Part V

, page 78, notes that they soothe the heart, lessen phlegm, are an antidote to poison, and cure fever, smallpox, and blear-eyedness.

The popular modern idea in India as to the therapeutic value was thus expressed by a native prince, Sourindro Mohun Tagore, Mus. Doc., the Maharajah of Tagore, in 1881:

The use of pearls conduces to contentment of mind and to strength of body and soul. The burnt powder of this gem, if taken with water as sherbet, cures vomiting of blood of all kinds. It prevents evil spirits working mischief in the minds of men, takes off bad smell from the mouth, cures lunacy of all descriptions and all mental diseases, jaundice and all diseases of the heart, intestines and stomach. Burnt pearl mixed with water and taken into the nostrils, as a powder, takes away headsickness, cures cataract, lachryma and swelling of the eyes, the painful sensation such as is caused by the entry of sand into them, and ulcers. Used as a dentifrice, it strengthens the gums and cleanses the teeth. Rubbed on the body with other medicines, it cures all skin diseases. It stops bleeding from cuts and ultimately heals them up. Whether taken internally or externally, it is a sure antidote to poison. It drives away all imaginary fears and removes all bodily pain. To prevent its tendency to affect the brain, it should always be used with the burnt powder of basud, and in its absence with that of white mother-of-pearl. The dose of pearl-powder should not exceed 2¼ mashas [19.68 grs.].[356]

The Hindus credited specific virtues to pearls of different colors: the yellow brought wealth, the honey shade fostered understanding, the white attracted fame, and the blue, good luck. Defective pearls caused leprosy, loss of fortune, disgrace, insanity, and death, according to the degree of defect. The “Mani-málá,” previously quoted, states that “pearls possessed of every valuable quality shield their master from every evil, and suffer nothing harmful to come near him. The house which contains a perfect pearl the ever-restless Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) chooses to make her dwelling for ever and a day.”[357]

A similar idea is expressed in an old Hindu treatise on gems by Buddhabhatta, where we read: “The pearl from the shell ought always to be worn as an amulet by those who desire prosperity.”[358]

Pearls still find a place in the pharmacopœia of India. One of the latest standard works, that of R. N. Khory and N. N. Katrak,[359] credits the powder as a stimulant, tonic, and aphrodisiac. It is one of the ingredients in numerous Indian prescriptions used in curing impotence, heart-disease, consumption, etc. According to these authorities, the dose is from one fourth to one half grain of the powdered pearl.

Owing to the high cost of sea pearls, even those of the smallest size, a substitute for medicinal and similar purposes is found in the Placuna pearls of Ceylon, Borneo, etc. These are of such slight luster that only the choicest are of ornamental value, consequently they are sold at relatively small prices. A considerable demand exists for them to be placed in the mouths of deceased Hindus of the middle class, instead of the sea pearls which are used by the wealthy, or the rice which is employed in a similar manner by persons of poorer rank. This custom seems to be analogous to that of the ancient Britons, and also to that of the American Indians, in depositing food and other requisites for a journey in burial graves. The practice is an old one in India and was noted by Marco Polo more than six hundred years ago.

Most of the Placuna pearls are calcined and are used with areca-nuts and betel-pepper leaves in a very popular masticatory, one of the “seven sisters of sleep,” which is to the Hindu what opium is to the Chinaman, or tobacco to the American or European. The hard white areca-nut (_Areca Catechu_) is about the size and shape of a hen’s egg. Three or four thousand tons of the small, tender nuts are annually shipped from Ceylon to India for this masticatory, which is chewed by a hundred million persons. After boiling in water, pellets of them are placed in a leaf of the betel-pepper (_Piper betle_) with a small quantity of lime made from pearls or shells, according to the desired quality and value of product. It is credited with hardening the gums, sweetening the breath, aiding digestion, and stimulating the nervous system like coffee or tobacco; its most visible effect is tingeing the saliva and blackening the teeth, which is far from attractive, especially in an otherwise beautiful woman. A more recent use for these Placuna pearls is as an ingredient in a proprietary face powder and enamel, which is marketed in Europe.

It is not alone the Orientals that have found medicinal virtues in pearls. Even in Europe they have occupied a prominent place in materia medica, especially during the Middle Ages when a knowledge of the occult properties of gems was an important branch of learning. Indeed, they could scarcely have been overlooked by people who at one time or another swallowed pretty much everything, from dried snake’s eyes to the filings of a murderer’s irons, in their quest for the unusual and costly with which to relieve and comfort themselves. During the Middle Ages in Europe, writers who gave attention to pearls, as well as to other gems, treated almost exclusively of their reputed efficacy in magic and in medicine; and most of the accounts from the ninth to the fourteenth century seem wholly without scientific value, and at times reach the climax of extravagance and absurdity in their claims for the wonderful potency of the gem.

Albertus Magnus, the Dominican scholar born in Germany in the twelfth century, wrote that pearls were used in mental diseases, in affections of the heart, in hemorrhages, and dysentery.[360]

The “Lapidario” of Alfonso X of Castile (1221–1284), called “The Wise,” the father of the Spanish language, states:

The pearl is most excellent in the medicinal art, for it is of great help in palpitation of the heart, and for those who are sad or timid, and in every sickness which is caused by melancholia, because it purifies the blood, clears it and removes all its impurities. Therefore, the physicians put them in their medicine and lectuaries, with which they cure these infirmities, and give them to be swallowed. They also make powders of them, which are applied to the eyes; because they clear the sight wonderfully, strengthen the nerves and dry up the moisture which enters the eyes.[361]

Anselmus de Boot, physician to Emperor Rudolph II, and one of the great authorities at the beginning of the seventeenth century, gave the following directions for making “_aqua perlata_, which is most excellent for restoring the strength and almost for resuscitating the dead. Dissolve the pearls in strong vinegar, or better in lemon juice, or in spirits of vitriol or sulphur, until they become liquified; fresh juice is then added and the first decanted. Then, to the milky and turbid solution, add enough sugar to sweeten it. If there be four ounces of this solution, add an ounce each of rose-water, of tincture of strawberries, of borage flowers and of balm and two ounces of cinnamon water. When you wish to give the medicine, shake the mixture so that the sediment may be swallowed at the same time. From one ounce to an ounce and a half may be taken, and nothing more excellent can be had. In pernicious and pestilential fevers, the ordinary _aqua perlata_ cannot be compared to this. Care must be taken to cover the glass carefully while the pearls are dissolving, lest the essence should escape.”[362]

A curious book on the medicinal use of pearls was written in 1637 by Malachias Geiger,[363] in which he especially praises the efficacy of Bavarian pearls. It was true that their material value was less than that of oriental pearls, but this was compensated by their therapeutic qualities. He had accomplished many cures of a very serious disease and had used these pearls successfully in cases of epilepsy, insanity, and melancholia.

Quotations might be given from a hundred medieval writers as to the therapeutics of pearls. The diseases for which they were recommended, as noted by Robert Lovell’s “Panmineralogicon, or Summe of all Authors,” published at Oxford in 1661, seems to have included a large portion of the entire list known at that period. This summary states:

Pearls strengthen and confirme the heart; they cherish the spirits and principall parts of the body; being put into collyries, they cleanse weafts of the eyes, and dry up the water thereof, help their filth, and strengthen the nerves by which moisture floweth into them; they are very good against melancholick griefes; they helpe those that are subject to cardiack passions; they defend against pestilent diseases, and are mixed with cordiall remedies; they are good against the lienterie, that is, the flux of the belly, proceeding from the sliperiness of the intestines, insomuch that they cannot retaine the meat, but let it passe undigested; they are good against swounings; they help the trembling of the heart and giddinesse of the head; they are mixed with the _Manus Christi_ against fainting (called _Manus Christi perlata_ in the London _Pharmacopaea_); they are put into antidotes or corroborating powders; they help the flux of bloud; they stop the terms, and cleanse the teeth; they are put into antidotes for the bowels, and increase their vertue, make the bloud more thin, and clarify that which is more thick and feculent; they help feavers. The _oile of Pearles_ or unions helpeth the resolution of the nerves, convulsion, decay of old age, phrensie, keepeth the body sound, and recovereth it when out of order, it rectifieth womens milk, and increaseth it, corrects the vices of the natural parts and seed. It cureth absesses, eating ulcers, the cancer and hemorrhoides.... The best are an excellent cordial, by which the oppressed balsame of life and decayed strength are recreated and strengthened, therefore they resist poyson, the plague, and putrefaction, and exhilarate, and therefore they are used as the last remedie in sick persons.[364]

[Illustration:

RUSSIAN EIKON OF THE MADONNA

Ornamented with pearls ]

So powerful and mysterious were their alleged virtues, that in some instances it was necessary only that the pearls be worn to make effective their prophylaxis against disease. This belief was by no means confined to the ignorant and inexperienced, for we are told that even Pope Adrian was never without his amulet made of the extraordinary combination of oriental pearls, a dried toad, etc.[365] Leonardo, in the fifteenth century, wrote that pearls render true and virtuous all who wear them.[366] Although we wonder at what we call the superstitions of the Middle Ages, perchance future generations will smile at many of our mistaken follies.

A prominent historical instance of administering pearls medicinally was in the treatment of Charles VI of France (1368–1422), to whom pearl powder mixed with distilled water was given for the cure of insanity.

A far more illustrious patient was Lorenzo de’ Medici, “The Magnificent” (1448–1492), the celebrated ruler of Florence. When this plebeian prince lay dying of a fever at Careggi, just after that famous interview with Savonarola, his friends called in Lazaro da Ticino, a physician of reputation, who administered pulverized pearls. Politian, who was present, is credited with the statement that when the medicine was administered, to the inquiry as to how it tasted, Lorenzo replied: “As pleasant as anything can be to a dying man.”[367]

Even the English philosopher, Francis Bacon (1561–1626), mentioned pearls among medicines for the prolongation of life. He adds: “Pearls are taken, either in a fine powder or in a kind of paste or solution made by the juice of very sour and fresh lemons. Sometimes they are given in aromatic confections, sometimes in a fluid form. Pearls no doubt have some affinity with the shells wherein they grow; perhaps may have nearly the same qualities as the shells of crawfish.”[368]

Powdered pearl or mother-of-pearl mixed with lemon juice was used as a wash for the face, and was considered “the best in the world.”[369] The pearl powder and lemon juice were permitted to stand for a day or two and the combination was then filtered before using. Another method of preparing this was:

Dissolve two or three ounces of fine seed-pearl in distilled vinegar, and when it is perfectly dissolved, pour the vinegar into a clean basin; then drop some oil of tartar upon it, and it will cast down the pearl into fine powder; then pour the vinegar clean off softly; put to the pearl clear conduit or spring water; pour that off, and do so often until the taste of the vinegar and tartar be clean gone; then dry the powder of pearl upon warm embers, and keep it for your use.[370]

Through their composition of carbonate of lime, pearls possibly possess some slight therapeutic value, which, however, can easily be supplied by other materials—as the shell, for instance—and is entirely out of proportion to their market value as ornaments.

Although pearls have lost their therapeutic prestige and no longer have a recognized place in materia medica, their healing qualities are not to be denied, for there are few ills to which women are subject that cannot be bettered or at least endured with greater patience when the sufferer receives a gift of pearls; the truth of which any doubting Thomas may easily verify in his own household to the limit of his purse-strings.

Owing to their beauty and great value, pearls have been deemed

## particularly appropriate as a sacrifice in enriching a drink for a toast

or tribute. Shakspere alludes to this in the words of King Claudius, the pearl being frequently designated _union_ in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries:

The king shall drink to Hamlet’s better breath; And in the cup an union shall he throw, Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark’s crown have worn.[371]

It is stated that a pearl worth £15,000 was reduced to powder and drunk by Sir Thomas Gresham, the English merchant, in the presence of the Spanish ambassador, as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth, by whom he had been knighted.[372]

The most celebrated instance of enriching a drink with a pearl was doubtless Cleopatra’s tribute to Antony, Pliny’s account of which we give in the words of old Philemon Holland:

This princesse, when _M. Antonius_ had strained himselfe to doe her all the pleasure he possibly could, and had feasted her day by day most sumptuously, and spared for no cost: in the hight of her pride and wanton braverie (as being a noble courtezan, and a queene withall) began to debase the expense and provision of Antonie, and made no reckoning of all his costly fare. When he thereat demanded againe how it was possible to goe beyond this magnificence of his, she answered againe, that she would spend upon him at one supper ten million Sestertij. _Antonie_ laid a great wager with her about it, and shee bound it againe, and made it good. The morrow after, _Cleopatra_ made _Antonie_ a supper which was sumptuous and roiall ynough: howbeit, there was no extraordinarie service seene upon the board: whereat _Antonius_ laughed her to scorne, and by way of mockerie required to see a bill with the account of the particulars. She again said, that whatsoever had been served up alreadie was but the overplus above the rate and proportion in question, affirming still that she would yet in that supper make up the full summe that she was seazed at: yea, herselfe alone would eat above that reckoning, and her owne supper should cost 60 million Sestertij: and with that commanded the second service to be brought in. The servitors set before her one only crewet of sharpe vineger, the strength whereof is able to resolve pearles. Now she had at her eares hanging these two most precious pearles, the singular and only jewels of the world, and even Natures wonder. As _Antonie_ looked wistly upon her, shee tooke one of them from her eare, steeped it in the vineger, and so soon as it was liquified, dranke it off. And as she was about to doe the like by the other, _L. Plancius_ the judge of that wager, laid fast hold upon it with his hand, and pronounced withal, that _Antonie_ had lost the wager.[373]

Elsewhere has been set forth the impracticability of dissolving a pearl in a glass of vinegar without first pulverizing it.[374] It seems probable that if Pliny’s interesting story has any foundation, Cleopatra might have swallowed a solid pearl in a glass of wine—certainly a more pleasing draught as well as a more graphic sacrifice; and we should accept its reported value with a grain of salt, for it would scarcely have been safe for the court gossip to belittle the value of this tribute of love.

Pliny, and other Roman writers, mention another instance, that of Clodius “the sonne of Aesope the Tragedian Poet,” who took two pearls of great price “in a braverie, and to know what tast pearles had, mortified them in venegre, and drunke them up. And finding them to content his palat wondrous well, because he would not have all the pleasure by himselfe, and know the goodnesse thereof alone, he gave to every guest at his table one pearle apeece to drinke in like manner.”[375] The chronicler fails to tell what the guests thought of the flavor of pearls, or whether some would not have preferred them for a more appropriate use.

XIII

VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS

XIII VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS

A pearl, Whose price hath launch’d above a thousand ships, And turn’d crown’d kings to merchants.

_Troilus and Cressida_, Act II, sc. 2.

To trace the markets of the pearl is to trace the routes of commerce from early times. The first routes from the Far East seem to have been two: one by the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates to Babylonia and Assyria, and thence by caravan through Damascus to Tyre and Sidon; the other by the Red Sea and Suez to Egypt. As regards the former route, Sir George Birdwood furnishes positive evidence that the Phenicians visited India as early as 2200 B.C. It seems highly probable that pearls were introduced by this route at an early period, although it is difficult to find material proof of the fact.

By means of this commerce, the great ancient civilizations of Phenicia, Mesapotamia and the Nile valley doubtless became familiar with the gem treasures of eastern Asia. Then came the opening of the Mediterranean with first “the great Sidon,” and later Tyre, as the starting-points of commerce, exploration, and colonial settlement among the islands and on the shores of what, to the Asiatic peoples, was the great western sea. However, as the Greek islands and their colonies developed, the Phenicians were more strictly confined to the coasts of Africa and Spain. Gades, Tartessus, and Carthage were their great colonies and trading-ports, and their adventurous sailors passed on through the Straits of Gibraltar and directed their course northward to the British Isles, where they very probably obtained the pearls of the Scotch rivers.

Meanwhile, the campaigns of Alexander had carried Greek influence and authority over all western Asia, reaching even to India itself, and had led to a widely increased intercourse. Although he died at the age of thirty-two, Alexander the Great did more than any single individual in the world’s history to bring the nations of the Eastern and the Western worlds into contact with each other, and it is certainly due to this circumstance that we find much greater evidences of the use of pearls in the western countries after his time. Besides this, the founding of Alexandria provided a mart, in whose bazaars the traders of India, Persia, and Arabia bartered their treasured gems, just as their descendants do in the same place at the present day.

It was not, however, until the establishment of the Roman empire that this commercial intercourse reached its highest development. The Romans, with their marvelous capacity for organization, were the first to build a great system of permanent and well-kept roads to facilitate land travel and land traffic. These great roads, starting from the Forum, reached out in every direction, even to the limits of the empire; and, as a result of increased commercial activity, more gems were engraved, mounted, and set during the five hundred years of Rome’s commercial supremacy than during any other early epoch of the world’s history.

In Rome, the trade in pearls was so important that there was a corporation of “margaritarii.” The _officinæ margaritariorum_ were installed in the Forum, in the neighborhood of the _tabernae argentariæ_; some were also on the Via Sacra.[376] However, the name _margaritarius_ did not only apply to the jewelers, merchants, and setters of pearls, but also to those who fished for them and to the guardians of the gems and jewels wherein pearls were used.

With the fall of the Western empire, the Dark Ages settled down like a cloud over Europe for five hundred years. Only among the Saracens and at Byzantium did the culture of the old civilization survive, and eventually the light of knowledge and of progress was rekindled from these sources. The Crusades were the chief factors in this new development; they gave a mighty stimulus, by means of which Europe was aroused from her lethargy and once more brought into contact with the Orient. Venice and Genoa now became the great carriers, and from this time, and to this source, may be traced many of the oriental gems in Europe. The Venetian fleet of three hundred merchant ships brought the products of the East and distributed them over Europe, by way of the German cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg, where the great jewelers and silversmiths made world-famed ornaments.

[Illustration:

PECTORAL CROSS OF CONSTANTINE IX. MONOMACHUS (1000–1054 A.D.)

Containing some wood attributed to the true cross. ]

When Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks, the treasures of the Eastern empire were scattered throughout Europe; but, at the same time, the establishment of the Turkish empire served to close the way to India and the far East for the merchants and travelers of Europe, and, hence, new means of access had to be sought by sea. This, as is well known, was the cause of the voyages of De Gama and Columbus. The unexpected result of these voyages—the discovery of a new continent—ushered in the wonderful period of Spanish and Portuguese development and their colonization of both the East and the West Indies; and to this epoch belongs the introduction of American pearls to the markets of Europe. The gradual decline of the power of Spain and Portugal—largely owing to bigotry and to the reckless exploitation of the regions under their control—brings us to the beginning of the present phase of commercial intercourse in which all the nations of the civilized world are engaged in varying proportion, according to their power and aptitude. Never before have the different regions of the earth been more closely in touch with each other, and we may safely say that nothing is likely to occur which can permanently interrupt the progressive development of the world’s commerce.

With the various means of transportation and locomotion that have existed in the past twenty-three or twenty-four centuries, there is no doubt that the commerce of pearls has varied more or less, but there has ever been, in some part of the world, a great potentate, a great collector or dealer who has influenced the finest gems to gravitate his way. Never has there been a time when some person was not prepared to encourage—and to richly encourage—the sale of fine jewels to him. The history of the commerce of precious stones is a history of travel and exploration, of hardship, pleasure, reward, and sometimes of serious disappointment.

The lesson we derive from these decorative objects of natural beauty and softness—treasured alike by savage, barbarian, ancient warrior, statesman, king, emperor, peasant, bourgeois, magyar, lady, and queen—always carries with it the moral that the gifts of creation are ever prized by some one in every age or place.

The necessary qualifications affecting the value of a pearl are: first, that it should be perfectly round, pear-shaped, drop-shaped, egg-shaped, or button-shaped, and as even in form as though it were turned on a lathe. It must have a perfectly clear skin, and a decided color or tint, whether white, pink, creamy, gray, brown or black. If white, it must not have a cloud or a blur or haze, nor should the skin have the slightest appearance of being opaque or dead. It must be absolutely free from all cracks, scratches, spots, flaws, indentations, shadowy reflections or blemishes of any kind. It must possess the peculiar luster or orient characteristic of the gem. The skin must be unbroken, and not show any evidence of having been polished.

Diamonds and the more valuable precious stones generally are bought and sold by the weight called a carat. This carat, whatever its precise value, is always considered as divisible into four diamond or pearl grains, but the subdivisions of the carat are usually expressed by the vulgar fractions, one fourth, one eighth, one twelfth, one sixteenth, one twenty-fourth, one thirty-second, and one sixty-fourth. The origin of the carat is to be sought in certain small, hard, leguminous seeds, which, when dried, remain constant in weight. The brilliant, glossy, scarlet-and-black seed of _Abrus precatorius_ constitutes the Indian rati, about three grains; the _Adenanthera pavonina_ seed weighs about four grains. The seed of the locust-tree, _Ceratonia siliqua_, weighs on the average three and one sixth grains, and constitutes, no doubt, the true origin of the carat.

Another[377] of the more notable of these weight-units used for precious stones and precious metals is the _candarin_, _condorine_, or _cantarai_, also termed by the Chinese _fun_ or _fan_, and by the south Indians a _fanam_, and used all over the Indo-Chinese archipelago. This is by origin a large lentil or pea of a pinkish color dotted with black, about double the size of the _gonj_, and possessing the same quality of very slight variability of weight when dried. It is probably a variety of the same botanic genus or species as the _Abrus precatorius_. The value when reduced to absolute standard became a subsidiary part or submultiple of the weight of some local coin, rupee, or pagoda, or a decimal fraction of some local tchen, as in China and Japan.

