Nasby in Exile: or, Six Months of Travel in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, with many things not of travel
John Locke · en
This young fellow does not own these precious stones. He is a broker.
The diamond is first brought to light in Brazil, India, or the Cape of
Good Hope. From the original producer it passes into the hands of the
resident buyer, who consigns it to the broker to sell, and he does it on
commission the same as the elevator men handle wheat. The buyer in
Petticoat Lane either cuts and sets it himself, or re-sells it to the
fashionable jeweler, as he can make the most profit. Trust them for
doing that. It is something the London Hebrew understands long before he
cuts his teeth.
But it is not alone diamonds you find in these rooms. On the various
tables may be seen jewelry of every possible description, and all sorts
of goods, from a tooth-pick up. You can buy a watch or a jack-knife, a
button-hook or a diamond bracelet. Especially is the variety of curious
old jewelry very extensive. You find there rings and brooches set with
all sorts of stones, of every period in the world's history, which makes
it the resort of the wealthy collectors of the ancient and curious. Here
is a brooch, said to have been worn by Queen Anne, and another by one of
the mistresses of Louis XVIII., of France. The seller says it was, and
if he happens to be mistaken, what difference does it make so that you
believe it? It is just as good to you as though the history was
accurate. One should not be particular in such matters, though I saw
enough brooches that were once the property of an English Queen to have
set up a very large jewelry store, and were they all genuine it explains
the high taxes in England, and justifies all the rebellions the country
has suffered. But it is all well enough. The goods are actually quaint
and beautiful. It is darkly hinted that these Jews have factories where
jewelry once worn by royalty is manufactured by the bushel, and I should
not wonder thereat. For, you see, a brooch of modern style, worth say
fifty pounds, is worth one hundred pounds if it were once Queen Anne's.
"Dose goots, ma tear sir, vat ish anshent, and hef historical
associations, are wort any money. At one hundred pounts it ish a
bargain."
As the price doubles because of historical features it pays very nicely
to manufacture the old styles, and tarnish the gold, and make antiques.
But possibly this is a weak invention of the Gentiles who do not deal in
antiques.
[Sidenote: THE CONFIDING ISRAELITE.]
One would suppose that it would be rather hazardous to carry about so
much wealth in a paper. What is to prevent the Jew at the table who has
a paper before him containing, say, two hundred diamonds, from secreting
one or two? The broker hands a paper to one, and another to another, and
divides his time between them, and to take a stone would be as easy as
lying.