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The recent Underwood Tariff which caused so many changes also brought into prominence new aspects of the diamond and gem importing business. For many years the tariff on polished diamonds and on other finished gems, including pearls, had been ten per cent. By the new tariff this was raised to twenty per cent, and rough diamonds, which heretofore had been on the free list, were made to bear a duty of ten per cent.
The gem importers made a concerted effort to prevent the change in tariff, because they believed that the object of the Administration would be defeated rather than furthered by the changes. In other words, they believed that the government would secure less revenue rather than more, because of the added inducement to smugglers. However, the tariff was raised and the only recourse now open to legitimate dealers is to see, so far as possible, that no smuggling is done. The American Jewelers' Protective Association was formed to accomplish this purpose. In the association are incorporated almost all the legitimate dealers and importers in gems and precious stones in the country. These concerns realize the danger of competition with gems smuggled into the country, and through the association they endeavor to aid the federal government by furnishing the customs authorities with information which they alone, for obvious reasons, are in a position to obtain. For this purpose the association employs detectives in Europe, whose work it is to know what important purchases are made and how they reach America. By these means smugglers have recently been detected and caught, who used the most ingenuous means for concealing the goods.
The work of the association is further aided by a clause in the Administrative Act of the new tariff, which provides that, "where a seizure has been made, the burden of proof shall be upon the claimant." Under this provision even regular buyers of precious stones must be prepared to furnish evidence that the stones were legitimately brought into the country, since, if a smuggler is detected, not only will his goods be seized, but also the smuggled stones that he may have sold to his customers. Dealers must, therefore, be on their guard to purchase stones only from reputable, responsible houses.
In the matter of the relative advantages to individuals in purchasing diamond jewelry abroad and at home, Mr. Ludwig Nissen, president of the American Jewelers' Protective Association, contributes some illuminating information. He says, in the first place, that he has never known a person to make as good purchases abroad as could have been made at home. Methods of doing business in these goods are entirely different on different sides of the Atlantic, and the customer not versed in the technicalities that enter into the valuation of jewels, must often fall more or less a prey to the merchant working under a different code of commercial honesty than exists here. Also it must be noted that the quality of precious stones sold in Europe is very often not that desired by Americans. |
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Precious Stones Guide Vol 3
>> The Twentieth Century Underwood Tariff on Diamonds, Pearls, and Precious Stones
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