The following derivation of the word carat is given by Grimm: “Carat. Italian: _carato_; French: _carat_; Spanish and Portuguese: _quilate_; Old Portuguese: _quirate_, from Arabic _qirat_, and this from the Greek, κεράτιον.”[378]

The carat is not absolutely of the same value in all countries. Its weight, as used for weighing the diamond, pearl, and other gemstones in different parts of the world, is given in decimals of a gram, by the majority of the authorities, as follows:

Grams In Grains Troy Indian (Madras) .2073533 3.199948 Austrian (Vienna) .20613+ 3.18107+ German (Frankfort) .20577+ 3.175514 Brazil and Portugal .20575+ 3.175206 France .2055+ 3.171347 England .205409 3.169943 Spain .205393 3.169696 Holland .205044 3.16431+

Pearl Grains in Grams In Grains Troy Indian (Madras) .0518383 .799987 Austrian (Vienna) .05153+ .79526+ German (Frankfort) .05144+ .793878 Brazil and Portugal .05143+ .793801 France .051375 .792836 England .051352 .792485 Spain .051348 .792424 Holland .051261 .791077

Assuming that the gram corresponds to 15.43235 English grains, an English diamond carat will nearly equal 3.17 grains. It is, however, spoken of as being equal to four grains, the grains meant being “diamond” or “pearl” grains, and not ordinary troy or avoirdupois grains. Thus a diamond or pearl grain is but .7925 of a true grain. In an English troy ounce of 480 grains there are 151½ carats; and so it will be seen that a carat is not indeed quite 3.17 grains, but something like 3.1683168 grains, or less exactly, 3.168 grains. Further, if we accept the equivalent in grains of one gram to be, as stated above, 15.43235, and if there be 151½ carats in a troy ounce of 480 grains, it will follow that an English diamond carat is .205304 of a gram, not .205409, as commonly affirmed. The following exact equivalents, in metric grams and grains troy, of the diamond carat as used in different parts of the world in 1882, are given by Mr. Lowis d’A. Jackson:

DIAMOND CARATS

Grams Grains Troy Turin .2135 3.29480 Persia .2095 3.23307 Venice .2071 3.19603 Austro-Hungary .2061 3.18060 France (old) .2059 3.17752 France (later) .2055 3.17135 France (modern) .2050 3.16363 Portugal .2058 3.17597 Frankfort and Hamburg .2058 3.17597 Germany .2055 3.17135 East Indies .2055 3.17135 England and British India .2053 3.16826 Belgium (Antwerp) .2053 3.16826 Russia .2051 3.16517 Holland .2051 3.16517 Turkey .2005 3.09418 Spain .1999 3.08492 Java and Borneo .1969 3.03862 Florence .1965 3.03245 Arabia .1944 3.00004 Brazil .1922 2.96610 Egypt .1917 2.95838 Bologna .1886 2.91054 International carat .2050 3.16363 Proposed new international carat .2000 3.08647

Recalculating the above figures into pearl grains we have:

PEARL GRAINS

Grams Grains Troy Turin .053375 .823700 Persia .052375 .808267 Venice .051775 .799007 Austro-Hungary .051525 .795150 France (old) .051475 .794380 France (later) .051375 .792837 France (modern) .051250 .790907 Portugal .051450 .793902 Frankfort and Hamburg .051450 .793992 Germany .051375 .792837 East Indies .051375 .792837 England and British India .051325 .792065 Belgium (Antwerp) .051325 .792065 Russia .051275 .791292 Holland .051275 .791292 Turkey .050125 .773545 Spain .049975 .771230 Java and Borneo .049225 .759655 Florence .049125 .758112 Arabia .048600 .750010 Brazil .048050 .741522 Egypt .047925 .739595 Bologna .047150 .727635 International .051250 .790907 Proposed International .050000 .771617

With the present system of diamond carats and pearl grains it is necessary to keep two entirely different sets of weights or to resort to troublesome calculations. The stock-book of a jeweler, at the present time, will contain the following fractions, expressing the weight of a single pearl: ½, ¼, ⅛, 1⁄16, 1⁄32, 1⁄64, when the weight could be much better stated as 63⁄64 of a carat. It requires but a glance to see how much easier this would be. Certain dealers have therefore proposed the use of sets of fractions arranged in a similar way. In this manner a stock-book can be kept much more easily and with greater precision. Others, again, have adopted a decimal notation of the fractions of a carat, which is even more simple and feasible, since the common fractions ½, ¼, ⅛, etc. can be expressed as .5, .25, .125, etc., of a carat, this being either a carat of .2053 of a gram or the English carat of .20534 of a gram.

On the other hand, an agreement was arrived at, as the result of a conference between the diamond merchants of London, Paris, and Amsterdam, by which the uniform weight of a diamond carat was fixed at .205 of a gram, making the pearl grain .05125 of a gram. This standard, which was suggested in 1871, by a syndicate of Parisian jewelers, goldsmiths, and others dealing in precious stones, was subsequently (1877) confirmed. But there is still a lack of uniformity in the standard by which diamonds and pearls are bought and sold, and very serious discrepancies exist in the sets of carat weights turned out by different makers, although the international carat is almost universally used.

At the International Congress of Weights and Measures held at the World’s Fair at Chicago in 1893, the writer suggested that the carat should consist of 200 milligrams, so that ½ of a carat would be 100 milligrams and ¼ of a grain would be 12.5 milligrams. This would mean 5 carats or 20 grains to a French gram, and 5000 carats or 20,000 pearl grains to a French kilogram. This would depreciate the present diamond carat or pearl grain only about one per cent., and it would do away with the needless series of carats and grains of the many nationalities. It could be simply explained to any private individual in any country, especially as there are only two countries which do not use the metric system.

This carat has been earnestly indorsed, its introduction advocated, and its merits clearly shown, by M. Guilliame, of the French Bureau des Arts et Metiers, whose energetic work has found a reasonable cooperation, in this country as well as in Europe, in introducing what will be a scientific, logical, comprehensive, and possibly the final and international carat; and any ancient, obsolete, or foreign carat can be readily reduced to this carat once the metric value of the former is computed.

The Association of Diamond Merchants of Amsterdam has already, to avoid confusion, fixed the value of the carat (17th October, 1890) at 1 kilogram = 4875 carats, or 1 carat = 3.16561 grains troy = 205.128 mg. One pearl grain = .7914 grains troy = 51.282 mg.; but the association has decided that, in case of litigation, these values shall be determined by appointed bureaus, which would express them in grams and milligrams, a most important and valuable decision, as the gram and the milligram will always be known as weights of constant value.

In view of the difficulty of inducing the abolition of the carat in different countries, the German Federation of Jewelers decided to petition the imperial government for authority to use the carat, in order that it might be legally recognized. Such a proposition not being in accord with the German laws in force on the subject of the metric system, it was proposed to substitute for the carats then in use one carat only, weighing two hundred milligrams. This proposal was very favorably received in trade circles and may be taken into consideration by the International Committee of Weights and Measures. The Commission des Instruments et Travaux, to which this proposition was referred, recommended its adoption to the committee in the following terms:

“The Commission recognizes that it would be very desirable that the unit of weight of precious stones (the carat) which varies in different countries, should be made uniform, and should be reduced to the nearest metric equivalent. The weight of 200 mg., which is very close to the carat most in use (205.5 mg.), would seem to be the best for this purpose. The Commission believes that there can be no objection to this standard of 200 mg. being called ‘the metric carat’ in order to facilitate the abolition of the old carat.”

This proposition, adopted at the meeting of the International Committee on the 13th of April, was communicated to the more important associations. The Chambre Syndicale de la Bijouterie, Joaillerie et Orfèvrerie de Paris, and the Chambre Syndicale des Négotiants en Diamants, Perles, Pierres Précieuses et des Lapidaires de Paris assured the committee of their support of this measure.

The following is the text of the resolution which was passed by both the above associations in January, 1906:

“The Council, recognizing the advantages which would result to the international trade in precious stones from the use of a unit based on the metric system, desires that the metric carat of 200 mg. be universally adopted.”

The German Federation of Jewelers passed the following resolution in August, 1906:

“The German Federation considers that it is both necessary and advantageous to replace the old carat by the metric carat of 200 mg.; it authorizes its president to approach the imperial government and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and the foreign associations in order that the metric carat may be introduced as soon as possible in all countries.”

The Chamber of Commerce of Antwerp promised, in a letter dated the 7th of December, 1906, to rescind a decision of 29th of April, 1895, approving the adoption of a carat of 205.3 mg., when the metric carat of 200 mg. should come into universal use in the markets.

The Association of Jewelers and Goldsmiths of Prague formally authorized the German Federation to act in its name, in order that the reform should come about as soon as possible by international agreement, and the Association of Goldsmiths of Copenhagen has declared its willingness to support the reform. The Committee of Weights and Measures in Belgium prepared a law for the adoption of the metric carat in December, 1906.

Mr. Larking, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Melbourne, Australia, has transmitted by letter of September 16, 1907, the following resolution of the Association of Manufacturing Jewelers of the Colony of Victoria:

“It is desirable that the carat weight should be the same in all countries, and our association approves a metric carat of 200 milligrams.”

On October 16, 1907, the Association of Societies for the Protection of Commerce in the United Kingdom passed the following resolution:

“The Committee of the Association approves the attempt to urge the adoption in all countries of an international carat of 200 milligrams, and hopes that, in the interest of the unification of weights, it will prove successful.”

The fourth General Conference of Weights and Measures, held in Paris in October, 1907, passed this resolution:

“The Conference approves the proposition of the International Committee and declares that it sees no infringement of the integrity of the metric system in the adoption of the appellation ‘metric carat’ to designate a weight of 200 milligrams for the commerce in diamonds, pearls, and precious stones.”[379]

The following resolution was passed by The Birmingham Jewelers’ and Silversmiths’ Association, January 23, 1908: “That the best thanks of this Committee be conveyed to the Decimal Association for the good work they are doing, and this Committee expresses the hope that all countries will adopt an International Carat of 200 milligrams in weight.” Finally, on March 11, 1908, the metric carat of 200 milligrams was adopted in Spain as the official carat for diamonds, pearls, and precious stones.

Pearls have become of so much importance to so many dealers that a special form of weight has been proposed for them. This would have a diamond form and not a square form, and it would be stamped “Grain” instead of “Carat.” Another set would be stamped in milligrams, the regular milligram weight with the pearl fraction above it, and they could even be made round so as better to designate the pearl.

The great value of pearls has suggested the making of a gage, called the Kunz gage, by means of which round pearls can be very accurately measured. Pearls of a given weight and perfectly spherical form have been weighed and then measured by this gage, and the theoretical diameters as computed from the measurement of a single pearl are in the majority of instances in exact accord with these actual measurements, the occasional variations in the smaller pearls barely exceeding the thousandth part of an inch. These discrepancies may be due to imperceptible divergencies in sphericity or, possibly, to trifling differences in specific gravity.

The following table gives the diameters of round pearls by measurement, from 1⁄16 to 500 grains, in millimeters and inches:

Weight Grains Diameter Millimeters Inches 1⁄16 1.3 .0512 ⅛ 1.66 .0653 ¼ 2.09 .0823 ½ 2.65 .1043 ¾ 2.99 .1187 1 3.32 .1307 1¼ 3.60 .1417 1½ 3.80 .1496 1¾ 3.98 .1567 2 4.18 .1645 2¼ 4.32 .1701 2½ 4.47 .1759 2¾ 4.63 .1823 3 4.80 .1889 3¼ 4.88 .1921 3½ 5.01 .1972 3¾ 5.17 .2035 4 5.23 .2058 4¼ 5.44 .2141 5 5.65 .2224 5½ 5.86 .2283 6 6.03 .2374 6½ 6.20 .2442 7 6.36 .2504 8 6.64 .2614 9 6.90 .2716 10 7.15 .2815 11 7.38 .2905 12 7.60 .2992 13 7.81 .3074 14 8.00 .3149 15 8.18 .3220 16 8.36 .3291 17 8.53 .3358 18 8.70 .3425 19 8.86 .3488 20 9.01 .3547 25 9.71 .3823 30 10.31 .4059 35 10.86 .4275 40 11.35 .4468 45 11.82 .4653 50 12.23 .4815 60 13.00 .5118 70 13.38 .5386 80 14.30 .5630 90 14.89 .5862 100 15.42 .6071 125 16.60 .6535 150 17.63 .6941 200 19.41 .7641 300 22.22 .8748 400 24.46 .9630 500 26.35 1.0374

The new and finer analytical balances weigh to the tenth part of a milligram, the two thousandth part of a carat, the five hundredth part of a grain; but this is not necessary. If the 200–milligram carat were used, the two hundredth part of a carat could readily be ascertained, and then a short-beam, rapid-weighing balance would answer every purpose and save much time for the dealer who must make many weighings in the course of a day. In an office where thousands of weighings were made in a month, the task was accomplished with such minute accuracy that the margin of error did not exceed one carat during that time.

The _mina_, the sixtieth part of the lesser Alexandrian talent of silver, was divided by the Romans, when they occupied Egypt, into twelve ounces (_unciae_), and, weighing as it did 5460 grains, it became the predecessor of the European pounds of which the troy pound is a type. If we may believe a Syrian authority, Anania of Shiraz, who wrote in the sixth century, the carat or diamond weight was originally formed from one of these ounces by taking the 1⁄144 part.[380]

We find in Murray[381] that the Greek κεράτιον was originally identical with the Latin siliqua, and was called the _siliqua Graeca_. As a measure of weight and fineness the carat represents the Roman siliqua as 1⁄24 of the golden solidus of Constantine, which was ⅙ of an ounce, hence the various values into which 1⁄24 and 1⁄144 enter, or originally entered. As a measure of weight for diamonds and precious stones, it was originally 1⁄144 of an ounce or 3⅓ grains. It is stated in Hakluyt (Voy. II, pp. 1, 225, 1598): “Those pearls are praised according to the caracts which they weigh; every caract is four graines.”

There have been at all times men who possessed a delicate touch or a fine sense of feeling, but probably few men are living to-day who would be able to accomplish the feat attributed to Julius Cæsar, namely, that of estimating the weight of a pearl by simply holding it in his hand. There are very few who can tell the weight of a pearl in this way, and while the story may be historically interesting, it is rather dubious.

To attempt to formulate a list of prices, comparative or otherwise, of pearls, is almost an impossibility, as probably no two authors of the past three centuries have ever seen the same lot of pearls, nor have their estimates always been the same as to quality, rarity and value.

As interesting statistics from an historical point of view, there will be presented here a list of the values of pearls dating back some ten centuries. That there always has existed a higher valuation for the larger pearls, which are the rarest, will readily be apparent, but that the correct value of a pearl of one, ten, twenty or fifty grains be definitely given for the years 1602, 1702, 1802, or 1902 is an impossibility. However, we believe this to be the first attempt to present so large a body of carefully selected quotations, and they are given to the reader, whether he be layman or professional, for what they are worth.

In regard to the smaller pearls, as is the case with the smaller diamonds, prices have been dependent upon the changes of fashion; that is, whether the prevailing style of jewelry was such that the smaller pearl or diamond was in demand. In other words, if they were used as a decoration forming a border, a flower, a scroll ornament, or a pave requiring many small gems, the demand naturally increased and the prices were higher or lower as the occasion required.

It is not the project of this book to fix the prices of pearls at the present time, for any such attempt would prove misleading, owing to the fact that pearls vary in the estimation of the different dealers, and a figure given here for the highest standard, if applied to an inferior grade, would necessarily mislead the buyer to his positive injury. This much, however, can be said: during the year 1907 pearls from five grains upward have been sold according to their quality, at a base of five, eight, ten, fifteen, or even twenty dollars in very exceptional cases; that is to say, twenty, thirty-two, forty, sixty, or eighty shillings, or twenty-five, forty, fifty, seventy-five or one hundred francs. Nevertheless, it would be impossible, without considerable experience, for a layman to apply these valuations to objects that require much practice in determining their quality and perfection.

With diamonds, rubies, and emeralds there may be a stated price per carat for stones of a certain size, but a gem of unusual perfection or brilliancy, or of exceptionally fine color, will often command a price far beyond that generally quoted. It is the same with the pearl. Sums which may seem exorbitant in comparison with those that are paid for ordinary pearls, are often given for specimens remarkable for their beauty, size, or luster.

Pearls of one hundred grains are even more rare at the present time than are diamonds of one hundred carats. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the diamonds of the world weighing one hundred carats or over could be counted on the fingers, but since the opening of the African mines in 1870, the number of large diamonds has increased at a much greater ratio than have the pearls of one quarter of their weight. It would thus seem that pearls of great size are worth four times as much as diamonds of equal weight. For instance, a 100–carat diamond of the finest quality would be worth at least from $1000 to $1500 a carat, making a total value of $100,000 to $150,000; and a pearl of 100 grains at a base of $10 would be worth $100,000. But no such high price has ever been paid.

The usual method of estimating the value of pearls is by establishing a base value for those weighing one grain and then multiplying this amount by the square of the number of grains that the pearl weighs. For instance, if the base value of a one-grain pearl should be fixed at $1, a pearl weighing two grains would be worth $4 (2 × 2 = 4), or $2 per grain; one weighing five grains would be worth $25, or $5 per grain, etc. Naturally, these values increase in proportion to the increase in the value of the base. A base of $3 would give a value of $75 for a five-grain pearl, or $15 per grain, while a $10 base would make the value $50 per grain, or $250.

This method of estimating pearls by squaring their weights has been credited by many authors to David Jeffries, who published an interesting treatise on diamonds and pearls in 1750–1753. It has also been credited to Tavernier, the oriental traveler of the middle of the seventeenth century. We have, however, traced this method back to Anselmus de Boot, in his treatise on precious stones, dated 1609. Before this date we have not been able to find any mention of the computation of the value of diamonds and pearls by squaring their weight and multiplying the product by a base of a franc, guilder, crown, dollar, or of many dollars, as would be necessary at present. It is probable, however, that this system is of oriental origin and it may have come to Europe through some of the oriental traders, with the precious stones, as did the use of the carat.

De Boot makes the carat (four grains) his unit of comparison, increasing his base value by one third for pearls weighing eleven carats (forty-four grains) or over. In Pio Naldi’s treatise, published in Bologna in 1791, the unit is the grain, the base being the fourth part of the value of four pearls weighing together one carat. Naldi, also, increases his base value making it 1½ lire ($.30) for pearls weighing less than ten grains, and 2½ lire ($.50) for those weighing twenty grains and upward.

A curious method of valuing pearls by their weight is shown in a treatise by Buteo, published in 1554.[382] The writer states that a pearl weighing two carats was valued at 5 gold crowns; one of four carats at 25 crowns; and so on, the price increasing fivefold when the weight was doubled. The intermediate figures were obtained by computing the proportional mean of any two known weights and values. For example: 8 × 4 = 32, the square root of which is 5.656. Now, the value of a four-carat pearl is 25 and that of an eight-carat pearl 125 crowns, and 125 × 25 = 3125, the square root being 55.9; hence a pearl weighing 5.656 carats was worth 55.9 crowns.

The base value of a necklace can be determined in the following way. Should the center pearl weigh 25 grains, multiply 25 by 25; the result is 625; then, take the next two, three, or four pearls, as many as are of approximately the same weight, add their weights together, multiply the resulting figure by itself and divide the product by the number of pearls in the group. Proceed in exactly the same way with the remainder of the necklace, always grouping the pearls so that there shall not be a considerable difference in weight between the smallest and the largest pearl, and then add together the figures obtained for the center pearl and for the various groups and divide the price of the necklace by this total; the quotient will represent the multiple or base.

As may be seen by comparison of the first with the second and third of the accompanying tables, the result arrived at in this way will, if there is any difference in the weight of the pearls in the various groups, vary slightly from that obtained by calculating the weight of each pearl separately, but it represents a satisfactory approximation.

NECKLACE OF 41 GRADUATED PEARLS ON A $10 BASE

1 pearl, weighing 25 grs. 25 × 25 = 625.000 2 pearls, each of 22 grs. 44 × 44 = 1936 ÷ 2 = 968.000 2 pearls, each of 20 grs. 40 × 40 = 1600 ÷ 2 = 800.000 2 pearls, each of 19 grs. 38 × 38 = 1444 ÷ 2 = 722.000 2 pearls, each of 18 grs. 36 × 36 = 1296 ÷ 2 = 648.000 2 pearls, each of 17½ grs. 35 × 35 = 1225 ÷ 2 = 612.500 2 pearls, each of 17 grs. 34 × 34 = 1156 ÷ 2 = 578.000 2 pearls, each of 16½ grs. 33 × 33 = 1089 ÷ 2 = 544.500 2 pearls, each of 16 grs. 32 × 32 = 1024 ÷ 2 = 512.000 2 pearls, each of 15½ grs. 31 × 31 = 961 ÷ 2 = 480.500 2 pearls, each of 15 grs. 30 × 30 = 900 ÷ 2 = 450.000 2 pearls, each of 14½ grs. 29 × 29 = 841 ÷ 2 = 420.500 2 pearls, each of 14 grs. 28 × 28 = 784 ÷ 2 = 392.000 2 pearls, each of 13½ grs. 27 × 27 = 729 ÷ 2 = 364.500 2 pearls, each of 13 grs. 26 × 26 = 676 ÷ 2 = 338.000 2 pearls, each of 12½ grs. 25 × 25 = 625 ÷ 2 = 312.500 2 pearls, each of 12 grs. 24 × 24 = 576 ÷ 2 = 288.000 2 pearls, each of 11½ grs. 23 × 23 = 529 ÷ 2 = 264.500 2 pearls, each of 11 grs. 22 × 22 = 484 ÷ 2 = 242.000 2 pearls, each of 10¾ grs. 21½ × 21½ = 462¼ ÷ 2 = 231.125 2 pearls, each of 10¼ grs. 20½ × 20½ = 420¼ ÷ 2 = 210.125 —— ——— —————————— 41 624 10,003.750 $10 × 10,003.75 = $100,037.50

THE SAME NECKLACE FIGURED IN GROUPS

1 pearl, weighing 25 grs. 25 × 25 = 625.00 2 pearls, total weight 44 grs. 44 × 44 = 1936 ÷ 2 = 968.00 4 pearls, total weight 78 grs. 78 × 78 = 6084 ÷ 4 = 1521.00 4 pearls, total weight 71 grs. 71 × 71 = 5041 ÷ 4 = 1260.25 6 pearls, total weight 99 grs. 99 × 99 = 9801 ÷ 6 = 1633.50 6 pearls, total weight 90 grs. 90 × 90 = 8100 ÷ 6 = 1350.00 6 pearls, total weight 81 grs. 81 × 81 = 6561 ÷ 6 = 1093.50 6 pearls, total weight 72 grs. 72 × 72 = 5184 ÷ 6 = 864.00 6 pearls, total weight 64 grs. 64 × 64 = 4096 ÷ 6 = 682.67 ——— ——————— 624 9997.92 $10 × 9997.92 = $99,979.20

[Illustration:

GREAT PEARL NECKLACE OF THE FRENCH CROWN JEWELS

Composed of 362 pearls, weighing 58.8 grains. Actual size. Worn by Empress Eugenia ]

On a $5 base this necklace would be worth $50,018.75 according to the first reckoning, and $49,989.60 according to the second; on a base of $2.50 the figures would be $25,009.37 and $24,994.80 respectively.

