woman has had a ring at the
shop for nine years.
He estimates he makes
150 loans a day, about 100 of
which are for jewelry.
The only licensed gun
dealer in Oak Park, Mr.
Gold counts among his'
customers leading sports
and government figures. A
member of the Pistons often
drops in, picking up a saxo-
phone and playing a few
tunes after he shops.
"You have to be very clos-
ed mouth in this business,"
Mr. Gold says. As his shop
also makes custom jewelry,
Mr. Gold says he receives a
lot of calls from prominent
businessmen who say, "You
know what my wife likes.
Make something up for her
and I'll pick it up later."
Mr. Gold dispels the notion
that pawnshops are unsafe
— guards are constantly on
duty and the windows are
bulletproof glass — and that
they deal in stolen goods.
His shop keeps detailed
records on every customer,
including fingerprint,
driver's license number and
a description of the item
sold. The city and state
police each receive a copy.
But Mr. Gold says he rare-
ly meets up with anyone try-
ing to sell stolen goods these
days. "People know
pawnshops aren't a fence
anymore," he says.

Lew Silver of Lew Silver
Diamond Brokers also keeps
records on each customer,
though he says he, too, rare-
ly receives stolen jewels.
"People come here because
of need, not because they're
thieves," he says.
What Mr. Silver does see a
lot of is fakes: fake Piaget
and Rolex watches, fake
gold, zirconium passed off as
diamonds. He has a whole
collection of fakes.

. A graduate of the Gem In-
stitute of America, Mr.
Silver says he is never fooled
by the fakes. Though he has
equipment to test for gold
and diamonds, he says he
depends primarily on his
own eyes.
"I know diamonds. That's
my job," he says. The key:
"When you look at a stone, it
has to look back."
A fourth-generation
jeweler originally from
Cleveland, Ohio, Lew Silver
got into the business when
years ago he answered an
advertisement seeking a
diamond expert. "I said I
was one, though I wasn't,".
he admits.
He later served in Viet-
nam and settled in Detroit,
where he became manager of
Federal Collateral pawn-
brokers. In 1984, he opened
his own store.
Since then, Mr. Silver has

-

Detroit's Long History
Of Jewish Pawnbrokers

awnbroking is believed
to have started in China
more than 3,000 years
ago. Though popular in the
Middle Ages, pawnbroking
declined around 1,000 C.E.,
when many countries estab-
lished usury laws prohibiting
interest charges. Only those
exempt from such laws
because of religion — mainly
Jews — became pawnbrokers.
Detroit has a long history
of Jewish pawnbrokers. The
1875-76 Detroit City Direc-
tory lists five pawnbrokers:
Sigmar Cohn, Mrs. I.M.
Smit, Jacob Smit, Isaac Van
Baalen and Isaac War-
shauer. All were Jewish.
Thirty years later, one of
Detroit's leading pawn-
brokers, Joseph Moyer,
was killed during a robbery
at his shop on Monroe
Avenue. Police Chief Capt.
James McDonnell called the
incident "the city's worst
crime." The thieves got
away with $3,500 in
diamonds and $800 cash.
By 1940, 46 pawnbrokers
were working in Detroit.
With the exception of
perhaps one or two, all were
Jewish.
The highest concentration

of pawnbrokers was located
on Michigan Avenue, with
another 14 on Hastings
Street, long the center of the
old Jewish immigrant
ghetto.
Most pawnbrokers
operated one shop. A few,
such as Morris Wasserman,
Samuel Melnick, L. Jack
Sherman and Nathan Lewis,
had two stores.
With the increase of fi-
nance companies and credit

By 1940, 46
pawnbrokers were
working in Detroit.

unions, which also offered
easy credit, the pawnshop
business in Detroit steadily
declined. Many stores also
were destroyed in the 1967
riots.
In a March 1970 story, The
Detroit News reported that
the number of local
pawnshops had dropped
from 51 to 17. By 1983,
Detroit was home to 11
pawnshops, and today 22
pawnshops are listed in
metropolitan Detroit.
Some 6,000 pawnshops
operate in the United States.
— E. A.

Les Gold:
Pawnshops are
"Upbeat, upscale,
classy merchandise
at a reasonable
price."

Photos by Glenn Triest

shop, along with the furs,
exercise and sports equip-
ment, snow blowers and
guns upstairs. There is even
some technical equipment
Mr. Gold is still trying to
define.
"My expertise is knowing
what I can get for an article,
even if I don't know what
that article is," he says.
A fur at American Jewelry
and Loan may cost $150-
$300; at department stores,
it would sell for $3,000, Mr.
Gold says. Similarly, a VCR
or color television that
would cost $250 anywhere
else sells for $75 at the
pawnshop. Mr. Gold says all
his goods are 50-75 percent
less than retail.
What he'll pay for any
item "depends on how I
feel." Though the goods
carry price tags, Mr. Gold
calls such labels mean-
ingless.
A salesman brings in a
ring with a price tag of
$1,995. He asks, "Can I go to
$600?" But Mr. Gold does
him better. "We'll take
$500," he says.
"I know it sounds low," he
says. "But the key is vol-
ume. You've got to buy
cheap, sell inexpensively
and do a lot of volume."
A member of Temple Kol
Ami, Mr. Gold says about 85
percent of his customers
return to redeem goods. One

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

57

