Jewelry

Ingredients in Voodoo?

Art and craft show experience? Which to sell?

How to sell handcrafted items in New orleans?

What major jewelry store (Kay, Zales..etc.)?

What is the name of the song on the Zales Jewelry Commercial?

Can i purchase a ring box at a jewelry store? Ex. Zales K jewelers local jewelers etc?

How much does it cost to make charm bracelets?

a couple jewelry questions?

where can i find bead making materials & tools in Hyderabad & secbad?

...47th Street in NYC? West 47th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue is New York City's jewelry district. I pass through this block fairly often and always observe what look to me to be suspicious and unsavory-looking men huddled in small groups of 2 or 3, who seem to be whispering while at the same time casting furtive glances up and down the street outside the many jewelry business that occupy the block. Others are huddled in doorways. I suspect that these people are bent on either buying or selling jewelry. But why on the street and not in the stores, and why the furtiveness. I further suspect that what underlies this activity is tax avoidance and possibly the exchange of stolen goods, but then again maybe my fertile imagination is working overtime. I've always thought that maybe this block would be a good location for branch offices of the U.S. Customs Service and/or the IRS. Can anyone shed any light on what these mysterious characters are up to?

Unless you think someone dressed as a Hasidim is unsavory. Most gemstone deals are done with a handshake, and usually behind closed (in)doors. Why would they want to deal in the street where they could be seen? Inside the store, they would be safer and so would the cash. Could be drugs, but I don't think the business people would put up with that, and they would have enough money and influence to get police action in their neighborhood.

There are probably as many activities as there are groups. Some may be furtive for the usual reasons of concealing something illegal. Others because they want to keep their business private, just don't want to spread TMI. Some may have something to hide but it is not illegal. Others act this way because they are paranoid. As far as the govt agencies you mentioned, whatever crimes are occurring are too minor for their attention. Maybe the NYC PD should show up more often. "It is best not to know". Don't stare. Mind your own business. These are some of the rules I was taught as a youngster growing up in NYC. "Curiousity killed the cat" as the saying. My cousin lived in an Italian (Mafia) neighborhood and the guy across the street often had trucks stop in front of his house in the middle of the night. He said, "Boxes going in & boxes coming out, but you don't ask questions".