THE SAME NECKLACE FIGURED IN OTHER GROUPS

1 pearl, weighing 25 grs. 25 × 25 = 625.00 4 pearls, total weight 84 grs. 84 × 84 = 7056 ÷ 4 = 1764.00 6 pearls, total weight 109 grs. 109 × 109 = 11881 ÷ 6 = 1980.16 6 pearls, total weight 99 grs. 99 × 99 = 9801 ÷ 6 = 1633.50 6 pearls, total weight 90 grs. 90 × 90 = 8100 ÷ 6 = 1350.00 8 pearls, total weight 106 grs. 106 × 106 = 11236 ÷ 8 = 1404.50 10 pearls, total weight 111 grs. 111 × 111 = 12321 ÷ 10 = 1232.10 ——— ——————— 624 9989.26

$10 × 9989.26 = $99,892.60

On a $5 base this would represent a value of $49,946.30 and one of $24,973.15 on a base of $2.50. The different grouping of the pearls accounts for the slight reduction in value.

A system of estimating the value of pearls which has recently been introduced into Germany, is an adaptation of the ordinary method of squaring the number of grains and then multiplying the result by a certain base figure. The pearls are first grouped according to quality and size, and a figure is agreed upon as the multiplicator of each class. In Germany the carat is employed as the weight unit for pearls as well as for diamonds, and in this new system the total weight of a given number of pearls of the same class is first reduced to grains; the number of grains is then multiplied by four and the quotient is multiplied by the figure agreed upon. The resulting sum, after being divided by the number of pearls, gives the carat value of such pearls. For example, if the base figure agreed upon is 5, and we wish to find the carat worth of 4 pearls of similar size, weighing together 3–14⁄64 carats, the sum would be as follows:

206 × 4 × 4 × 5 ——————————————— = 64.37 64 × 4

At this rate per carat, reckoning in marks, the value of the 3–14⁄64 carats would be 207.20 marks. This result is identical with that obtained by the ordinary method, but the calculation is perhaps a trifle simplified.[383]

A curious Hindu treatise on gems has been preserved for us in the Brhatsamhitâ of Varâhamihira (505–587 A.D.). It is the earliest work of this kind that we have in Sanskrit, and M. Louis Finot,[384] who has published it, together with several other similar treatises, believes that it was based upon an original composed at a much earlier period. In his introduction M. Finot says: “It would be an error to regard the ratnaçastra [treatise on gems] as a simple manual for the use of jewelers. Without doubt this subject formed one of the principal branches of commercial instruction, ... but it was also taught to princes and it is for their use that the ratnaçastras we publish seem to have been composed.”

This treatise only describes four gems, although a larger number are enumerated. These gems are the diamond, the pearl, the ruby, and the emerald. One of the most interesting portions is that treating of the valuation of pearls. The system described is peculiar, and, unfortunately, there is some difficulty in finding an absolutely correct equivalent for the values expressed.

A price is first placed upon a pearl weighing 4 mâsakas (about 45 grains). This is estimated at 5300 kârsâpanas (about $1600). As the weight diminishes the valuation decreases as follows:

4 mâsakas 5300 kârsâpanas 3½ mâsakas 3200 kârsâpanas 3 mâsakas 2000 kârsâpanas 2½ mâsakas 1300 kârsâpanas 2 mâsakas 800 kârsâpanas 1½ mâsakas 353 kârsâpanas 1 mâsakas 135 kârsâpanas 4 guñjas[385] 90 kârsâpanas 3 guñjas 50 kârsâpanas 2½ guñjas 35 kârsâpanas

Smaller pearls were grouped together in dharanas (one dharana = about 72 grains). If there were thirteen fine pearls in a dharana, they were valued at 325 rûpakas (about $100); the other values were as follows:

16 pearls in a dharana were worth 200 rûpakas 20 pearls in a dharana were worth 170 rûpakas 25 pearls in a dharana were worth 130 rûpakas 30 pearls in a dharana were worth 70 rûpakas 40 pearls in a dharana were worth 50 rûpakas 55–60 pearls in a dharana were worth 40 rûpakas 80 pearls in a dharana were worth 30 rûpakas 100 pearls in a dharana were worth 25 rûpakas 200 pearls in a dharana were worth 12 rûpakas 300 pearls in a dharana were worth 6 rûpakas 400 pearls in a dharana were worth 5 rûpakas 500 pearls in a dharana were worth 3 rûpakas

It would be extremely interesting if we could find at this early date (sixth century A.D.) an indication of the use of the system of computing the value of pearls by the square of their weight as expressed in some weight unit, and it is singular that the three valuations given for the weight in guñjas are graduated in accordance with this system. A pearl weighing 2½ guñjas and valued at 35 kârṣapâṇas would have a base value of 5.6 kârṣâpaṇas. Estimated at this ratio we would have the following figures:

3 guñjas 50.4 kârṣâpaṇas 4 guñjas 89.6 kârṣâpaṇas

Now, the values actually given are 50 and 90 kârṣâpaṇas, respectively, and these figures are easily obtained by rejecting the fraction that is less than one half and counting the fraction that is in excess of one half as a unit. After this, however, the progression becomes irregular. A pearl weighing 1 mâṣaka (5 guñjas) is valued at 135 kârṣâpaṇas, while the equivalent according to the system would be 140. However, it is possible that the writer may have changed this figure intentionally so as to add exactly one half to the preceding valuation (90 + 45 = 135). The succeeding values bear no relation to the system and appear to be entirely arbitrary. Still, it can scarcely be due to hazard that the first three figures are practically in exact accord with the system and the fourth in close approximation. As the change seems to come when the weight is expressed in mâṣakas instead of guñjas, we are tempted to think that the system may have been used for single pearls weighing less than twelve grains (1 mâṣaka = 11¼ grains), while the value of those over that weight was estimated in a different way.

In a much later Hindu treatise, by Buddhabhatta, after certain values have been given for pearls of the best quality, a pearl of this class is described as follows:

White, round, heavy, smooth, luminous, spotless, the pearl gifted with these qualities is called qualified (_guṇavat_). If it be yellow, it is worth half this price; if it be not round, a third; if flat or triangular, a sixth.[386]

One of the earliest records we have of a system of prices for pearls is the treatise on precious stones written in the year 1265, by Ahmed ibn Yusuf al Teifashi, who was probably a native jeweler of Egypt. In his time pearls were sold in Bagdad in bunches of ten strings, each string comprising thirty-six pearls. If one of these strings weighed one sixth of a miskal (four carats or sixteen grains), the ten strings were valued at four dinars (about ten dollars). The values increased progressively as follows:[387]

Average weight 10 strings of 36 pearls, Value of each pearl weight of each string

Grains Carats Grains Dinars U. S. money

½ 4 16 4 $10.00

⅔ 6 24 5 12.50

1⅓ 12 48 6 15.00

2 18 72 10 25.00

3⅓ 30 120 15 37.50

4 36 144 20 50.00

4⅓ 42 168 25 62.50

5⅓ 48 192 35 87.50

6 54 216 40 100.00

7⅓ 66 264 70 175.00

8 72 288 80 200.00

9⅓ 84 336 110 275.00

10 90 360 150 375.00

10⅔ 96 384 200 500.00

12 108 432 400 1000.00

12⅔ 114 456 550 1375.00

13⅓ 120 480 650 1625.00

14 126 504 750 1875.00

14⅔ 132 528 800 2000.00

16 144 576 1000 2500.00

18⅔ 168 672 1500 3750.00

Al Teifashi then proceeds to describe a pearl of the first quality; it must be “perfectly round in all its parts, colorless and gifted with a fine water. When a pearl possesses these requisites and weighs one miskal [24 carats or 96 grains] it is worth 300 dinars [$750]. If, however, a match is found for this pearl and each one weighs one miskal and has the same form, the two pearls together cost 700 dinars [$1750].” This writer also mentions that in the shops of the Arab jewelers, the pearl which exceeded the weight of a drachma (12 carats or 48 grains) even by one grain, was called _dorra_, while the name _johar_ was used for that which did not reach the above weight.

In 1838, Feuchtwanger gave the price of a one-carat pearl as five dollars, and used this amount as the multiplier of the square of the weight; therefore, a four-carat pearl would cost four times four multiplied by five dollars, the value of the first carat; that is to say, a sixteen-grain (four-carat) pearl would have been worth eighty dollars in 1838, according to this computation.

[Illustration:

THE SIAMESE PRINCE IN FULL REGALIA ]

In 1858, Barbot[388] gave the value of pearls under ordinary conditions, but very indefinitely, as follows:

Grains Carats Francs per carat U. S. currency

1 ¼ 4 $0.80 2 ½ 10 2.00 3 ¾ 25 5.00 4 1 50 10.00

Above four grains they sold by the piece, and below, by the ounce. Baroque pearls sold for 300 to 1000 francs per ounce. Seed-pearls, if quite round, were worth about 120 francs per ounce.

Emanuel[389] gave the following table of prices for the pearl, reduced to United States currency:

Grains 1865 1867

3 $2.88— $3.84 $4.32— $4.80 4 5.28— 6.72 6.72— 8.40 5 8.40— 10.80 9.60— 12.00 6 13.20— 15.60 16.80— 19.20 8 21.60— 26.40 24.00— 28.80 10 38.40— 43.20 48.00— 52.80 12 57.60— 72.00 67.20— 76.80 14 72.00— 86.40 86.40— 96.00 16 96.00—144.00 96.00—144.00 18 144.00—192.00 144.00—192.00 20 192.00—240.00 192.00—240.00 24 288.00—345.60 288.00—345.60 30 384.00—480.00 384.00—480.00

The following values appear in the “Encyclopedia Hispano-Americana,” Barcelona, 1894, Vol. XV, p. 180 (Louis Dieulafait):

Grains Value, 1865 Value, 1867 Pesetas U. S. currency Pesetas U. S. currency

3 17— 18 $3.40— $3.60 21— 23 $4.20— $4.60 4 25— 32 5.00— 6.40 32— 40 6.40— 8.00 5 41— 52 8.20— 10.40 46— 58 9.20— 11.60 6 64— 75 12.80— 15.00 81— 93 16.20— 18.60 8 104— 128 20.80— 25.60 116— 139 23.20— 27.80 10 202— 227 40.40— 45.40 252— 277 50.40— 55.40 12 302— 378 60.40— 75.60 352— 403 70.40— 80.60 14 378— 453 75.60— 90.60 455— 504 91.00—100.80 16 504— 756 100.80—151.20 504— 756 100.80—151.20 18 756—1005 151.20—201.00 756—1005 151.20—201.00 20 1005—1260 201.00—252.00 1005—1260 201.00—252.00 24 1512—1815 302.40—363.00 1512—1815 302.40—363.00 30 2117—2521 423.40—504.20 2117—2521 423.40—504.20

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT SHOWING THE VALUES OF PEARLS AT STATED TIMES

Weight 1609[390] 1672[391] 1675[392] 1751[393] 1774[394] 1791[395] Grains Thal. Kreutz. Livres £ s £ s £ s Lire

1 0 13 0 ½ 0 1 0 ⅓ 1½ 2 0 52 2 0 2 0 4 0 2 6 3 1 47 5 0 6 0 9 0 7½ 13½ 4 3 0 10 0 12 0 16 0 18 24 5 4 48 18 1 5 1 5 1 10 37½ 6 6 52 28 2 10 1 16 2 5 54 7 9 13 38 4 10 2 9 3 1 73½ 8 12 0 55 6 0 3 4 4 10 96 9 15 23 75 8 0 4 1 6 0 121½ 10 18 52 100 10 0 5 0 8 5 150 11 22 48 130 12 0 6 1 9 15 242 12 27 175 14 0 7 4 288 13 31 48 16 0 8 9 13 15 338 14 36 52 270 18 0 9 16 392 15 42 13 21 10 11 5 21 0 450 16 48 380 25 0 12 16 512 17 54 13 30 0 14 9 27 10 578 18 60 52 500 35 0 16 4 648 19 67 48 37 10 18 1 722 20 75 650 40 0 20 0 37 10 800 22 90 52 50 0 24 4 52 10 1210 24 108 60 0 28 16 82 10 1440 26 126 52 33 16 99 0 1690 28 147 39 14 150 0 1960 32 192 51 4 225 0 2560 36 243 64 16 262 10 3240 40 300 80 0 300 0 4000 45 506 17 101 5 5062½ 50 625 125 0 6250 60 900 180 0 9000 70 1225 245 0 12250 80 1600 320 0 16000 90 2025 405 0 20250 100 2500 500 0 25000

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT SHOWING THE VALUES OF PEARLS AT STATED TIMES, REDUCED TO UNITED STATES CURRENCY

Weight Grains 1609 1672 1675 1751 1774 1791

1 $0.20 $0.12 $0.24 $0.09 $0.30 2 0.81 $0.80 0.48 0.96 0.50 1.20 3 1.82 1.90 1.44 2.16 1.87 2.70 4 3.24 3.80 2.88 3.84 4.50 4.80 5 5.06 6.84 6.00 6.00 7.50 7.50 6 7.28 10.64 12.00 8.64 11.25 10.80 7 10.92 14.44 21.60 11.76 15.25 14.70 8 12.96 20.90 28.80 15.36 22.50 19.20 9 16.40 28.50 38.40 19.44 30.00 24.30 10 20.25 38.00 48.00 24.00 41.25 30.00 11 24.50 49.40 57.60 29.04 48.75 48.40 12 29.16 66.50 67.20 34.56 57.60 13 34.22 76.80 40.56 68.75 67.60 14 39.69 102.60 86.40 47.04 78.40 15 45.56 103.20 54.00 105.00 90.00 16 51.84 144.40 120.00 61.44 102.40 17 58.52 144.00 60.36 137.50 115.60 18 65.61 190.00 168.00 77.76 129.60 19 73.10 180.00 86.64 144.40 20 81.00 247.00 192.00 96.00 187.50 160.00 22 98.01 240.00 116.16 262.50 242.00 24 116.64 288.00 138.24 412.50 288.00 26 136.89 162.24 495.00 338.00 28 158.76 188.16 750.00 392.00 32 207.36 245.76 1125.00 512.00 36 262.44 311.04 1312.50 648.00 40 324.00 384.00 1500.00 800.00 45 546.75 486.00 1012.50 50 675.00 600.00 1250.00 60 972.00 864.00 1800.00 70 1323.00 1176.00 2450.00 80 1728.00 1536.00 3200.00 90 2187.00 1944.00 4050.00 100 2700.00 2400.00 5000.00

Giving the pearl values in 1867, Emanuel[396] says: “It would be almost useless to give any value for drop pearls, as when of large size and fine quality they are of so rare occurrence as to command fancy prices; still, as a slight guide, it may be mentioned that perfect white drop pearls, of 80 to 100 grains, may be estimated at from £7 to £11 [$35–$55] per grain; those of 50 to 80 grains at from £4 to £7 [$20–$35] per grain, and those of 30 to 50 grains at from £3–£5 [$15–$25] per grain; smaller sizes bring from 20s. to 60s. [$5–$15] per grain.”

Emanuel also states that misshapen pieces called “baroque pearls” (_perles baroques_), are sold by the ounce, the price varying from £10 to £200 ($50–$1000) per ounce, depending on quality, color, and size.

PRICES IN NEW YORK CITY IN 1878

Grains Value per grain Total value

1 $1.00 $1.00 2 1.83 3.66 3 2.75 8.25 4 3.60 14.40 5 4.03 20.15 6 4.69 28.14 7 6.32 44.24 8 6.87 54.96 9 7.42 66.78 10 8.25 82.50 11 9.62 105.82 12 10.45 125.40 13 11.68 151.84 14 12.55 175.70 15 14.20 213.00 20 19.70 394.00 24 24.75 594.00

HALF-PEARLS I QUALITY. PER HUNDRED

Diameter Size No. Millimeters Inches 1873 1876 1878 1885 1908 4 $1.10 $0.85 $0.50 $1.55 5 1.20 .047 1.35 $0.70 1.00 .60 1.95 6 1.22 .048 1.80 .90 1.35 .70 2.90 7 1.24 .049 2.25 1.10 1.70 1.12 3.88 8 1.26 .049 2.70 1.35 2.00 1.80 5.27 9 1.28 .050 3.35 1.80 2.50 2.00 6.65 10 1.80 .071 4.50 2.25 3.40 3.00 9.15 11 1.83 .072 5.60 2.70 4.20 4.00 11.36 12 1.86 .073 8.00 3.35 5.90 5.00 13.86 13 1.90 .075 9.00 4.50 6.75 5.75 15.51 14 2.00 .078 11.00 5.60 8.40 6.75 17.50 15 2.10 .082 14.00 8.00 10.00 8.25 20.80 16 2.25 .088 17.00 9.00 12.50 10.50 25.00 17 2.40 .094 19.00 11.00 14.00 12.00 30.50 18 2.60 .102 23.00 14.00 17.00 14.50 37.40 19 2.75 .108 28.00 17.00 21.00 16.25 48.50 20 2.90 .114 33.00 19.00 24.00 18.25 61.00 22 3.05 .120 42.00 28.00 31.00 33.00 24 3.15 .124 53.00 38.00 39.00 48.00 26 3.30 .130 67.00 45.00 50.00 69.00 28 3.55 .140 101.00 56.00 75.00 98.00 30 3.90 .153 124.00 79.00 92.00 150.00

HALF PEARLS II QUALITY. PER HUNDRED

Size No. 1873 1876 1878 1885 1908 4 $0.55 $0.45 $0.30 $0.84 5 .70 $0.35 .50 .35 1.22 6 .90 .45 .70 .50 1.87 7 1.10 .55 .85 .80 3.05 8 1.35 .70 1.00 1.05 4.43 9 1.80 .90 1.35 1.45 5.82 10 2.25 1.10 1.70 1.80 8.32 11 3.35 1.35 2.50 2.60 10.53 12 4.00 1.80 3.00 3.00 12.75 13 4.50 2.25 3.40 3.75 14.41 14 5.60 3.35 4.20 4.25 15.51 15 6.75 4.00 5.00 4.75 18.00 16 9.00 4.50 6.75 5.25 20.80 17 10.00 5.60 7.50 6.00 26.35 18 11.00 6.75 8.40 7.00 31.90 19 14.00 9.00 10.00 7.75 41.60 20 17.00 10.00 12.50 8.75 52.70 22 20.00 14.00 15.00 24 27.00 19.00 20.00 26 34.00 23.00 25.00 28 51.00 28.00 38.00 30 62.00 40.00 46.00

HALF PEARLS III QUALITY. PER HUNDRED

Size No. 1876 1907 Size No. 1876 1908 4 $0.47 15 2.70 8.93 5 $0.25 .70 16 3.35 11.20 6 .35 1.11 17 4.00 13.90 7 .40 1.94 18 4.50 18.00 8 .45 2.77 19 5.60 22.20 9 .70 3.86 20 6.75 27.75 10 .80 4.99 22 9.00 40.00 11 .90 5.82 24 14.00 75.00 12 1.10 6.65 26 17.00 85.00 13 1.60 7.48 28 19.00 100.00 14 2.25 8.32 30 28.00 200.00

VALUE OF IRREGULAR PEARLS IN 1774[397]

Pearls to the Value in English money Equivalent in Average for ounce U. S. currency each pearl

£ s.

500 3 0 $15.00 $0.03

300 6 0 30.00 .10

150 11 2 55.50 .37

100 18 0 90.00 .90

60 33 15 168.75 2.81

30 75 0 375.00 12.50

The following values for the smaller oriental pearls are given in the “Museum Brittanicum” of John and Andrew van Rymsdyck, 1778, p. 9.

No. to the ounce Rix dollars Equivalent in U. Average for each S. currency pearl

200 70 $75.60 $0.378

300 50 54.00 .18

900 10 10.80 .012

2000 3 4.24 .00212

4000 2½ 2.70 .006755

8000 } 2 2.16 { .00027 10,000 } { .000216

Pio Naldi’s treatise of 1791 gives the following rule for estimating the value of small, round pearls, weighing less than one carat or four grains. As the carat value of four such pearls is given as five lire and 576 one-grain pearls were counted as one ounce, these two numbers were used to determine the value of an ounce of small pearls. The product of 576 multiplied by 5 is 2880, and this number was then divided by 2000, 1000, 500, or whatever might be the number of pearls in a given ounce. If there were 2000 pearls, the carat value would be 1.44 lire or $.29; if there were 1000, the carat would be worth 2.88 lire or $.57; if 500, 5.76 lire or $1.15, etc.

[Illustration:

HALF-PEARLS: LOTS OF THREE DIFFERENT SIZES.

BROOCH OF HALF-PEARLS AND ONYX. UNITED STATES, 1860 ]

The same author[398] gives tables expressing the values of pearls not perfectly spherical in form, which he designates as “perle dolce.” These pearls he considers to be worth half the price of good round pearls; that is to say, 2½ lire (about $.50) per carat for four weighing together one carat. Where there are as many as three thousand of these “perle dolce” in an ounce, the 2½ lire base is multiplied by 576, the number of grains given to the ounce; this makes the value of an ounce of one-grain pearls $288. This amount is then divided by 3000, and the quotient, $.096, represents the value of one carat of these small pearls. Multiplying this by 144 we obtain, as the value of an ounce of such pearls, $13.82. An ounce consisting of two thousand would be worth $20.73, while if there were but one hundred to the ounce it would be valued at $414.72, or $4.15 for each pearl and $.72 per grain of weight. In this latter case the pearls would average 5¾ grains. Another class of pearls denominated by this author as “scaramazzi,” pearls of an irregular form and with protuberances, are estimated in a similar way, but at exactly half of the above values. The baroque pearls were not considered to be worth even half as much as the “scaramazzi.”

