3-086-380 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A View of the show-rooms of The Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Company, 112, Regent Street, London, 1898. 'The Precious Gems of London. In its spacious safes and show-cases you will find the rarest gems - set and unset alike - which you can find anywhere. Not only is the raw material there in splendid abundance, but its manipulation is always effected with artistic skill. Thus, in one tiny case you will be shown a pair of the most perfect pearls in the world, one white and one black. One particular ruby sparkles like a diamond with all its purple splendour. You are dazzled with the unique arrangements of emeralds and diamonds - as necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings...to draw up an inventory of even the more important treasures that are stored at 112, Regent Street, would fill many columns of this Journal, for during its long experience in the delicate business of gems, the company has accumulated the best jewels that have come into the market, and thus at the present moment you will find among its treasure-trove some of the most historic of gems. For, remember, a jewel does not perish. The story of some diamonds is known for hundreds of years; that it is which links the company with the jewel marts of all the centuries.' From "Illustrated London News", 1898.