdam became the chief centre
of the industry, although it