Scotch pearls (fresh-water) are mentioned by De Boot (1609, p. 88 _sq._) among the other western pearls—Bohemian, etc. He remarks that they were valued much less than the oriental pearls, but if they were of especially pure color their value was greater, although they lacked the silvery hue characteristic of the eastern pearl. Fine pearls of this sort were valued on a carat base of one fourth of a thaler ($.27), so that a forty-grain pearl was worth $27, and one of eighty grains, $108. The author of the Bologna treatise, “Delle Gemme,” 1791, attributes the lack of luster in the Scotch pearls to the presence of a dark mass in the interior which interfered with the passage of light. He estimates Scotch pearls to be worth one half the value of oriental pearls of mediocre quality, provided the former are fairly good.

A Scotch writer of the seventeenth century is more enthusiastic in regard to these pearls; he mentions having paid one hundred rix dollars for an exceptionally fine one, but he does not specify its weight. This is the value given by De Boot for a pearl of this class weighing eighty grains, as we have just mentioned. The Scotch writer asserts that he could never sell a necklace of fine Scotch pearls in Scotland itself, as every one wanted oriental pearls; he continues: “At this very day I can show some of our own Scots Pearls as fine, more hard and transparent than any Oriental. It is true that the Oriental can be easier matched, because they are all of a yellow water, yet foreigners covet Scots Pearls.”

In Ceylon[399] and India, pearl-grading and valuing has received close attention, and an elaborate system has been evolved by the pearl merchants. This system has been in use for generations and possibly for centuries. Although apparently very complicated, it is in reality quite simple, if we only remember that the value of inferior pearls is determined by their weight, whereas the value of superior pearls is computed from the square of their weight.

The pearls are first grouped according to the size, of which ten grades are made. This is done by passing them successively through ten brass saucer-like sieves or baskets (_peddi_), each about three and a half inches in diameter and one inch deep. The holes in the bottom of each sieve are of uniform size, but they are graduated in size for the different baskets. The pearls are sifted in the basket with the largest holes, and those which will not pass through are of the first size. The pearls which pass through are then sifted in the second basket, and those retained are of the second size; and so on through the entire series of ten sieves or baskets. Those which pass through the tenth sieve are known as _masi-túl_, or powder pearls; they are of little value owing to their very small size, and are not subject to further classification. Of course, the attached pearls or very irregular baroques—the _oddumuttu_—are not subject to the sifting process, and are valued independently of this.

Sometimes in India, as well as in western countries, false measures are used, and an oriental pearl merchant may have one set of sieves for use in buying and another for selling. The rule for determining the proper size of the holes in the first sieve is that they may pass pearls weighing 20 to the _kalan̄chǔ_, whence this sieve is commonly known as the “20 _peddi_.” The second sieve is the “30 _peddi_,” since it passes pearls weighing 30 to the _kalan̄chǔ_. In the proper order the other sieves respectively pass pearls requiring 50, 80, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1000 to the _kalan̄chǔ_.

This use of sieves for grading the Ceylon pearls was mentioned by Cleandro Arnobio, a writer of the latter part of the sixteenth century, in his “Tesoro delle Gioie,” and he took his description from an older writer, Garzia dell’ Horto.

After the sifting, each of the ten graded lots of pearls are placed on pieces of cloth for classification as to quality, shape, and luster. This classification requires much skill and judgment on the part of the valuer. Not only will two persons commonly fail to class a large lot of pearls exactly alike, but one person is not likely to class the same lot twice in precisely the same manner.

[Illustration:

A. B. Pearl nose rings. Baroda, India.

C. East Indian earring of strings of pearls and table diamonds.

Collection of Edmund Russell, Esq.

D. E. Grape pendants. Oriental pearls. ]

From long established custom, recognition is made of twelve classes into which the ten grades or sizes of pearls are divided with respect to shape and luster, the local names of these classes giving a fair indication of their respective characteristics. These names are:

1 _Ani_, “best”: perfect in sphericity and luster, the true orient pearl.

2 _Anatári_, “follower”: failing slightly in sphericity and luster.

3 _Masanku_ or _Masaku_: badly colored pearls, usually gray, symmetrical, and with luster.

4 _Kaiyéral_, “the clasp of a necklace”: a dark-colored treble pearl, not quite round.

5 _Machchakai._

6 _Vadivu_, “beauty,” also “decreasing”: that which is strained or sifted; found in the 100, 200, and 400 sieves. These small pearls, regular in shape, and of good luster, are especially favored in the East.

7 _Madanku_, “folded,” or “bent”: all pearls of _vadivu_ size that are imperfect in form or color.

8 _Kǔrǔval_, “short”: deformed and double pearls; they may, however, be of excellent luster. _Ani Kǔrǔval_: where two _áni_ are fused together, but so formed that if separate they would be perfectly spherical. _Písal Kǔrǔval_: where several pearls of good luster and color are fused partially and irregularly together. _Pampara Kǔrǔval_: a pearl grooved regularly, like a top.

9 _Kalippu_, “abundance,” or “rejected”: inferior to _Anatári_; a good pearl, may be lens-shaped or elongated; usually flattened.

10 _Písal_, “torn”: a deformed pearl or cluster of small misshapen pearls; of poor color and of little value.

11 _Kurál_: very misshapen and small.

12 _Túl_, “powder”: the seed-pearls, those retained by the 600, 800, and 1000 sieves.

In addition to the above designations, the following are also used:

_Samadiam_: a pearl of a reddish hue; pear-shaped but of dull color.

_Nimelai_: a nose-pearl, perfect skinned, and pear- or egg-shaped.

_Sirippu_: a pearl grooved with irregular wrinkle-like furrows.

_Kodai_, “brown”: like a nut, with no nacreous luster; formed of prismatic shell; may be large, is usually spherical, and includes pearls of various colors. This name is also used for white pearls with black or brown marks. _Van Kodai_: a _kodai_ pearl with one side nacreous. _Karunk Kodai_: a black or blue-black slag-like pearl.

_Masi-túl_, “ink-dust,” or “chalk-powder”: smaller than the 1000 sieve. Generally used for medicinal purposes, or burnt and eaten with areca-nut and betel by the natives.

_Oddu_—or _Ottumuttu_, “shell-pearl”: an attached pearl or nacreous excrescence on the outside of the shell.

Of the twelve classes named above, the first four are known as the _chevvǔ_, or superior classes; the next three as the _vadivu_, or beautiful classes; and the last five as the _kalan̄chǔ_, or inferior classes. The _chevvǔ_ pearls are found only in the first four sieves or baskets; and for this reason these are known as the _chevvǔ peddi_ or “chevvǔ baskets,” although they may also retain inferior pearls. A name used to indicate the class of pearls found in the first four sieves is _mel_ or _melmuttu_, “upper” or “superior pearl,” while _vadivu_ designates those retained by the next three and _túl_ those of the last three.

After the pearls have been graded according to size and classified according to quality, they are weighed. The unit of weight is the _manchádi_, the seed of _Abrus precatorius_, a small, red berry of practically uniform weight when ripe. H. W. Gillman of the Ceylon Civil Service reports the weight of the _man̄chádi_ to be 3.35 grains troy. Fractional parts of a unit are obtained by using a berry called _kundumani_, grains of rice, etc., whose weights have been determined beforehand. A brass weight—the _kalan̄chǔ_—is also employed; it equals 67 grains or 20 _man̄chádi_.

However, choice pearls—those of the superior classes—are not valued in this manner, but at so much per _chevvǔ_ of their weight, which is three fourths of the square of the weight in _man̄chádi_. Thus, to find the value of an _anatári_ pearl in the second sieve, if the weight be found to be three _man̄chádi_, three fourths of the square of three, or 6¾, is multiplied by the base value of the _anatári_ class.

The actual process of the calculation of value is as follows: owing to the small size of the pearls, many fractions enter into the computations; to preserve uniformity it is customary to increase all fractions so that each may have 320 as a denominator, this being a common multiple of those that ordinarily arise in _chevvǔ_ calculations. The weight in _man̄chádi_ of the pearls is increased to a fractional figure having 320 as a denominator. Three fourths of the square of the numerator of this fraction is divided by the number of pearls, and this quotient is divided twice consecutively by 320, giving the _chevvǔ_ of the weight. The market value then follows from the quoted price of the pearls per _chevvǔ_ at the time.

In actual practice, these computations are not made; but each merchant provides himself with sets of tables showing the calculations for different weights, analogous to the use of interest tables by bankers, or of tables of logarithms by surveyors. Some of the merchants commit these tables to memory, and at times may be heard reciting them quietly to themselves to refresh the memory.

If a pearl of a particular grade and class is of exceptional merit, the merchant adds somewhat to the money value computed by the above process. This applies especially to double pearls of the _kǔrǔval_ class, which sometimes consist of two fine bouton pearls suitable for setting, but not for stringing.

Pearls of one of the inferior or _kalan̄chǔ_ classes are valued by simple weight, at so much per _kalan̄chǔ_, the market price, of course, differing for pearls of the various classes. The weight having been ascertained, each in its class as before noted, the value is determined by multiplying that weight by the current market price per unit of such pearls, at so many rupees per _kalan̄chǔ_.

[Illustration:

NECKLACE CONTAINING 126,000 SEED-PEARLS. LOUIS XVI PERIOD

Property of an American lady ]

The star pagoda is used in calculating the values. This small gold coin was current in south India in the early part of the last century. In the computations it is considered to be worth three and a half rupees, although its intrinsic value as a gold coin is about six rupees.

It is considered probable that the London syndicate,[400] which has lately leased the Ceylon pearl fisheries for a period of twenty years, will do away with the complicated calculations employed for so many generations, surviving all changes of administration, Portuguese, Dutch, and British. This is only one of the many instances showing the tendency of the British Government to abolish time-honored usages in India, without regard to the wishes of its population; and, unimportant as many of these changes may seem to us, they all serve to foster a spirit of discontent that may lead to serious trouble. This conduct on the part of Great Britain is all the stranger in view of the stubborn opposition of that country to the adoption of the scientific and logical metric system.

In Bombay, the weight of pearls in tanks is made the basis of their valuation; the tank equals 24 ratti or about 72 grains troy. The square of the number of tanks is multiplied by 330 and the quotient divided by the number of pearls; this gives the number of _chevvǔs_, or _chows_, as they are sometimes called, and the market price of the _chevvǔs_ for a given class of pearls shows their value. If, for instance, we have 56 pearls of a certain quality, weighing 5 tanks, and the _chevvǔs_ of these pearls is worth 14 rupees, the sum would be as follows:

5 × 5 × 330 × 14 ———————————————— = 2062.5 rupees, or about $825. 56

In this case, as in the other system of weighing which we have mentioned, the _chevvǔs_ is only a nominal weight; but there is in India a real weight unit which bears this name.[401]

The high esteem in which the pearl was held by the Hindus is well illustrated by the following statement from an old treatise on gems: “A pearl weighing two kalan̄jas (about 180 grains) should not be worn even by kings. It is for the gods, it is without equal.”[402]

An interesting account of a great savant’s experience, in the early part of the sixteenth century, regarding the value of pearls, is given by Guillaume Budé[403] (1467–1540), the celebrated French Hellenist who lived during the reign of Francis I and who is regarded as the founder of the College de France. In his work entitled “De Asse,” he states that he once inquired of a gem dealer in Paris whether the latter could recall the weight of some remarkable pearl which had passed through his hands. The dealer replied that he had seen one weighing 30 carats (120 grains), whereupon another gem dealer, who was present, remarked that he had in his possession one of 40 carats (160 grains). This pearl was sold a few days later for 3000 gold crowns ($6750). On another occasion Budé was told that a pearl of exquisite beauty weighing 30 carats, had been sold to the Duchesse de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XI of France, for the sum of 4000 gold crowns ($9000).

In regard to the manner of computing the value of pearls Budé writes: “I think the ratio of these prices can be calculated. When I asked a gem dealer what was the value of a pearl of four carats [sixteen grains], according to the formula, he replied: ‘I have seen such a pearl sell for thirty gold crowns [$67.50].’ Whereupon I asked: ‘How much would you estimate one weighing eight carats [thirty-two grains]?’ ‘At least two hundred gold crowns [$450],’ he answered; and as I continued to ply him with questions, gradually increasing the weight, he responded in such a way that I could understand that the increase of the price bore not a numerical, but a proportional relation to the weight; so that the above mentioned eight-carat pearl, having double the weight of a four-carat pearl, was valued at seven times as much. The same was true of a pearl weighing twelve carats, twenty carats, and so on; the price augmenting by a greater and greater increment as the weight increased.”

In the “Coronae Gemma Noblissima” of Wilhelmus Eo (1621, pp. 32, 33), an instance is given of the rapid changes that are possible in the worth of a pearl. A large and beautiful pearl was brought to Nuremberg by a merchant who had paid 500 florins for it; he soon found a purchaser among the merchants there, who was willing to pay him 800 florins. This latter merchant in his turn disposed of his gem for 1000 florins, and shortly after it again changed hands twice, the first time at an advance of 200 florins and the second at an advance of 300 florins. All this happened within a few days. The writer tells us that the last purchaser, who paid 1500 florins for the pearl, took it with him to Venice “where the wealthy dames wear a great treasure of beautiful pearls as necklaces upon their bare skin, and he will not have lost anything on his pearl there.”

In 1884, Mr. Edwin Streeter was asked by a member of a London syndicate to proceed to the East, to value a large quantity of jewels, as a heavy sum of money was about to be advanced to a certain Power, to provide the sinews of war. On his way he was requested to stop at one of the principal towns in Germany to purchase some jewels which had been valued for probate but were not easy of sale in that market. The valuation paper was shown to him, and after examining the ornaments, he agreed to take them at the prices named. Among them was an old gold brooch of Russian manufacture, valued at £4; in the center of this brooch was what appeared to be a piece of hematite, but was in reality a fine, round, black pearl, weighing 77 grains. The color had faded from exposure to the sun. This pearl was brought to London, and the outer layer was taken off, when a perfect black pearl of 67 grains was uncovered. This was sold to a manufacturing jeweler in London for £400; but, having heard that in Paris there was a pearl that would exactly match it, Mr. Streeter bought it back again for £600, and then sold it at a large profit to one of the Paris crown jewelers, who, in his turn, sold the pair to a rich iron merchant for 50,000 francs (£2000 or $10,000). Since then the sum of 100,000 francs (£4000 or $20,000) has been refused for this pair of matchless black pearls. At present values they may be worth double this sum.

At different times the values assigned to the different forms and colors of pearls have varied. For instance, in the French Encyclopédie of 1774 (Vol. XII, p. 385), it is stated that pear-shaped pearls, although they might be equally perfect and of the same weight as round pearls, were valued much less than these. Even in the case of well-matched pairs, their price was a third less than that of round pearls.

As early as the sixteenth century it was not uncommon that jewelers who had in their possession a fine pear-shaped pearl would have a replica of it molded in lead, and then send the casts to the large cities of Europe and the East. If a mate was found for it, the respective owners soon came to terms, for such pearls command a much higher price together than they do separately.

An interesting story is told of no less a collector than the Duke of Brunswick, who was so generous to the city of Geneva. For many years every pear-shaped pearl from every land had been submitted to him for examination. He always claimed the privilege of examining it alone for a moment or two and in every instance he returned it. At last a new pear-shaped pearl of marvelous size and beauty was heard of in a distant country. It was sent to Germany, where the duke was visiting at that time, to a local dealer who acted as agent for the owner. The price demanded for it seemed excessive, but the duke took the pearl, stepped aside for a moment, and said, quick as a flash, “The pearl is mine.” The next day he showed it with a mate he had owned for many years and that was a most faultless match. Through all the years of his search he had never informed any one of his intention to match the pearl he already owned.

In 1879, at the time of the death of the father of Sultan Buderuddin of the Sulu Islands, a box of large and fine pearls was among the treasures he left behind him. Many of these disappeared, but some of them came into the hands of Sultan Buderuddin and his mother. The former sold those which he had inherited, in order to defray the expenses of a pilgrimage to Mecca, in 1882. His mother, who exerted a great influence over the conduct of affairs, retained a number of the pearls, and it was always difficult to induce her to part with any of them. When, as very rarely happened, she was persuaded to do so, she invariably got a higher price for them than they would have commanded in London, because she was never anxious to sell, and always said: “Why should I sell my pearls? If the Spaniards come to attack us, I can put them in a handkerchief and go into the hills; but if I had dollars I should need a number of men to carry them.” We do not yet know what became of the stolen pearls.

Many times has a dealer put nearly all that he possessed into a fine pearl or necklace, frequently without a reward; often gradually buying more and more, hoping for some great patron to relieve him. When the client appears, there is happiness, but when he does not, there is woe. This instance is well illustrated when Philip IV of Spain asked of the merchant Gogibus: “How have you ventured to put all your fortune into such a small object?” “Because I knew there was a king of Spain to buy it of me,” was the quick reply. And Philip rewarded the faith of the jeweler by purchasing the pearl.

Caire and Dufie[404] state:

We need have no fear that either the price or the use of pearls will diminish when we consider the great demand for them both on account of luxury and superstition. There is no Hindu who does not regard it as a matter of religion that he should pierce at least one pearl on the occasion of his marriage. This must be a new pearl which has never been perforated. Whatever may be the mysterious signification, this very ancient usage is, at least, very useful for the commerce of pearls.

In 1898, one of the writers had a long talk with his late chief, who had, at that time, devoted sixty years of his life to the jewelry profession. In the course of the conversation the latter remarked: “It seems to me that pearls are too dear”; to which the writer rejoined: “Have pearls ever gone down in price during your entire connection with the jewelry profession?” The answer was: “No, they have always advanced.” Whereupon the writer said: “I can give you statistics for two hundred years preceding your earliest experience, which prove that pearls constantly advanced in value during that period.”

The following are the names given to the different kinds of pearls, according to their origin.

The term “oriental” designates those pearls that are found in the true pearl-oyster, and have a marine or salt-water origin, being found either in the ocean or one of its adjacent tributaries, and belonging to one of the numerous species of the Margaritiferæ.

The term “fresh-water” is given to those pearls that are found in the fresh-water brooks, rivulets, rivers, or fresh-water lakes, and not in salt water, and which belong to the Unionidæ.

The term “conch” is applied to that variety of pearl which is usually pink, or yellow, in color, and that is either found in the univalve shell, known as the common conch (_Strombus gigas_), or in the yellow shell (_Cassis madagascarensis_).

The word “clam pearl” is used to designate those pearls that are found in the common clam of the Atlantic coast, and are either black, dark purple, purple, or mixed with white, more especially if they are boiled.

“Placuna pearl” designates those pearls that are found in the Placuna, or window-glass shell, in the East. They have a micaceous luster, are rarely of much value, and are sold entirely in the Orient, almost exclusively for medicinal purposes.

“Oyster pearl” signifies those concretions that are found in the common edible oyster (Ostrea). They are generally black, purple, or with a mixture of black and white, or purple and white. They are devoid of nacreous luster and possess neither beauty nor value.

“Coque de perle” designates the globuse walls of the nautilus and possibly other shells that have a pearly nacre; they are almost hemispherical and are either round or long, having a pearly effect.

“Abalone”: a name applied to those pearls that are found in the univalve “ear-shell” or _awabi_, as it is called in Japan. They are generally green, blue-green, or fawn-yellow, and have an intense red, flame-like iridescence. They are rarely round, generally flat, or irregular, and are occasionally worth several hundreds of dollars each.

“Pinna pearls”: those pearls that are found in the Pinna, or wing-shells of the Mediterranean and adjacent seas. These possess no orient, but are more highly crystalline than any other pearls. They are almost translucent and have a peculiar red or yellow color, and are of little value except locally.

“Cocoanut pearl”: this name is given to those pearls that are found in the giant oyster or clam of the vicinity of Singapore; they are erroneously called cocoanut pearls because they have the appearance of the meat of the cocoanut. They are often of great size, but have no commercial value.

The following are special designations of the different varieties of pearls according to their forms and appearance:

Paragon: this term was formerly used to designate large and exceptionally perfect or beautiful pearls, usually weighing over one hundred grains.

Round: when the pearl is absolutely spherical, as if turned on a lathe, without any flattening or any indentations on the sides.

Button or Bouton: if the pearl is domed on top and has either a flat or slightly convex back.

Pear-shaped: when the pearl is formed like a pear, terminating in a point, and is either flat at the lower end or rounded.

Drop-shaped: when the pearl is elongated like a pear, but is larger at the lower end than a pear-shaped pearl.

Egg-shaped: when ovate in form, rounded more or less at each end, or formed like an egg.

Cone-shaped: applied to pearls that are elongated and rounded with one flat end, and have the form of a cone.

Top-shaped: a name given to those pearls that are broad, flattened at the top and rounded on the sides, terminating in a point, like a top.

Seed-pearls is a name given to pearls that are round or irregular, and weigh one fourth grain or even less. They are frequently so small that 18,000 are contained in a single ounce, and they are often sent from the East in bunches of about a dozen or so of strings.

Dust-pearls. When seed-pearls are very small they are known as “dust-pearls”; they are really as fine as dust and have very little value; still, their form is in many cases wonderfully perfect.

Petal pearls are those which are somewhat flat, frequently more pointed at one end than at the other, and have the appearance of a petal or leaf.

Hinge pearls are those pearls that are long, generally pointed at either or both ends, and are found near the hinge part of the shell. They are divided into two distinct forms, namely dog-tooth, and wing-shaped.

Wing pearls: those that are elongated or irregular, resembling a wing or part of a wing.

Dog-tooth: applied to pearls with pointed ears, elongated, and which are narrower than the wing pearls.

Slugs: a name used for the very irregular, distorted pearls, frequently made up of masses or groups of small pearls; usually without luster or form, and of little value except for medicinal purposes.

Nuggets: when the pearls are somewhat round, but are indented or slightly irregular.

Haystacks: when the pearls are either round or oval, with the top considerably elevated.

Turtlebacks: when the pearls are a trifle longer than they are wide, with a domed surface not much elevated. This form is quite prevalent among American pearls.

Strawberry pearls: those that are round or elongated and entirely covered with prickly points, somewhat resembling a strawberry or pickle. It is believed that these irregular marks are frequently produced by minute pearls.

“Blister” and “Chicot” are names applied to those pearls that are found embedded within a nacreous coating, often containing mud, water, or imperfect mother-of-pearl. After these “blisters,” as they are termed, are broken, and layer after layer has been removed from the contents, very fine pearls have frequently been found.

Peelers: a term applied to pearls having imperfect surfaces or skins that may have some inner layers which are perfect. Pearls having opaque bands or rings are rarely peeled with much success as this opaque layer frequently extends to some depth.

Cylindrical pearls: for pearls that have the form of a cylinder, being elongated and flattened at each end.

Hammer pearls: when pearls are long and somewhat rounded and assume the shape of a hammer or barrel. These are rounded or domed at the side and flattened at the ends.

Baroque (Wart pearls in German): when pearls are not of any perfect form such as round, pear, ovate, or any regular form, they are termed baroque, and this term covers a large class of varieties, such as all that follow (except seed- and half-pearls).

Double, triple, or twin pearls are those that are made up of two or more pearls united together in a single nacreous coating, showing, however, that they are still separate pearls.

Monster pearls: this name was formerly applied to very large, irregular, pearly masses which either resembled some animal or were adapted to form the head, trunk, or other part of an animal: these are also occasionally called “Paragons.”

Bird’s-eye: a name used for a pearl that has dull spots, giving it the appearance of a bird’s-eye.

“Ring-a-round” is a term applied to such pearls as are black, brown, pink, or white, and have a circle running around the pearl itself of some distinctive contrasting color, as white on black, pink on brown or black on white.

Embedded pearls are those that are partly or entirely surrounded by mother-of-pearl, having been enveloped and passed outward from the interior of the shell by the mollusk so that in time the pearl would have been lost on the outside of the shell. These embedded pearls are occasionally found in the manufacture of mother-of-pearl articles. When the mother-of-pearl is split, the pearl will fall out from between the layers.

Half-pearls is the name given to such pearls as are round and spherically domed, and are either somewhat flat or almost the shape of one half of a whole pearl of the same diameter. They are usually made by cutting off the best part of a hemispherical bright spot from a large irregular pearl; frequently two to four cuttings are made from the bright spots of a single pearl, each of the cuttings having the appearance of half a pearl.

The so-called Indian pearls have a faint rosy tint with much orient. These are generally pearls from the Ceylonese fisheries that are sold from the Bombay side. The term “Madras white” describes the whiter varieties, there being a preference for these in Madras, while the rosy, yellow, and darker shades are favored in Bombay.

Australian pearls are generally a pure waxy white and lustrous, often with a silver-white sheen, extremely brilliant and beautiful.

Nearly all the Venezuela and Panama pearls have a faint golden-yellow tint, very often extremely lustrous, and are especially desired by the darker skinned people and brunettes.

The preference at various times has varied with different peoples: in China and India, golden-yellow and satin-yellow pearls are preferred; from Panama we have the very white; in Bombay the yellow pearls from the Persian Gulf are highly appreciated.

Yellow pearls from other shells than the pearl-oyster are frequently offered for sale in the East, where they are greatly appreciated, although they find little favor in England. Some of these pearls are attributed to the pearly nautilus (_Nautilus pompilius_). This may be the case with those that have a pearly luster, but those that have the appearance of porcelain, and are as bright as polished china, are certainly not from this shell, but evidently from the large Melo or other shells of that character. Some may come from the large conch (_Cassis madagascarensis_). A yellow pearl, very perfect in form and color, and weighing more than one hundred grains, was shown at the Paris Exposition of 1889 and was valued at 50,000 francs.

Wonderful golden-yellow pearls with a saffron tint are unusually lustrous and beautiful. One of the most remarkable pearls of this character is of a brilliant golden-yellow color which belongs to an American lady, and weighs 30½ grains. These pearls are from Shark’s Bay, West Australia, and only a limited number of them are found annually.

Black pearls do not seem to have been regarded with any favor by the ancients, and we find no mention of them by medieval writers. Only fifty years ago a perfectly round, black pearl, weighing 8 grains, was sold for £4 ($20); to-day this pearl would easily bring £100 ($500). Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, may be said to have brought them into favor; she owned a splendid necklace of black pearls which was sold at Christie’s, after the fall of Napoleon, for the sum of £4000 ($20,000). Some time later, the Marquis of Bath bought, at Christie’s, the pearl which formed the clasp of the necklace, paying £1000 ($5000) for it; he destined it for the center of a bracelet.

Greenish-black pearls are perhaps valued higher than any other colored pearls, if they have the proper orient; this is probably partly owing to their rarity. A bluish-black pearl possessing a fine orient commands almost the same price as a pure black pearl. Those which are found in the _Placuna placenta_ are often of a dull gray hue, while those produced by the _Pinna squamosa_ are generally brown in color.

Baroque pearls were formerly much worn and appreciated in Spain and Poland. Their price varies greatly, according to their size, their beauty, and also to their scarcity in any particular place. The pieces of pearl detached from the shells—often half-pearl and half mother-of-pearl, and called “de fantaisie”—are always very irregular in form, and sometimes offer a certain resemblance to a part of the human or animal form.[405]

How is it that such quantities of jewels are continually brought from the East, and such a wealth of them continues to exist there, when there are now no very extensive mines that maintain a constant supply? The reason is that from time immemorial, precious stones have been the form in which wealth, in those lands, has been hoarded and preserved. Until very recently, in the Orient, interest-bearing securities have been unknown; and hence jewels have been sought and kept as an investment, and sold only when money was needed for special purposes, as in times of war, famine, or other emergency.

Their small bulk made them easy to conceal and to transport, and hence they were well adapted for such use. How long this condition will last, is perhaps dependent only upon the introduction of interest-paying investments, and of the new forms of Western civilization that involve greater expenses and require means of income in excess of the older and simpler conditions.

The wealth of jewels possessed by Oriental monarchs, notables, and dealers, has been the theme of story and tradition, time out of mind. We of the West have been disposed to regard these tales as largely exaggerated, and to some extent they may be; yet any one who has witnessed an important social function or state occasion where East Indian rajahs and nabobs are present, knows that the profusion of jewels which they wear is simply astounding to our Western eyes. These objects represent, moreover, the gatherings of generations and centuries; they are heirlooms and ancestral treasures, priceless to their owners as the pride of their houses; handed down from fathers to sons in long succession; and they have also the investment feature already noted, in that whenever necessity arises they can be turned into available funds.

The manner of keeping and of selling such objects is also different from ours. If it be a question of buying gems from an Eastern owner, the best are never shown first, but on the contrary, the most inferior. The purchaser must either be content with these, or else must prove clearly that he is a substantial buyer or evince a knowledge and appreciation that mark him as a judge of such objects. The order in which they are produced is, first the poorest, then successively, poor, medium, fair, good, fine, and at last the rare and wonderful prizes.

In visiting an Oriental dignitary, his jewel-treasures are not all shown at once, as at an American reception or an Indian durbar, or even as a collector or connoisseur among us exhibits his cabinet, arranged for choice display. The method is far different. The visitor may be shown a few objects in the first day or hour; perhaps a few more later in the day; some on the next day or the one following, and so on; and he may remain a guest for weeks, and never see all, or the finest of the jewels belonging to his host. When they are produced, moreover, they are not in iron caskets or in gold or silver jewel-cases, covered or lined with fine leather or with silk or satin. On the contrary, they are often in old ginger jars, shabby boxes, tin cans, and all sorts of unsightly or unpromising receptacles, which, when placed between the owner and his guest, may well cause the latter to wonder. Nor is his surprise lessened as the wrappings are unfolded, one after another, perhaps a dozen old cloths, until the piece of jewelry or the splendid pearl is at last brought to view, after having been hidden from sight in its manifold wrappings for months or perhaps for years.

But this method of keeping such treasures is not in reality so strange as it appears. There are none of the provisions that we have for the responsible safe-guarding of investments or valuable objects,—no fire-proof safes, no banks, no deposit-vaults. Security is best attained by concealment in unattractive and improbable receptacles, and by dividing and distributing the treasured objects. The owner, too, must learn to know his visitor quite well before he exhibits to him all, or the best, that he possesses. Hence the oriental method, though so peculiar to us, has been the best adapted to the conditions among those peoples.

[Illustration:

Seed-pearls and gold; Chinese ornaments of the nineteenth century ]

[Illustration:

Complete set of seed-pearl jewelry in original case

New York, 1860 ]

As an illustration of the interest taken by Oriental potentates in the collection of jewels, we quote an instance from Marco Polo, who, centuries ago, wrote the following:[406] “Several times every year the King of Maabar sends his proclamation through the realm that if any one who possesses a pearl or stone of great value will bring it to him, he will pay for it twice as much as it cost. Everybody is glad to do this, and thus the King gets all into his own hands, giving every man his price.”

Great quantities of pearls, the result of centuries of accumulation, and exceeding in splendor the collections of the present day, must have been garnered up in many cities of the Orient during the period of their prosperity. But these cities have disappeared, wrecked and ruined by fire and sword, and no vestige of their former wealth remains with them. Their treasures have been looted, hoarded, buried, or scattered to the four ends of the Orient, frequently finding their way in former times to Europe, but now more often to America, where fine gems always find a generous buyer.

In Syria, and some of the Oriental countries, until recently, and perhaps at the present time, it has been the custom, when a native wished to embark in the pearl business, for him to allow himself to drift gradually into a state of vagrancy, becoming a veritable tramp for fully a year. Then, with the money that he had himself or that which was supplied by his backer, he would visit the pearl fisheries and shrewdly acquire the gems to the best advantage, returning again as a vagrant; for if it were known at any point along the route that he carried with him sums of money his life would be in jeopardy, and he would probably never reach the fisheries; or, if he did, the chances are that he would never return. This may remind us of Marco Polo’s old coat, in which he had concealed some valuable gems, the gift of the Grand Khan. His wife heedlessly gave the coat to a beggar and it was only regained by a clever stratagem.

The product of the pearl fisheries, either that of entire fisheries where they are managed by a company, or the gatherings of merchants, or even the single gems which may be acquired by the smaller merchants, all these usually find their way to the great markets, although occasionally they change hands at once. In the East they are sent either to Bombay, Calcutta, Madras or Colombo; frequently they are intended for a higher market. Many of them remain in the East, for in the East to-day a fine pearl is as much prized as ever, and there are those who love pearls as much as did the King of Maabar in the time of Marco Polo. However, the world over, there is a feeling that if things are sent to the greatest market there will be an opportunity for disposing of them at the greatest price. Therefore, the larger number of parcels of exceptionally fine pearls are sent to the London market, a few of them going to Paris, the cable, often within a few days after their arrival, informing the sender of the acceptance or rejection of a parcel, or of a new offer which is often accepted. In this market they are acquired by the dealers, who frequently exhibit many times before the lot is purchased.

Pearls from a fishery are in many cases of mixed quality; that is to say, they are of different sizes and varying grades of perfection as regards skin, color, and orient. These parcels are often sold directly on offers to dealers, but generally they are sold by brokers who show the various parcels to the dealers, each of the latter in turn making his offer on that portion of the parcel which is of most value to him. Thus a single dealer may want one pearl, a dozen, or even twenty or more, to complete a great necklace, or else to add to, or improve the necklace, by better graduation or by increasing the evenness of the color. When the broker receives enough offers to give him the desired price for the entire parcel, the sale is consummated, and each one who has made an offer and who has sealed his particular parcel until his offer is accepted or rejected, receives his portion. Pearls do not grow in the form of necklaces, although they are frequently seen in this form only, and to create a large necklace means not only the use of the pearls of one fishery alone, but it often requires a selection from pearls of various sizes, the product of many fisheries.

It is needless to say that even the shrewdest dealers do not always succeed in their purchases of lots which are to be broken up when the proper number of bids are obtained.

When the pearl revival came in 1898 there was a sudden and rapid upward tendency in the prices, because at that time, in England, money could be borrowed upon a very low rate of interest—as low as 3 per cent.,—and it was a temptation to a number of young men to enter as dealers into the pearl trade. The result was that a number of new stocks were created, not for a regular, but for a speculative demand, and this tended to advance the price spasmodically, rather than gradually, as it would have risen by regular consumption. However, when the foreign market became higher, the demand for pearls was not as great as had been anticipated, and there was a sudden adjustment of prices and a readjustment of the pearl stocks, resulting in the elimination of a certain number of speculative dealers; and, notwithstanding the state of the fisheries, pearls have not advanced so rapidly in the past two years as they did from 1898 to 1905.

More than go per cent. of the pearls of commerce, whether they are round, perfect, half- or seed-pearls, are of oriental origin; that is, pearls from the true pearl-oyster. About 8 per cent. are probably from the fresh-water mussels, three fourths of which are from the United States.

American fresh-water pearls have had many prejudices to overcome, often because of the natural indifference in regard to anything that is found at home or is easily obtainable. It has been said that, in comparison with foreign pearls, they had less specific gravity; that they were not so hard, and that their luster was not as good. It is certain, however, that the skin is generally smooth, and although they may not have so peculiar an orient, their brilliancy equals that of any known pearls. Sometimes they are translucent and either pink or of a faintly bluish tint, like molten silver. More frequently their hue is white, rose, pale yellow, or pale copper, deepening to copper red until they resemble the most intense and highly polished copper button.

According to the estimates of the value of European fresh-water pearls given by seventeenth and eighteenth century writers, their worth was considered to be one half that of oriental pearls of approximately the same quality. Few European pearls, we feel sure, were ever found that possessed the wonderful beauty and brilliancy of the pearls found either in the Miami or the Mississippi and its many tributaries.

So great a quantity of the poorer quality of pearls have been found, principally in the Mississippi Valley, that a foreign dealer has bought 30,000 ounces of baroque pearls at $1 an ounce, and of the slightly better grades fully 100,000 dollars’ worth were obtained in the year 1906. The exportation was strictly limited to the poorer qualities. When pearls are worth from $1 to $6 a grain and upward, they are rarely sent abroad, as the regular pearls of this quality are much appreciated by Americans, and find a ready sale in the United States. The poor pearls above mentioned were principally sent to New York, either from the local fishermen, or else through the dealers in sweet-water shells, in lots of a fraction of an ounce, or in bags weighing a number of pounds. Thirty thousand ounces would equal 18,180,000 grains.

After all the fine pearls have been selected—buttons, baroques, turtle-backs, haystacks, wings, petals and other pearls that can be used in any way as a jewel on this side of the water—the balance of the material is sold by the ounce, varying in price from $1 to $5. These are shipped to Germany, France, and Austria, where they are again selected for cheaper forms of jewelry than are made in the United States. Of these pearls the baroques and slugs go mainly to Germany, while the somewhat finer ones are sent to France, where they are used in artistic but inexpensive work, such as flowers and other imitative forms, and in _art nouveau_ jewelry. Some, again, are shipped to Algiers, Morocco, and Egypt, for the decoration of saddles, garments, etc., and quantities go to India to be used for medicinal purposes. In this way all the material is utilized and even the poorest is not wasted. No better proof can be required of the wide-spread appreciation of the pearl among all the races of mankind.

So extensive has become the finding of American pearls that great quantities have been gathered together of all varieties. At the time of this writing there are many large single lots of these pearls, slightly irregular, and not of fine quality, but yet of sufficient regularity of size to be termed baroques. At one time such quantities were gotten together that single papers of pearls, weighing one fourth, one half, one, two or three grains each, contained more than 10,000 grains, and quantities of the wing and dog-tooth varieties weighing as much as 20,000 grains were inclosed in a single paper.

So prolific has been the yield of these common American pearls that the markets of Europe and Asia have almost been flooded with them. In 1906, a single shipment of 3500 ounces, troy (equaling over 2,100,000 grains), were sent abroad, at prices varying from $1 to $15 per ounce, according to the quality. This alone would represent a worth of $30,000 at one time.

The turtleback is a form quite prevalent among American pearls, and they are often matched in pairs slightly resembling each other and weighing from 10 to 100 or more grains for each pair. Some of them are lustrous and many are of very good color and regular in form. Although differing but little in shape, they naturally are much less expensive than a finer formed pearl, and many of them have been sold for link buttons, and more especially for earscrews. Although they formerly sold for 50 cents a grain, they are now held at from $1 to $8 per grain.

In regard to the prices of some of the finer American pearls, one of 15 grains, of wonderful brilliancy, luster, and perfection, was sold for more than $2500–$166 a grain, or a base value of over $11 a grain. Two extraordinarily well-matched button pearls, weighing a trifle over 30 grains, were held at about $3500, or $115 a grain, a base value of about $8 a grain.

At the time of this writing there are for sale in the United States a pair of button earrings, almost round, not of absolutely perfect color, weighing about 140 grains, the price being $6000; a round, slightly ovate pearl, not of the finest color, weighing 85 grains, held at $3500; and a wonderful pearl with a rich, faintly pink luster, round, but slightly button on each side, weighing about 44 grains, and beautiful as are American pearls, is held at a fanciful valuation of over $6000.

The cupidity of many of the American pearl finders and pearl dealers cannot be exceeded even by that of the foreign pearl finder in any other land, and this is shown by the variety of materials that from time to time are sold to the unsuspecting public, or that are sent to pearl dealers in the large cities. This is surprising and suggests either that the sender believes the pearl dealers are not familiar with these deceptions, or else that he himself has been imposed upon, and is innocent in his commercial deceit. Among the notable examples are, first, spheres made out of the various shells, either from a good part of the material or from hinge-material, or else from the spot where the mussel is attached, these pieces of the shell being rounded and polished; such spheres vary in color from white to pink or yellow, just as the shell itself may have been colored. Second, the pupils of fish-eyes. Third, imitation pearls. Fourth, yellow or brown translucent or transparent masses of hinge-binding material having no greater hardness than horn, and about the same appearance. The most interesting, however, are the absolutely beautiful, smooth spheres of anthracite coal, which admits of a rich polish and has a peculiar luster; these they attempt to pass off as black pearls.

It is interesting to note that in Arkansas a negro sold a very valuable pearl for a few dollars, under the persuasion of a white man, who, it is said, resold the pearl for nearly a hundred times more than what he paid for it. The local authorities investigated the matter; the case was brought to court, and the negro received a large advance on the price that had originally been paid him.

If a list were kept of the thousand and one different methods of wrapping American pearls for shipment to the larger cities, it would show how much ingenuity is displayed in environments that frequently differ very much from each other. A box that has contained the pills that relieved him of fever, ague, and other ills due to swamps and damp climates, serves a secondary purpose for the fortunate finder of a pearl in forming a receptacle in which he can ship it to the greater market. Sometimes they are sewed in leather cut from gloves and shoes, or in strips of cloth, generally of the humbler varieties, such as calico or blue jean; in other cases they are wrapped in tissue-paper and newspaper; and occasionally they are packed in boxes made by hollowing out a bit of wood, a cover being nailed over the opening. In almost every instance they have been treated with a certain degree of care.

The majority of conch pearls which are carried by individuals to New York, London, or Paris, are generally brought in small papers or bits of cloth, each pearl being wrapped separately. Usually, there are a few white ones, a few yellow, a few pale pink, occasionally a few of a very beautiful rich pink, and once in a great while a fine, large pearl appears. Many of these pearls, commonly the inferior ones, are sold in the West Indies directly to the tourists who wish to purchase something in the country through which they are traveling, with the result that better prices are generally obtained than would have been secured if the pearls had been sent to the great markets.

The tariff on pearls at present operative in the United States is so indefinite as to have led to much serious misinterpretation and misunderstanding, as well as to an endless chain of lawsuits, often resulting in serious loss to the dealer or client who imports. As a consequence of the enforced outlay of large sums for unexpected and additional duties, the importer, who was both ready and willing to pay what seemed to him a just duty, often found that, where he had quoted a price to a customer, he was a loser by the transaction; and if, to escape this loss, he endeavors to dispute the payment of the duty, he becomes involved in an expensive and occasionally unsuccessful lawsuit. On the other hand, a private buyer who has paid all that he feels he can afford at the time for a necklace, expecting to pay a duty of 10 per cent. and interpreting the law to mean a duty of 10 per cent., may be called upon to pay a duty of 60 per cent., or have the notoriety of a public lawsuit, because the pearls have been strung, or because it is held that they had recently or at some former time been assembled as a necklace. In other words, if the pearls constituting such a necklace are bought at various times from various people, either here or in Europe, and not as a necklace, the duty is held to be 10 per cent., but if they are sent in one shipment, a duty of 60 per cent. is levied. As it is held that pearls assembled in the form of a necklace have a greater value than before they were so assembled, the purchaser might naturally expect to pay the 10 per cent. duty on this higher value, but instead of this a 60 per cent. duty is demanded on the higher assembled value.

The ambiguity of this clause of the tariff is such that a logical ruling should be made by some superior official such as the Secretary of the Treasury. As the law is now interpreted, a pearl worth $20,000 can be brought in with a duty of 10 per cent.; the addition of a simple gold wire makes it a piece of jewelry, with a duty of 60 per cent. It would seem that an amendment might be made to the tariff by which an importer, whether a private buyer or dealer, could be called upon to pay a 60 per cent. duty on a high valuation of the setting of the ring, brooch, or jewel, such as $20, $25 or $50; while the contents of the ring or ornament, whether a pearl, diamond, emerald, or a collection of stones, should pay a duty of only 10 per cent. This duty would sufficiently protect the jewelry industry, and would at the same time prevent the levying of an unjust and unexpected impost upon a fine pearl or gem of any kind.

It is eminently desirable that those residing in the United States who purchase pearls in foreign countries, should, if possible, consult with the United States consul in the city where they make their purchase, in case they wish to bring the pearls into the United States. In this way a proper declaration can be made, they will be correctly instructed as to the duties upon the pearls, whether unstrung, strung, or set, and they will thus avoid all complications when they reach the United States. Of course, this may not be necessary should the firm with which they are dealing be able to attend to the matter for them.

It must not be forgotten that the duty of 25 per cent. on precious stones, which was imposed during Cleveland’s administration, was enacted for the purpose of obtaining an increased revenue for the government, and there is no doubt but that the time was one of great financial stress. Yet even with the duty two and a half times as high as in the previous years, only a small fraction was added to the income of the Government. But one adequate explanation can be given of this remarkable decrease in the recorded imports, more especially when we consider that legitimate dealers could, at that time, buy precious stones in New York City for less than it cost them to purchase them abroad and pay the duty. It seems, therefore, that a 10 per cent. rate is calculated to produce the best and most satisfactory results in every way.

As examples of the difficulties encountered in the attempt to arrive at a proper classification of pearls we cite the following cases which have been the subjects of recent litigation: In 1901, two very valuable collections of pearls were brought to this country. One of these consisted of 45 drilled pearls weighing in all 672⅛ grains and entered at $60,734; the other, of 39 pearls, having an aggregate weight of 678¾ grains and entered at $63,070. At first a duty of 20 per cent. ad valorem was imposed upon these pearls under Section 6 of the Tariff Act, treating them as “unenumerated articles partly manufactured,” according to the rule that had been followed since the enactment of the present tariff. This was protested, and the case was brought before the Board of Appraisers.[407] Subsequent to the protest, however, the collector reliquidated the entry of the 45 pearls and imposed upon them a duty of 60 per cent. ad valorem, as pearls set or strung. This was done in view of Judge Lacombe’s decision in another notable case which had been taken shortly before to the Circuit Court of Appeals.[408] This decision was to the effect that pearls in any form not especially covered by paragraphs 434 or 436 of the Tariff Act should be referred to one or the other of those paragraphs, by similitude, according to the provisions of Section 7 of the Act.

The testimony taken before the Board of Appraisers revealed the fact that each of the collections of pearls had been inclosed in a handsome silk-lined morocco case, with a groove running through the center; in this groove the pearls were laid, the largest one in the middle and the others disposed on either side, graduated according to their size; the row or series having the effect of a necklace, although the pearls were unstrung. The importer testified that this arrangement was only made in order to enable him to judge of the size and quality of the pearls, and evidence was given showing that it was necessary to rebore some of them and to ream out the holes before any use could be made of the pearls in jewelry. Nevertheless, the appraisers adhered to their opinion that these gems had been selected especially to form a necklace, and that the time and labor requisite for the assembling of a carefully matched and graduated series of pearls suitable for a necklace constituted the main factor in its production, since the cost of stringing it was trifling; they, therefore, considered that such a series of pearls was dutiable, by similitude, under paragraph 434 of the Tariff Act as jewelry. An application was made to the Circuit Court of the Southern District of New York for a review of the appraisers’ ruling,[409] the judge decided against the petitioner,[410] and an appeal was then taken from his decision. On December 12, 1904, the Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the pearls were dutiable, by similitude, at 10 per cent. ad valorem, under Section 7, paragraph 436, and the excess of duty collected was refunded.

Another case has to do with a collection of 37 pearls, entered at $220,000, brought to New York in January, 1906. Duty to the amount of $22,000 (10 per cent. ad valorem) was paid by the importer, but the entry was liquidated at 60 per cent. and $110,000 additional duty demanded. This was paid and a protest was made to the Board of General Appraisers, who decided in favor of the petitioner. The Government appealed and the case[411] was tried in the United States Circuit Court on February 24 of this year (1908). It was shown that the pearls had been worn several times in Paris as a necklace, but the defense held that, as they were loose when imported and were not worth more collectively than separately, this was not material. The judge decided for the Government and an appeal has been taken in June, 1908.

[Illustration:

PERSIAN PRINCESS AND LADIES IN WAITING

From a Persian illuminated manuscript of the eighteenth century, in the library of Robert Hoe, Esq. ]

The proper classification of half-pearls has also been a matter of controversy. This question was brought before the Board of General Appraisers in New York on a protest[412] entered in 1897 against the imposition of a duty of 20 per cent. on several lots of so-called half-pearls imported during that year. This duty was imposed under Section 6 of the Tariff Act, providing for a duty of 20 per cent. on “unenumerated partly manufactured articles.” The petitioner claimed that half-pearls were dutiable at 10 per cent. ad valorem, “either directly or by similitude or component of chief value, under paragraph 436, or as precious stones, under paragraph 435 of the Tariff Act.” After hearing the testimony of a number of competent and reliable experts connected with some of the leading houses dealing in precious stones and pearls, the appraisers decided that the evidence showed that pearls, being the product of animal secretion, could not properly be denominated stones, and that they were not in fact so designated commercially. At the same time, half-pearls could not be looked upon as “pearls in their natural state,” since time and labor had been expended in their production; it was, therefore, evident that paragraph 436 did not apply to them. For this reason the original ruling was reaffirmed.

In 1902 a duty of 60 per cent. was levied on an assorted lot of half-pearls under a new ruling which brought them by similitude under the provisions of paragraph 434 of the Tariff Act, providing a duty of 60 per cent. on “jewelry ... including ... pearls set or strung.” A protest was entered against this ruling also.[413] In the meanwhile Judge Lacombe had given the opinion to which we have alluded above, and the Board of Appraisers upheld the duty of 60 per cent., basing their decision upon the fact that the material of half-pearls was similar to that of pearls in their natural state or of pearls set or strung, thus satisfying the requirements as to similitude of Section 7 of the Tariff Act. The same section provides that, in case two or more rates of duty shall be applicable to any imported article, it shall pay duty at the highest rate, and therefore the 60–per cent. rate applying to pearls set or strung was imposed, instead of the 10–per cent. rate on pearls in their natural state. In both of these cases an application for a review was made to the United States Circuit Court.[414]

DUTIES ON PEARLS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES, MARCH, 1908

Amount in money of the U. S. Basis. country. currency.

Great Britain Free

British India Free

Australia Free

New Zealand Free

Canada, precious stones (pearls), polished but not set, pierced, or otherwise manufactured ad val. 10%

Austro-Hungary, unset 100 kilogr. 60 kr. $24.00

Belgium, unenumerated.

Bulgaria, precious stones (pearls) in the natural state, polished, cut, or 75 lev engraved, but not mounted kilogr. (francs) 14.25

Denmark, unenumerated.

France Free

Germany, wrought (smoothed, polished, 100 perforated), unset kilogr. 60 marks 14.40

Unset, but strung on textile threads or tape for the purpose of packing 100 and transportation kilogr. 100 marks 24.00

Greece Free

Holland, unenumerated.

Italy, precious stones (pearls) wrought hectogr. 14 lire 2.66

Montenegro, precious stones (pearls) {min. 10% ad val. {max. 15%

Norway, precious stones (pearls) {min. 2^{50} kilogr. krone .66

{max. 3 „ .80

Portugal, unenumerated.

Portuguese S. E. Africa (Quilimane, Chinde and Zambesia) Export Duty ad val. 6%

Portuguese India, real pearls or seed-pearls ad val. ½%

Rumania kilogr. 20 lei 3.80

Russia, loose or threaded funt 10 rubles 5.00

Finland Free

Servia, threaded for facilitating their preservation or sale kilogr. 50 dinars 9.50

Threaded for special uses kilogr. 70 dinars 15.30

Spain, loose or mounted hectogr. 25 pesetas 4.75

Sweden, not set Free

Switzerland, not mounted 100 kilogr. 50 francs 9.75

Turkey, unset 3 piasters gramme (gold)

Egypt (on all imports) ad val. 8%

China (on all unenumerated imports) ad val. 5%

Japan ad val. 60%

Persia, Export Duty ad val. 5%

Import Duty, precious stones, rough or cut, including fine pearls ad val. 25%

Morocco (on all imports) ad val. 2½%

Guatemala, unenumerated.

Salvador, precious stones (pearls) 10 pesos, unmounted kilogr. nom. val. 9.60

Nicaragua, precious stones (pearls) 100 pesos, kilogr. „ „ 96.00

Honduras 5 pesos, ½ kilogr. „ „ 4.80

Costa Rica, unset 100 colones, kilogr. „ „ 96.00

Panama ad val. 15%

Mexico, unset 100 pesos, kilogr. „ „ 96.00

United States, not strung, not set ad val. 10%

Strung, set, or not, and split pearls sorted as to either size, quality, or shape ad val. 60%

Philippine, unset ad val. 15%

Argentine Republic, precious stones (pearls) ad val. 5%

Bolivia appraisal 3%

Brazil (natural) ad val. 2%

Chili ad val. 5%

Colombia, precious stones (pearls) set in jewelry ad val. 10%

Ecuador, precious stones (pearls), set 50 sucres, or not set kilogr. nom. val. 48.00

Paraguay, unset ad val. 2%

Peru, unset appraisal 3%

Uruguay 13% on eval gramme of 1 peso .12

Venezuela kilogr. 10 bolivars 1.90

Cuba, not set hectogr. $7.50

surtax of 25%

Dominican Republic 6 pesos, ounce nom. val. 5.76

The only changes from the customs lists as they existed in the tariffs of 1896 are as follows:

1896 1908 Portugal 3% ad val. unenumerated Mexico 50 pesos per carat 100 pesos per kilogram Nicaragua 5 pesos per libra 100 pesos per kilogram Haiti 20% ad val. unenumerated San Domingo 3.60 pesos per ounce 6 pesos per ounce Argentina 36 pesos per gram precious stones 5% ad val. Austro-Hungary 24 florins per 100 kilogr. 60 kroner per 100 kilogr.

In the Parliament of 1727–1732, the duty on pearls and precious stones was abolished in England. We give facsimiles of the title-page and last leaf of the report of this enactment.

[Illustration:

Anno Regni _GEORGII_ II. REGIS _Magnæ_, _Britanniæ_, _Franciæ_, & _Hiberniæ_, SEXTO.

At the Parliament Begun and Holden at _Westminster_, the Twenty third Day of _January, Anno Dom. 1727_. In the First Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord __GEORGE__ the Second, by the Grace of God, of _Great Britain_, _France_, and _Ireland_, King, Defender of the Faith, &_c._

And from thence continued by several Prorogations to the Sixteenth Day of _January_, 1732, being the Sixth Session of this present Parliament.

_LONDON_, Printed by _John Baskett_, Printer to the King’s most Excellent Majesty. 1732.

108 Anno Regni Sexto Georgii II. Regis.

[Sidenote: After _10 April, 1733_, Diamonds and all other precious Stones may be imported or exported free from Duty.]

Diamonds, precious Stones, Jewels, and Pearls of all Sorts, shall pass outwards, without Warrant or Fee, may it therefore please your most Excellent Majesty that it may be enacted, and be enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the Same, That from and after the Tenth Day of April, which shall be in the Year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and Thirty three, all Diamonds, Pearls, Rubies, Emeralds, and all other precious Stones and Jewels, shall pass inwards without Warrant or Fee, in the Manner as they now pass outwards, and free from the Payment of any Duty granted to his Majesty, his Heirs, or Successors; and it shall and may be lawful for any Person or Persons to import or export the same, in the Ship or Vessel whatsoever; and Law, Custom, or Usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding, subject nevertheless to the Proviso herein after contained.

[Sidenote: Proviso as to the _East India_ Company.]

Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend to annul or make void the Duty granted to his Majesty for the Use of the united Company of Merchants of =England= trading to the =East Indies=, by an act passed in the Ninth and Tenth Years of the Reign of his late Majesty King =William= the Third, for such Pearls, Diamonds, and other precious Stones or Jewels, as shall be imported into this kingdom from any Place within the Limits of the Charter granted to the said Company, or to take away or alter any Privileges, Profits, or Advantages, granted to or now held or enjoyed by the said Company.

FINIS.

]

The total value of diamonds and precious stones imported into the United States during the period from 1867 to 1906 inclusive, was as follows:

Glaziers’ (except 1873–83) $2,215,972

Dust 6,407,599

Rough or uncut (included with diamonds and other stones, 1891–96) 74,045,291

Set (not specified before 1897) 36,170

Unset (not specified before 1897) 124,615,662

Diamonds and other stones, not set 207,138,629

Set in gold or other metal 17,799

Pearls (from 1903) 7,809,261

————————————

Total $422,286,383

CLASSIFIED STATEMENT OF THE IMPORTS OF PEARLS INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM 1891 TO 1907 INCLUSIVE

Pearls Pearls, Pearls in Pearls split including pearls natural state, etc. strung but not not strung or set set

Year 10% 10% 10% 20%

1891 $11,711

1892 32,023

1893 6,926

1894 12,978

1895 $283,018

1896 583,214

1897 392,867

1898 $491,060 $205,998

1899 1,412,952 389,899

1900 1,163,382 432,528

1901 929,247 1,173,339

1902 1,896,322 1,314,368

1903 2,835,936 7,220

1904 1,680,615 2,908

1905 1,626,476

1906 2,072,561 218

1907 1,593,498

——————— —————————— ——————————— ——————————

$63,638 $1,259,099 $15,702,049 $3,526,478

NOTE. Previous to 1891 pearls were classified with “jewelry and precious stones,” and it was not until 1895 that most of them were reported separately.

There are several things that are essential in pearl buying, and one of the most important of these is that the light in which the pearls are selected shall be absolutely pure daylight, with no reflections from the side or from above that can enhance or detract from the color of the pearl. This must be carefully considered, as it is not uncommon—more especially in certain parts of Europe—that jewelers have for their selling-offices rooms sumptuously fitted up with hangings of different colors, and sometimes with ground glass windows, provided with heavy silk hangings, so that artificial light becomes a necessity to make the article sold plainly visible. In absolutely pure daylight, more especially with an unclouded sky—on such days as are probably more frequent in the United States than in some of the European countries—it is possible to see the exact tint or color of the pearls; that is, whether it is really a pure white with a tinge of pink or an orient tending to cream-white, or whether it is more or less tinted with what is considered a crude or red color in a pearl. Besides this, in a pure light it is possible to see whether the pearl is brilliant, and to estimate the exact degree of its brilliancy; whether there are any cracks, scratches, or mars on the surface; and, lastly, whether the form is entirely regular. If one should select two necklaces, one absolutely perfect and the other having slight blemishes as to color or brilliancy, or with breaks, marks, or irregularities, these two necklaces would be scarcely distinguishable from each other in artificial light, or in daylight which had been partly confused with artificial light; although the differences between the two would signify that the former was worth two or three times as much as the latter.

At great receptions, large, and apparently magnificent pearls are frequently seen, which are really of inferior quality, and yet, owing to the absence of pure daylight, they can easily be mistaken for perfect specimens by any one not especially familiar with pearls. Indeed, if the royalties of Europe should wear all the pearls belonging to the crown jewels at the same time, in a palace or hall lighted with candles, gas, or even with some types of electric light, they would frequently seem to have a quality which many of them do not and never did possess. It is, therefore, essential for the buyer to use every precaution in reference to the light in which he examines his purchase. And we may add that it is just as essential that he should know the dealer from whom he buys; for, sometimes, after a few weeks or months, cracks or blemishes develop that were not apparent at first, more especially when the pearls have been “improved” for a prospective purchaser.

A test to ascertain the quality of pearls is quaintly expressed in a work published in 1778, as follows:

How to know good pearls. To discover the hidden Defects and Faults of a Pearl and to know whether she is speckled or broken or has any other imperfections, the best way is to make trial of it by the Reverberation of the Sun-beams; for by this means your eye will penetrate into the very Centre of the Pearl and discover the least defect it has; you will then see whether it be pure, or has any spots or not, and consequently you may the better guess its value.[415]

If you can cause a ray of sunlight or of electric light to fall on a pearl, the light will penetrate it and show any specks, inclosed blemishes or impurities. This can probably best be done by wrapping about the pearl a dark cloth of velvet or other material and having the ray fall slantingly, whereby the defects are much more clearly shown than if the ray be allowed to fall directly upon the gem.

A pearl necklace valued at $200,000, shown at one of our recent great expositions, was to all appearances a remarkably beautiful collection, and it was only when the intending purchaser took them from their velvet bed and held them in his hands that he realized that there was not a perfect pearl in the entire collection. It must have taken more than a week of study for the clever dealer to arrange them so that the best part, sometimes the only good part of each pearl, should be where the eye would fall upon it. After they had been turned in the hands a few seconds, not one perfect specimen was visible.

The demand for pearls has been so great, and the enhancement of value so rapid, that the greatest ingenuity has been employed in presenting the best part of the gems to view, as well as in many other ways. The result is that when pearls are to be used as borders or as a gallery on a comb or brooch, they are pierced in such a way that only the best side shall be outward, so that the general effect produced is that of a perfect row of pearls; but a careful examination may show that two thirds or three fourths of them are irregular, and bear abrasion marks, indentations, or other imperfections.

Following the analogy of the well-known precious stones—the diamond, the ruby, the sapphire, the emerald and those of less importance—the pearl is equally potent in creating great and permanent values for itself in catering to the human love of adornment; and though these large values may be greatly in excess of the original price that it commanded in the native oriental market, yet the increased valuation gives profitable livelihood to hundreds of thousands of persons. These embrace the dealers who sell the original pearls in lots, those who clean and treat them, others who drill and string them, and others again who handle them in setting jewelry of all kinds, and also the large number of dealers throughout the entire world who sell either the jewelry or the unmounted pearls. Directly connected with the industry in localities where the fisheries are pursued are a sufficient number of persons to populate a city the size of Boston, and to these we may safely add an equal number as herein noted, aggregating about 1,000,000 people whose livelihood is directly dependent upon the production and traffic of the pearl industry, and who for lack of it would be forced to seek some other employment. Brought thus to a concrete form, one may readily grasp the important bearing which the pearl has in a comprehensive estimate of the complexity of the world’s civilization as we know it to-day.

XIV

TREATMENT AND CARE OF PEARLS

XIV TREATMENT AND CARE OF PEARLS

The pearl is at the height of its perfection when taken from the shell; from that moment it never improves. When it is drawn from the depths of the ocean by the hand of man and given to the charmed gaze of the world, it is as complete and perfect in its way as the most beautiful work of art, and, whether as tiny as the point of a pin or as large as a marble, it is always a perfect, fully formed individual; it is always in its maturity.

Who found the first pearl? When did he discover it, and what were his emotions? Was it found by primitive man? Very likely it was discovered by chance in a mother-of-pearl shell cast up by the sea, or perhaps in a mussel in a brook. If this happened in an oriental country, the native must have already seen many equally remarkable objects, endowed with life, while the pearl could charm him only by its luster and purity. But, besides the impression produced by its beauty, it must have aroused in the soul of the discoverer the sensation of wonder which every new and lovely object excites when seen for the first time. That primitive man appreciated the pearl is evidenced by the fact that it is found in the mounds and graves of the American continent, from the State of Ohio to Peru in South America.

Almost all pearls are in perfect condition for setting when they are found; all that needs to be done is to rub them with a damp or moist cloth or with a powder of finely pulverized small or broken pearls, and they are then ready for the succeeding processes. If there are any blemishes, these can be removed by peeling or “faking,” although few fine pearls require any such treatment; and then the gems may be drilled, strung, and set, and all that is necessary for their preservation is due care and attention.

Pearls are frequently injured in opening the shells or in removal of the outer layers around the true pearly nacre. Both the Chinese and the Sulu fishermen are very clever in the art of pearl peeling and pearl improving. This method is called “faking,” although it is a perfectly legitimate operation. All it requires is a very sharp knife, a set of files, and a powder obtained by grinding pearls or pearl shells. This powder is placed upon a buffer of leather or cloth to polish such parts of a layer as may not have been entirely removed. The Chinese are unusual adepts in pearl peeling and have been frequently known to sell as true pearls scales that they have removed, after filling these scales or peelings with wax or shellac, and strengthening them by cementing them on a piece of mother-of-pearl. They are then set with the convex side up and the edges carefully covered so as to conceal the deception. The Chinese are also very expert in removing layers of mother-of-pearl from an encysted or buried pearl, taking off layer after layer with the greatest care, and with a delicacy of touch that enables them to realize the moment when the pearl itself has been reached, rarely injuring the latter, although the coating is almost as hard as the inclosed pearl.

Peeling is employed to remove a protuberance or acid stain, to smooth a surface broken by abrasion, or to take off a dead spot produced by careless wearing of the pearls and allowing them to rub against one another. There are many instances where, by careful peeling, a perfect layer and skin have been brought to light, and where irregular or broken pearls, or those with a blemish, have been rendered much more valuable by a good peeler. But in many other cases the pearl has not only been reduced in value, but even rendered altogether worthless, when it had a dead center or was pitted with clay or other impurities.

If a pearl has been injured by coming in contact with the acids frequently used in medicine, the surface may become roughened; or it may be scratched by being rubbed against a stone in case of a fall or other accident. If the surface only is injured, it can be restored to its original beauty with only a slight loss of weight by carefully peeling off the outer layers.

In skinning or peeling a pearl, a magnifying glass, or preferably a fixed lens, such as is used by engravers, is of great assistance, and a sharp knife, or, better still, the sharpened edge of a steel file, is a very essential instrument. Gloves are often worn by the peeler so that no perspiration shall reach the pearl and cause it to slip in the hand while it is being manipulated, and thus have a layer or more injured by the knife.

[Illustration:

Drilling a pearl by means of the bow-drill ]

[Illustration:

Thin layers of pearl removed by peeling (faking) ]

[Illustration:

Examples of properly and poorly drilled pearls ]

[Illustration:

Side view of same pearls ]

PEARL DRILLING

Streeter mentions a very interesting incident in regard to a genuine black pearl. This pearl, set with diamonds, was shown in a jeweler’s window; but after exposure in this way for some time to the sun’s rays, the brilliant black luster disappeared and gave place to a dull, grayish hue. When the pearl was removed from its setting, it was seen that the part which had not been exposed to the light was of as good color as when first removed from the shell. It was finally determined to skin off the outer layer, an operation which was performed with so much success that the original brilliant black hue was fully restored, proving that the action of the sunlight had only changed the color of the surface. We may add that the pearl, although it was shown in the sun, may never have had a good “skin” or layer exposed; or the layer which was not perfect may have been affected by an exudation of the wearer produced by illness or medicine.

When pearls are of a poor yellow or dull brown tint, unscrupulous dealers sometimes intrust them to an operator who drills them almost entirely through, cracks the skin slightly and impregnates them with a solution of nitrate of silver; this affects the outer layers of the pearls, and, after its decomposition, the metallic silver is deposited, and they become absolutely black. The effect is sometimes hastened by exposing them to the fumes of nitrate of silver. These pearls are then rubbed up or slightly polished and may retain a good appearance for a number of years. The upper layers, however, which have been injured by the chemicals used in the coloring, often scale off, and the poor and unattractive color beneath appears. This is sometimes not detected until years after and when the dealer from whom they were purchased has been forgotten. The breaks or cracks which have been made can readily be detected by means of a pocket lens, if the observer is at all experienced. In many cases the outer layer of the pearl has been colored a good black, although scarcely any crack is visible.

Frequently, when a small knob or protuberance appears in the pearl, or when it has adhered to another pearl or to the shell itself, this protuberance is polished off, and the pearl is drilled at this point. This portion of the surface, however carefully polished, will never have the true orient, but it is placed in the necklace in such a way that it is completely hidden. Often pearls become scratched through rough usage, or by the knife used in opening the shells. These are occasionally polished by means of pearl-powder, or else the entire outer layer is removed, the new skin beneath appearing absolutely bright and perfect. It sometimes happens that a pearl will have a good luster, but a slightly roughened skin. This is at times polished down; but an experienced eye easily detects that it has been tampered with. Yellowish pearls are sometimes bleached by means of strong bleaching substances such as chlorine or other powerful reagents, which, although they may whiten the pearl, cause it to become very friable, as the animal substance becomes more brittle. Pearls treated in this way frequently wear off, layer by layer, until fully one half of the pearl is worn out of the setting. When pearls are stained yellowish from the exudations of the skin, grease, or other impurities, they can be cleaned by putting them in moist caustic magnesia and allowing it to dry on them. When this is removed, the pearls will often be found much purer in color than before.

In various parts of the world certain dubious methods have been used for restoring the beauty of pearls which have grown dim. In India they are rubbed in boiled rice. Some persons have even fed them to a chicken fastened in a coop; after the lapse of an hour or two the chicken is killed, and the pearls rescued from their temporary lodging-place, where they have been somewhat restored by the digestive juices of the fowl.

Some curious tests applied to pearls are given us in a Hindu treatise on gems by Buddhabhatta. For instance, we read: “If the purchaser conceives a doubt as to the genuineness of a pearl, let him place it during one night in a mixture of water and oil with salt, and heat it. Or let him wrap it in a dry cloth and rub it with grains of rice; if it do not become discolored, it should be regarded as genuine.”[416] It is needless to state that these tests would be either useless or injurious.

If the reader is the owner of a pearl or of a pearl necklace and feels that the pearls need treatment, any attempt to follow the directions given by many ancient writers would infallibly result in their injury or destruction.

Pearl drilling is a most delicate operation. It is necessary that the drill points should have the proper shape,—that is, should not be too tapering, but slightly blunt at the end, and turning somewhat in a V-shape,—it is also important that the drill should be revolved with perfect regularity, so as not to jar or jolt the pearl, as this is likely to lead to the cracking of the pearl or to the breaking of the drill. This latter happens not infrequently, and is due either to the structure of the pearl, the clogging of the drill, or to encountering a hard grain of sand inclosed in the pearl. Should the drill break in the pearl, it can best be removed by drilling from a point directly opposite, and slowly forcing the broken drill outward. This process requires great care in the regulation of the speed, and great exactness of direction in order to meet the broken drill accurately.

Pearl drilling was formerly a laborious process, and it was scarcely possible for a driller to perforate more than from forty to fifty pearls per day by means of the bow-drill operated by hand. Now, by the use of a modern machine, 1500 pearls of average size can be drilled without any difficulty in the same time.

Some of the most successful drilling of fine pearls is done by means of the bow- or fiddle-drill. The arm of this is made either of steel or of wood, with a strong cord stretched across it in the style of an archer’s bow. The drill is inserted in the end of a brass circular disk with a V-shaped groove on its edge, to admit of the string being passed entirely around it like a pulley, so that when the drill is placed on anything and held at the other side, and the bow is moved up and down, the wheel with the drill-end rotates rapidly.

If the pearl is not properly secured, if the drill point is too irregular, if it is not properly centered, or if it is too rapidly rotated at the start, one or more layers of the pearl are likely to be broken, giving an irregular, ragged appearance. If, again, the drill is rotated too rapidly as it is leaving the other side of the pearl, one or more layers are occasionally forced off, and this in turn will produce a break on the pearl. It happens not infrequently that pearls are broken away on the surfaces at both drill holes if the workman is careless.

As pearls have become more valuable, only the most efficient workmen are employed in drilling them. Whereas formerly a drill hole would be half a millimeter in diameter, at present it is much smaller, and such drilling requires the greatest skill in manipulation. The use of these very fine drill holes is due principally to the fact that pearls have become so valuable that the slightest loss, even the fraction of a grain, would amount to a considerable sum in a necklace of large pearls.

When a pearl has been perforated with a very fine drill hole, the hole may be enlarged somewhat by using a slender copper wire, the fineness of the drill hole itself, charged with either diamond-dust, emery, or sand. When the wire thus charged is drawn in and out, the drill hole can be enlarged to any desired size.

A large pearl is held in the hand or secured in a wooden block, or else it is held in a small pair of forceps with a rounded, cup-shaped receptacle at the end, which is usually lined with chamois leather and is pierced with a hole through the center. This hole serves as a guide for the drill, directing it while the pearl is being perforated. Adjustable cups or forceps with cup-like ends of every size are necessary, according to the size of the pearl; and in order that it may be properly seen, it is requisite that the pearl should always be larger than the cup in which it is placed.

The poorest part or spot is selected to form the beginning of the drill hole. The pearl is placed in a pair of calipers with a circular disk, one end of the caliper being placed on the spot to be pierced, the other end naturally touching exactly opposite, the pearl absolutely centering it. As these caliper ends have been rubbed with either rouge, lampblack, or some colored substance that will readily rub off, these two spots of color remain on the pearl and serve as a guide for the driller. The drill end is then placed on the pearl, and the bow moved up and down; and so rapid is this work that five pearls weighing fifteen grains each can be drilled with the greatest care in less than one hour’s time. Of small pearls, weighing about one grain, as many as fifty have been drilled in less than one hour by the hand-drill method.

Many of the thinnest and best drills are made out of thin steel needles. These are ground flat by means of a small carborundum wheel, so as to have two flat sides. They are then thin pointed, and with a V-shaped edge. These prevent the drill from clogging up, allowing the fine dust to pass upward and outward readily, and the hard steel almost invariably penetrates the central core of the pearl, no matter how hard or tough this may be. The needle-drill is then secured in a small chuck attached to the brass revolving wheel. Some recommend lubricating a drill with milk when it is employed for piercing a pearl, but a well-made drill, that allows the dust to escape as it is formed, does not require this treatment. The drill should always be made to revolve quite slowly so that no unnecessary heat may be generated by friction to injure the color of the pearl and also to avoid the possibility of the drill becoming clogged by the pearl-dust.

By means of centering calipers or markers, the driller, especially in the drilling of a large pearl, will generally drill first from one end, and then reverse the pearl and drill from the other end, meeting absolutely in the center. This prevents the breaking of the outer layer of the pearl. A skilful workman can, by turning the pearl, so operate the calipers that the true center can be obtained, even if the pearl is not absolutely round, and the drill holes so centered that the irregularity of the pearl is less apparent.

When the pearl has been half drilled through from one side, considerable caution is necessary in drilling from the other, that when the two drill holes are about meeting the drill be not revolved too rapidly, as the clogging is likely to crack the pearl or break the drill. If the pearl is only to be drilled one fourth or one half through, the depth can always be gaged by watching the drill-end, first, by measuring the drill-end itself, and, secondly, by noting to what part of it pearl-powder adheres.

Pearls are more easily manipulated than any other gems. They are also more easily damaged. Still, when properly treated by the workman, there is no material that offers him more satisfactory results than the pearl, if good judgment be used.

Drillers occasionally find that when the drill reaches the center of the pearl, there is a sharp click, the pearl often breaking at this point. This is evidently due to the fact that a harder kernel may exist in the center, such as a tiny grain of sand, which can turn the drill point; or else the resistance may cause the tiny drill to break.

When a pearl is cracked by a blow or by some accident, it is customary to drill it at the end of the largest crack; this method prevents the crack from extending in that direction. These fissures are sometimes

## partly filled by means of a solution, and may not be visible at the time

when the pearl is bought, but they are liable to appear later.

To illustrate the difference in the care used in drilling, we have selected eight pearls from a paper of poor ones, and reproduce two views of them, one to show the irregularity of the pearls, and the other to show the varying size of the drill holes. Those on the left were drilled by an artist, while those on the right show the work of an inexperienced driller.

At present pendant pearls are never drilled entirely through, and rarely more than half way. But in the Orient, and even in Europe from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, they were often entirely pierced; even pear-shaped pearls were entirely drilled through, with a metal edge projected below for safety. Frequently old pearls, and more especially oriental pearls, have been entirely drilled through, as are often large oriental rubies, diamonds, and sapphires. When these are set, the holes are either plugged with pearl shell and polished smooth, or a tiny ruby or diamond is set in a metal rim fitting entirely into the drill hole or only slightly projecting. This is well instanced in the portrait of Marguerite of France (1553–1615), in which the artist Delpech shows all the pear-shaped pearls worn by the French queen entirely pierced.

Frequently, where pearls have been drilled by oriental workmen, the drill holes are exceedingly large, five or six times the width of the silk string; in fact often from one to two millimeters in diameter. In the search to supply the great demand, many oriental pearls have been secured which formerly were strung to an oriental jewel by means of a thick wire; it is necessary to close this aperture, as the pearl would lie unevenly on the string. This is done by introducing a mother-of-pearl plug, through which a new drill hole is made. Unless the pearls are unstrung, this is rarely visible; but not infrequently the plug drops out. In other cases the pearl has been drilled not only from end to end, but also from the side, and this third hole is filled with a plug of mother-of-pearl and polished over so as to hide the blemish from the buyer. It is also no uncommon thing for a purchaser to find, after a year, that cracks begin to develop where none apparently existed at the time of his purchase, or they were so minute as to be considered of no consequence.

One of the earliest references to drilling pearls was made by Rugerus, a monk who lived in the eleventh century. He says:

Pearls are found in the sea-shell and shells of other waters; these are perforated with a fine steeled instrument which is fixed in wood, having a small wheel of lead, also another wood in which it may be turned, to which a strap must be placed by which it may be revolved. But should it be necessary that the aperture of any pearl be made larger, a wire may be placed in the opening with a little fine sand, one end of which may be held in the teeth, the other in the left hand, and by the right the pearl is conducted upwards and downwards, and in the meantime sand is applied, that the apertures may become wider. Sea-shells are also cut into pieces and are filed as pearls, sufficiently useful upon gold, and they are polished as above.[417]

In “The Toy Cart,” a Hindu drama by Sudrake, who lived about the beginning of the Christian era, there is a description of a jeweler’s workshop attached to the house of a courtezan. He says: “Some set rubies in gold, some string gold beads on colored thread, some string pearls, some grind lapis lazuli, some cut shells and some grind and pierce coral.”[418]

The Chinese and Korean method of drilling pearls differs materially from that of the Occident. A pear-shaped pearl is frequently drilled horizontally and secured by wire or silk, and not drilled perpendicularly, as with us, to have a metal wire or peg fastened into it. If the orientals drill a pearl perpendicularly, the hole is generally carried entirely through it, and a gold knot, which is used as a bead, is placed at the lower end, and sometimes a tiny gem is set in this peg, or else the pearl is secured either by some projection below, or by means of a bit of enamel, or some other object may be attached to the gold or wire below it. Button pearls, especially those of the abalone, are drilled horizontally through the base and secured to the ornament, or to the silk or other material on which they are sewed, by means of a thread or wire; or else they may be drilled from below by means of two sloping holes forming a V, the thread or wire being passed upward until it strikes the angle, and then passed outward again through the other branch of the hole. Many fine, round, and pear-shaped pearls of oriental origin may be seen with this end closed either with a speck of pearl, a diamond, or a ruby.

A most interesting and careful description of the methods of drilling pearls was given by James Cordiner in his valuable volume, “A Description of Ceylon,” published in London in 1807, pages 64–66.

[Illustration:

Scraping ends of silk threads for stringing pearl necklace ]

[Illustration:

Stringing a pearl collar in sections; cleaning and reaming out a pearl ]

[Illustration:

Sliding a pearl along the string in pearl stringing ]

[Illustration:

Tying a knot between pearls in pearl stringing ]

PEARL STRINGING

The next operation which claims attention is the drilling of the pearls. I neglected to inspect this part of the business; but have been informed that much admiration is excited, both by the dexterity of the artist, and the rude simplicity of the machinery which he employs. A block of wood, of the form of an inverted cone, is raised upon three feet about twelve inches from the ground. Small holes or pits of various sizes are cut in the upper flat surface, for the reception of the pearls. The driller sits on his haunches close to this machine, which is called a vadeagrum. The pearls are driven steady into their sockets by a piece of iron with flat sides, about one inch and a half in length. A well tempered needle is fixed in a reed five inches long, with an iron point at the other end, formed to play in the socket of a cocoanut shell, which presses on the forehead of the driller. A bow is formed of a piece of bamboo and a string. The workman brings his right knee in a line with the vadeagrum, and places on it a small cup, formed of part of a cocoanut shell, which is filled with water to moderate the heat of friction. He bends his head over the machine, and applying the point of the needle to a pearl sunk in one of the pits, drills with great facility, every now and then dexterously dipping the little finger of his right hand in the water, and applying it to the needle, without impeding the operation. In this manner he bores a pearl in the space of two or three minutes; and in the course of a day perforates three hundred small or six hundred large pearls. The needle is frequently sharpened with oil on a stone slab, and sometimes, before the operation is performed, is heated in the flame of a lamp.

The large pearls are generally drilled first, in order to bring the hand in to work with more ease on those of a smaller size; and pearls less than a grain of mustard-seed are pierced with little difficulty.

After the pearls have been drilled, they must be immediately washed in salt and water, to prevent the stains which would otherwise be occasioned by the perforating instrument.

A quaint description of pearl drilling was given by Anselmus de Boot in 1609.[419]

Since all are not aware of the manner in which pearls are perforated, I wish here to give an account of the method. The handle. A, is held with the left hand, and then the handle, B, of the bow is pushed back and forth with the right hand, so that there is a reciprocal movement of the lance AC. The extreme end, C, has a needle, not so sharp as to come to a point, but slightly blunted. The needle is placed on the pearl which is to be perforated. If the pearls are too small to be held, they are fastened in the case, D, with a small hammer of soft wood, lest they should slip. The board is inclosed on every side by strips of wood so that the water which comes from the pearls shall not flow off. The bow being moved, the needle penetrates and pierces the pearl and it is not corroded by the water.

A mythical story, but a pleasant one, is told of a great pearl collector who had owned a wonderful pear-shaped pearl for many years and had absolutely failed to find any match for it. After years of fruitless search he was at last rewarded by finding an absolutely perfect mate. He took this to his favorite jeweler in one of the great capitals of Europe, and ordered the new gem to be pierced to match the other so that both could be set. The jeweler called a small German boy from an adjoining workshop, simply saying, “Jakey, drill this pearl to match the other.” The collector was dumfounded that no caution should be given to the boy when so important a piece of work was intrusted to his care. Scarcely had the boy left the room when the collector inquired of the jeweler, almost in consternation, “How can you trust so valuable a pearl to so small a boy without a word of caution?” To this the dealer replied: “Jakey is the most careful pearl driller I have ever known. I know that there will be no failure in the drilling. I have never cautioned him about such work. He never has drilled a pearl wrong. Had I warned him of the value of the gem or told him how important a piece of work he was doing, he probably would have become nervous and, as a result, your pearl would have been cracked.” The conversation had scarcely been completed before Jakey returned with the pearl as beautifully drilled as the original one which it matched.

In the Orient and elsewhere, when it is considered desirable to mount a pearl so that it shall not turn, especially when only one part of the pearl is perfect and that is to remain outside, the drill hole is sometimes made square, that is to say, drilled round and then reamed out with a small saw until it becomes square, when a square wire is inserted; or else the pearl is first drilled with a tiny round hole and this is then reamed out until it is triangular, when a triangular wire is introduced. This method is sometimes used for studs or ring-settings.

In setting pearls with points or claws on the wire or band of a ring, the pearls are drilled only half way through. A gold pin is then inserted, and sometimes a thread is cut into the pearl itself; it is secured by means of gum mastic or some other strong gum. Occasionally, to add greater strength, a side pin is put in, so that the pearl is drilled with two bits of metal, which penetrate the one side in a perfectly straight line and the other at an angle of about twenty-five or thirty degrees (this is called side-pegging). This gives more strength and firmness to the pearl itself, and prevents it from twisting or twining and becoming loose. Sometimes the pearl hole is drilled so that the opening is that of a screw-thread, in order to hold it to the earring, the stud, or the ring. The gold pin which is inserted to attach the pearl to the ring or stud has a screw-thread also, and the peg or pin is screwed on as well as secured.

An ingenious method, termed “keying,” for securing the peg in pearls to be set on rings or studs, consists in drilling a hole half through the pearl and then two smaller holes or grooves on each side of the first. Cutting tools of a T-shape are now introduced into the aperture and worked about until the pearl is undercut all around, so that when a peg with a cross-piece is inserted, the latter can be turned within the pearl until it sets at right angles with the widest part of the aperture. In this way the peg is permanently secured and cannot slip out.

The fact that in recent years more pearls have appeared in necklaces that are irregularly bored, that the bore holes are so large that they are plugged with mother-of-pearl, or that one meets with pearls in which a plug has been placed in the side immediately in the center between the two drill holes, is due to the fact that the great demand has resulted in the destruction of many oriental ornaments in which the pearls were drilled in various ways, as well as in the destruction of the different Magyar and other semi-official jewels of eastern Europe.

The most primitive known drills were the flint drills, made by the North American Indians by chipping chert or flint-like minerals to a fine point. With these rude instruments a large, irregular hole was made, which generally measured several times the diameter of the fine drill hole made by a modern pearl driller with an improved drill. The Indians are also said to have used hot copper drills for boring holes.

The earliest, and still a very general and perhaps the best way of drilling pearls, is by means of the bow- or fiddle-drill. This method has been used in a more or less perfected form by all the aboriginal peoples of the New World from Iceland to Tierra del Fuego. But as none of these peoples were familiar with fine, hard steel, they scarcely ever succeeded in making drill holes as fine as those that can be produced by the use of tempered steel. By the latter means, pearls half an inch in diameter are often drilled entirely through with an aperture no larger than a thin bit of straw.

The largest and finest pearls are frequently drilled with the smallest holes, as the slightest loss in weight means a diminution in value. Then, too, a pearl with a small drill hole is not so liable to shift on the string, and thus is less likely to cut the silk thread which holds the pearls together.

It would be difficult to enumerate all the tricks to which some jewelers now resort in order to utilize every fragment of a pearl they can lay their hands on. Some of them are wonderfully clever at reconstruction, but to the woman who loves pearls, nothing can take the place of the soft, beautiful, round gem, with its natural surface.

In sorting pearls for the smaller necklaces, it is customary to open up a number of dozen bunches of the East Indian pearls as they are sent from the East, strung, the ends fastened together in bunches, and then sealed. These pearls are placed on a table and are first arranged according to color and luster on the sorting board. They are then grouped according to size and graduation, the greatest care being exercised in the selection for color, luster, and form. In this way ten necklaces may be re-strung into ten others, the necklaces probably being improved as regards selection, or else better arranged for the uses to which the jeweler wishes to put them.

In the case of the larger necklaces, it frequently requires many years of selection and arrangement before one becomes perfect enough to pass the criticism or suit the fancy of the jeweler.

We have no record as to when the first pearl necklace was strung, nor have we a definite record of the first use of silk for stringing a necklace. The earliest illustration that we have been able to obtain of the use of pearls in the form of a necklace is the one from Susa, in which the pearls were secured with gold. A Syrian necklace, dating about one or two centuries before Christ, was strung by means of a bronze wire. We will endeavor to give a few facts on the interesting process of preparing pearls for wearing.

Pearl stringing is an art, easy as the process may seem, and it is interesting to note the precision, care, and delicacy with which the pearl stringer performs his task. The first step is to grade the pearls according to their size and color, so that they may produce the best possible effect. The largest and finest pearl is placed in the center; alongside of this, on each side, are laid the two pearls next in size which are the most nearly alike in form and hue; and so on to the end of the necklace. This grouping requires both experience and judgment, and is of great importance, since the value of the pearls is often considerably enhanced by a proper arrangement. A skilful stringer is able to grade them so cleverly that only a trifling difference will be found in the weight of the two halves of a necklace.

The stringing process consists in securing the end pearl by a knot to the diamond, pearl, or other clasp which may be used. When a necklace is being strung, the thread is passed through the metal eye, or pearl, or other object that serves as a clasp. It is then tied with one knot, passed through the next pearl, and knotted between that and the second pearl, and sometimes between the second and the third, thus making the joint doubly secure. The other pearls are then strung in their order, a knot being placed after each fifth, fourth, third, or second pearl, or, should there not be enough to give a proper length to the necklace, between each single pearl. The deftness with which the knot is tied so as not to hold the pearl too tightly, and risk the breaking of the thread, and the precision with which forty, fifty, and even sometimes several hundred knots are made on a single string, is a pleasing operation to witness, and requires the greatest care and nicety of touch. If knots are made frequently between the pearls, there is less danger of losing them should the thread break, as only one or two can fall off; sometimes, indeed, when the drill holes are very small, the silk thread, waxed or unwaxed, fits so closely that the pearl does not become detached even when the thread breaks.

The thread used is invariably of silk of the highest standard of purity, strength, and texture, undyed, and not containing any chemicals. Two or three of these threads are held together, then with a knife the edges are very carefully scraped till the combined material of the three threads is less than the thickness of one. Some use a needle to scrape or fray to a sharp point. Then this point is stiffened by means of “white glue,” the best material of this kind being pure gum arabic dissolved in water. A little of this is rubbed on the pointed threads. It stiffens in a moment, then the pearls are passed on, one after the other. If the pearls to be strung are already on a necklace, this process is simplified by the unknotting of the end of the necklace to be re-strung; two or three of the pearls are slid on to the new string, the ends or points of the new necklace thread are twisted together with the old ends and the pearls are simply transferred.

Frequently the holes have been drilled so as to leave the rims rather sharp; in this way the thread may be frayed out or even cut. This sharp edge can easily be removed by careful reaming. Silk of pure quality is the best material known for stringing pearls. A series of experiments were made with every available fiber of sufficient durability from every quarter of the globe, but silk alone was found to possess the strength, the flexibility, and the smoothness necessary to permit a very fine set of threads to pass through an opening as small as the drill hole of a pearl. In the case of a long chain or sautoire, more than three hundred pearls will be strung on a single row, one of over eighty inches in length containing over three hundred pearls, and it requires a degree of neatness and patience that few possess to do this in exactly the right way, so that the thread may not be cut, that the pearls may not be too tightly strung, and that the ends shall be carefully attached at the clasp, so that the necklace may hang well and there may be no danger of the ends breaking loose.

According to the frequency with which it is worn, a necklace should be re-strung every three, six, or twelve months. The proper time for re-stringing can generally be determined by the stretching of the thread so that it can be seen either between the pearls or at either end, giving the impression that one or more pearls are missing. A newly strung necklace is taut.

Where a collar is from thirteen to fourteen inches in length, there are frequently twenty-three rows of pearls, kept straight by four jeweled bars, and sometimes from ten to twenty-five pearls in a section between a bar. This would mean that there are more than two thousand pearls in a collar of small pearls. When one considers that at each bar and at the catch and clasp of the collar it is necessary to make a knotting, it is not surprising that it requires from three to four days’ time of a very expert pearl stringer to string or re-string such a pearl collar. A splendid example of such a twenty-three-row collar is that belonging to Señora Diaz, wife of the President of the Republic of Mexico.[420]

Frequent stringing may sometimes serve as a protection for pearls, as, if wax is used, the drill hole is likely to become coated with wax from the thread, and this prevents the absorption by the pearl of perspiration or moisture of any kind through the thread. Indeed, the thread itself, when waxed, does not readily absorb moisture, and as the interior of the pearl also becomes waxed, this serves to protect it from the absorption of humidity of any kind.

In making pearl necklets or muff-chains, a piece of gold wire of the proper strength and pliability is taken. This wire is passed through the hole of the pearl and then cleverly bent into a loop on each side and firmly soldered. It is important that the wire should be very slightly smaller than the dimension of the hole in the pearl so that it may fit closely. Sometimes, instead of this method, a ring is soldered to one end of the wire before this is passed through the pearl, the other end being then secured in the manner described above. Still another method is occasionally employed; in this a piece of the wire is bent into a ring, but not quite closed, the aperture being just large enough to admit the wire that has traversed the pearl; in this way the wire can be introduced into the opening in the ring, which grips it tightly, and is then soldered to it. In many cases two small rings are strung on the wire on each side of the pearl before the loops are made, so that they interpose between the latter and the pearl itself. This serves to protect the sides of the pearl, as there is otherwise some danger that the hole may become chipped or ragged; the same result can be obtained if small caps, closely fitting the pearl, are used instead of the rings. This is, however, only possible when the pearl is quite round, and in this case the effect produced is often very attractive.

[Illustration:

NECKLACE OF SEED-PEARLS. UNITED STATES. CIVIL WAR PERIOD. ]

Many of the pearls set as rings and studs are no longer set in points, but are set upon a peg, or are “pegged,” as it is termed. Setting a pearl in claws generally hides more than one half of the entire sphere. But if the pearl is not properly secured upon the peg, it will occasionally fall off. However, this can be obviated to a great extent by attaching the pearl to a double peg which keeps it from turning and also prevents its falling off. Pearls have occasionally been damaged with the shellac used, or when the gold peg on which the pearl is placed was too hot.

In mounting very small pearls as link chains so as to form a continuous pearly rope without any break in the way of gold links, occasionally V-shaped cavities are drilled into each end of the pearl, and the setting itself is hidden in this V-shaped cavity. This is only done where the pearls are small and not of great value.

The jeweler, in setting pearls, must use the greatest possible care, first, in cutting away the settings, as they are fastened to the pearl, not to scratch or mar it; and then, when he files the settings, not to allow the file to touch the pearl, as both the steel tool and the file would injure it. He must particularly avoid placing the pearl too close to a diamond, ruby, or other precious stone; for, even if the pearl only slightly touches the gem against which it is set, a knock of the hand may mar the pearl’s surface. More especially, as pearls are set at present, “pegged” and without points, it is of the greatest importance that they be worn in such a way that they may not touch the unexposed edges of any precious stones, as this also would injure the pearls. For lack of this precaution fine pearls have frequently been harmed.

A large jewelry firm has under consideration the following pearl order: Any workman who in any way mutilates a pearl by filing, imperfect drilling or shaping, or in any way affects the shape of a pearl, without the authority of the foreman, will be called upon to pay for the same.

As pearls are natural objects, any change of the same to fit the setting, or for attachment to any gold object, mutilates the gem and greatly affects its value. If belonging to a customer, this frequently means its replacement, often at a great cost to the jeweler.

Pearl “blisters” frequently have the appearance of being empty; they are generally filled with a fluid, either water or the product of animal and vegetable decomposition. These contents usually emit a peculiar and unpleasant odor. As the exterior of the inclosure gradually wears away and disappears, the contents of the blister are slowly absorbed by the shell itself, and any organic or insoluble substances are deposited on its inner surface.

Thus, when a shell shows any protuberance on this surface, the peeler will cut or scrape away a portion of the decaying shell behind the spot. Should he discover the hole of a borer, he lays the shell aside; but if he finds it to be perfect at this spot, it is evident that the inclusion came from within, and frequently it turns out to be an included pearl. This is removed by breaking the shell, or by cutting around the protuberance very near to its edge, and then breaking away the shell. The pearl is often visible, and layer after layer of the covering mass is removed with the greatest care by the peeler, who is rewarded by bringing to light pearls of various qualities, and frequently those of great value.

An instance in which, by opening a pearl blister, the speculator received a good reward is given by Streeter, who says: “The _Harriet_ had the good luck to find, in 1882, a pearl 103 grains in weight, which was inclosed in a huge blister. It was a fine _bouton_, of splendid color in the upper portion, but a trifle chalky below. This was attributed to the admission of salt water into the shell through a hole made by a borer which happened to pierce the shell just where the pearl lay, and had penetrated the latter for almost a quarter of an inch.”

Sometimes pearl masses are hollow. Barbot[421] mentions that a French merchant residing in Mexico, having bought one of these pieces from a fisherman at a low price, resolved to satisfy his curiosity by finding out what was inside. He split it in two parts and was agreeably surprised to find a pearl weighing 14¼ carats (57 grains), so round, of such good water, and such fine orient, that he sold it in Paris for nearly 5000 francs ($1000) in 1850.

Seed-pearl work was introduced into the United States, about seventy years ago, by Henry Dubosq, who had studied the methods employed in Europe and has been succeeded in this industry by his son, Augustus Dubosq. The father bought a large quantity of English seed-pearl jewelry, brought it to this country, and hired a number of girls to take it apart carefully and re-string it with white horsehair, to learn how it was made. With no more teaching, he established an industry that has already lasted for three score and ten years.

Seed-pearl jewelry was most in vogue from the year 1840 to 1860. It was generally sold in sets, in a case consisting of a collar, two bracelets, two earrings, a small brooch, and a large spray or corsage ornament. If the object was almost round, occasionally there was a larger central pearl, weighing from one to five grains, usually a button pearl; or, if the ornament was elongated, there were generally three larger pearls. These sometimes possessed a fairly good luster. Seed-pearl jewelry was at one time so popular, and the values were so small in this country, that a $1000 seed-pearl set formed a principal feature of the Tiffany exhibit at the International Exposition held at the Crystal Palace, New York, in 1855.

[Illustration:

MOTHER-OF-PEARL SHELL FROM TAHITI

Illustration of a mother-of-pearl shell, showing where a blister has been cut out. In this instance a large pear-shaped pearly blister appeared almost in the center of the shell. A dealer removed this by means of a saw, and was surprised to find that the mother-of-pearl, instead of remaining intact, parted in two pieces. Between these two pieces was a mass of green and white calcareous matter. The two upper figures show the pearly side and the outside of the shell whence the blister was cut. The figures below show the inside and outside of each half of the blister and the earthy matter inclosed.

A is the pearl sawn from the shell.

B is the piece of pearl that parted from the back of this pearly mass.

C and F are two views of the included calcareous matter.

D is the reverse of A, showing the cavity.

E is the reverse of B; originally A rested on B.

There was no indication of any hollow space, or that the mass was not perfect. ]

Seed-pearl tiaras sell for from $75 to $200 or $300 each. The work is almost entirely done by girls, either German or of German origin. As labor is higher and pearls have advanced in price, none of the old work could now be duplicated for the amount it cost twenty or thirty years ago. The stringing of the pearls on the English scroll means probably twelve hours of continuous work. An efficient pearl worker receives $3.50 a day, which consists of not more than eight hours, as, owing to the very trying character of the work, clear daylight is necessary to see the holes in the small pearls and in the mother-of-pearl shell.

The foundation of all seed-pearl work is mother-of-pearl. The shell is brought in thin plates, measuring from one and one half to two and one half inches square. One of the most popular and attractive patterns is the English scroll. If a design is to be repeated, a brass figure is made. For the fabrication of a brooch, for instance, a design is first made by drawing on a paper or cardboard; then a brass plate or pattern is cut out, leaving spaces wherever there are to be no pearls. After this a slab of stock mother-of-pearl, nearest the size of the brass plate, is selected, and is sawn out, using the brass plate as a guide for the outlines. The mother-of-pearl is then pierced wherever a pearl is to be secured, and the pearls for its embellishment are chosen, and are strung onto the mother-of-pearl outlines with a special horsehair thread. All the work that remains for the jeweler is the addition of a pin or catch on the back. A representation is given of the designs, the brass plate, the mother-of-pearl, the horsehair, the pearls, and the completed brooch made by this model.

Fine horsehair is used for stringing seed-pearls, because the holes drilled in them are usually too small to admit of the use of silk, and it is very important that what is known as pulled hair, taken from a living horse, should be used, as otherwise the hair is too brittle. This hair, in bunches of from eight to fourteen inches in length, is sold at an average price of $1.50 a pound, and frequently only one ounce is selected for use from the entire pound.

All the pearls used by the seed-pearl workers are purchased in strings and bunches; the finest are those known as the Chinese seed-pearls; they are drilled and strung in bunches, weighing three ounces, and are worth $40 an ounce. They are drilled with so fine an aperture that silk will not pass through the pearl, and only horsehair can be used. The Indian Madras pearls, however, have a larger drill hole and can be strung with silk; they are at present worth from eight to fifteen cents a grain, that is, $48 to $90 per ounce.

Immense quantities of these very minute pearls are also used in bunches or strings, sometimes as many as twenty or thirty strings being grouped together and either bound straight or else twisted into veritable ropes of pearls.

Seed-pearls are sold by the ounce, a single ounce frequently containing as many as 9000,—that is, fifteen pearls to the pearl grain or sixty to the carat,—selling for from $48 to $60 an ounce. Naturally, some of these pearls are even smaller than this, but the average is maintained by those that are a little larger.

Pearls as small as 100 to a diamond carat are drilled and used in seed-pearl work. Diamonds, rubies, and even sapphires, however, are cut in brilliant form when they are as small as 250 to 300 to the carat, or 45,000 to the ounce. The price of these small pearls, however, is only from eight to fifteen cents per carat, whereas diamonds of this size are worth from $200 to $300, their value being three times that of those weighing one sixteenth to one eighth carat each. This is due to the fact that the labor expended in cutting the smaller diamonds is much greater than that bestowed upon the pearls, which simply require drilling and not cutting.

“Half-pearl,” as we have mentioned, is the name given to such pearls as are round and spherically domed and are either somewhat flat or almost the shape of one half of a whole pearl of the same diameter. They are produced in two ways: some are cut away as hemispheres from the inner surface of the shell of the pearl-mussel, but more usually they are the better portions of defective whole pearls which are sawn or split by hand into two “halves” with a minute saw, the defective part being rejected altogether or classified as inferior half-pearl, while the better half is classified as a I or II quality half-pearl. Frequently a fine specimen is obtained from an elongated pearl, and sometimes two, three, or even four half-pearls are secured from the various bright parts of a round pearl. In splitting half-pearls, the pearl to be operated upon is held by hand in a kind of grooved vice or pincers and sawn through with a very fine saw; this process is at once simple, rapid, and of insignificant cost.

Only pearls which cannot be cut are filed. In this process the poorer side of the pearl in question is laid upon the file, and the operator takes a piece of ordinary hard wood, so formed that he can grasp it firmly in his hand, presses it down upon the pearl, and rubs the latter on the file, removing all but the good side. In this way a half-pearl is produced.

The smaller half-pearls are from .5 to .75 millimeters in diameter, and an ordinary ounce of half-pearl material will number 18,000. Of the manufactured half-pearls there are, on an average, 20,528 to an ounce.

The half-pearl industry is largely carried on in Idar, on the Nahe River, and in Oberstein, in the Duchy of Oldenburg, Germany. The pearls are usually purchased from London or Paris houses in lots valued up to $12,000 or more, although some of the firms buy directly from India. In Idar about one hundred people are employed in this industry. Frequently it is pursued m the home of the manufacturer, who may employ from one to a dozen or more workers. These generally include a sorter or arranger, and a marker to indicate the part of the pearl which should be sawn off. There is also a trimmer or one who finally adjusts the pearls.

An unusually clever bit of deception was practised by an American pearl fisher who had found two pearl blisters of almost identical size. Both of these blisters were hollow, and were alike in form. The pearl dealer very cleverly polished down both sides, rounded off the edges, cemented the two backs together, and except for a tiny edge they had all the appearance of a drop pearl that was fairly perfect on both sides. It required but a little heating to separate the parts and show the deception.

In setting half-pearls, they are generally selected from large lots with great care as to their being of uniform size. A circular place for the setting is often drilled with a steel drill, either for several or for a single one. The half-pearl is frequently placed on one or more tiny disks of paper, to give it the exact height in the setting, and the edge of gold is rubbed up against the pearl, which is thus secured in its place; or else tiny edges of gold are left projecting between each pearl. These are pressed down after the pearl is in place. This process requires great delicacy and skill and is frequently employed in the decoration of pearl lockets and watches. In some of the cheaper work, the half-pearls are cemented into the shallow disks that were drilled for them, but frequently they are secured by metal points skilfully raised out of the disks in which the pearls are set, and then pressed down to hold the latter in place. Although apparently frailly set, it is surprising that half-pearl ornaments have been owned for more than a century, scarcely a pearl dropping out; and even if one or two pearls should be lost from the piece of jewelry, the expense of replacing them is not very great. They are often not as safely set when they are mounted with diamonds, rubies, or other stones, more especially in rounded rings or bracelets.

In drilling gold for the setting of half-pearls, where the hole must not be carried right through the metal, a so-called “pearl drill” is used. This is designed to cut a hole with a flat base in comparatively thin layers of metal without disfiguring the opposite side, a task that can easily be accomplished if care be taken not to drill deeper than is strictly necessary for the safe adjustment of the pearl. For the construction of this drill a piece of round steel wire of suitable size is chosen; this is hammered flat at one end and then filed away at each side, leaving a small spike standing in the center, which projects a little beyond the cutting edges and acts as a pivot on which the drill revolves. The steel on both sides of this spike is filed down to a fine edge, care being taken to preserve the horizontal line, so that when the spike is embedded in the metal both cutting edges come into play simultaneously. If the drill is in good condition, it does its work very rapidly, since it is used in an upright drill-stock, whose weight gives a uniform and constant pressure. A good range of sizes of this drill should be kept ready for use, so that one may be found to suit the dimensions of any given pearl. This is essential in order to make an opening just large enough to hold the gem, so that it may fit tightly, without the necessity of reaming out the hole.

Half-pearls were frequently used with the most pleasing effect in the decoration of antique watches. A number of remarkable examples of this type are among the collection of antique watches of Henry Walters of Baltimore. This collection had been acquired by Tiffany & Co. after the sale of the San Donato Palace, the watches having been withdrawn from the prince’s collection by his sister sometime before the sale.

In mounting pearls on gold, a white paste is sometimes employed in half-pearl mounting, which is called by the French jewelers _gouache_. This substance contains white lead, and its use is liable to be injurious to the workmen, cases of lead colic having been recently recognized as thus produced. This subject has lately (1907) been brought forward at the Société Médicale des Hôpitaux in Paris. The cases were at first mistaken for appendicitis, but proved to be well-marked cases of lead poisoning. They had not been reported previously, and are evidently not frequent, those noted being confined to instances in which the employees had carelessly been in the habit of removing an excess of the paste with the tongue.

Pearls that are constantly worn with judicious care do not seem to deteriorate in any way. By judicious care we mean that pearls should not be dropped or thrown down violently or placed on any substance which is likely to act injuriously on the surface of the pearl itself.

Strings of pearls should never be dipped into water or solutions of any kind, because the string which passes through them is likely to absorb and to draw the liquid into the pearl, and as the pearl is made up of many concentric layers, it is quite possible that, through capillary

## action, some liquid, either pure, or stained with a foreign substance,

might be brought into the pearl, which would in this way eventually become discolored. Rings and brooches containing half-pearls frequently change color from this cause; but contact with the skin, or with lace, or with fabrics which are not stained with certain chemical solutions, seems to have no injurious effect upon pearls.

[Illustration:

Ladies’ sewing case and scissors inlaid with half-pearls

Eighteenth Century ]

[Illustration:

Watch incrusted with half-pearls

Paris Exposition, 1900 ]

[Illustration:

Snuff-box, ivory inlaid with fresh-water pearls

Eighteenth Century. Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art ]

[Illustration:

Watch incrusted with half-pearls

Paris Exposition, 1900 ]

[Illustration:

Miniature of Catherine Emilie Peake, by Richard Cosway. Gold frame, surrounded by half-pearls. Eighteenth Century ]

[Illustration:

Watch incrusted with half-pearls

Paris Exposition, 1900 ]

It is quite possible that in some instances where pearls which have been inherited are thought to have changed and lost their beauty, this belief has been owing to an exaggerated opinion of their quality on the part of those who expected to inherit them and who never had the opportunity to examine them carefully. In other words, in many cases where pearls are believed to have lost their luster, to have died, or partly died, there seems, from the personal observation of the writer, to be little doubt that they never were really fine pearls, and that no change had actually taken place in them. That pearls change but slightly is evidenced by the fact that a splendid necklace belonging to the Empress Eugenie, which was purchased about the year 1860, is in as good condition to-day as when it first passed into the hands of the unfortunate empress of the Second Empire. Many of the pearls in the royal treasury in Vienna that belonged to Maria Theresa, and those that were disposed of at the sale of the French crown jewels in 1886, as well as the pearls that are in the imperial collection at St. Petersburg, do not seem to show any appreciable evidence of age.

The pearl is of a lower hardness than any of the precious or semiprecious stones, and almost as soft as malachite, though not so friable or liable to break as is that mineral; nevertheless, it is in many ways one of the most indestructible of natural objects of the low hardness. Still, pearls, and especially fine pearls, require some care; but, if the same attention is accorded them as would be given to a fine piece of lace, velvet, or other fabric, or to a fine jewel, they will last for a number of generations. If, however, pearls are worn at all times without removal, if they are worn in the bath, if they are thrown on a dressing-table, dropped on the floor, or otherwise ill-treated, if they are worn on dusty automobile rides, in bicycle riding, or during other gymnastic or violent exercise, it is inevitable that their sides will rub together and wear one another away. If they are worn in the bath or in swimming, the silk string which holds them, should it become soaked, may draw some of the water, accompanied perhaps with dust and perspiration, through the drill hole into the center of the pearl, and this is likely to be absorbed in turn by the various layers of the pearl, in some instances undoubtedly affecting the color, changing it to a yellow or a gray. It would be well not to wear pearls under the exceptional conditions above mentioned; and, if they are carefully wiped at times, so as to remove any perspiration or dust, their color is not likely to be affected for a long period of time.

Dr. George Harley writes in the “Proceedings of the Royal Society,” March 1, 1888, p. 463:

On one occasion being desirous to crush into powder a split-pea sized pearl, we folded it between two plies of note-paper, turned up the corner of the carpet, and placing it on the hard, bare floor, stood upon it with all our weight. Yet, notwithstanding that we weigh over twelve stone, we failed to make any impression whatever upon the pearl, and even stamping upon it with the heel of our boot did not suffice so much as to fracture it. It was accordingly given to the servant to break with a hammer, and on his return he informed us that on attempting to break it with the hammer against the pantry table, all he succeeded in doing was to make the pearl pierce through the paper and sink into the wooden table, just as if it had been the top part of an iron nail, and that it was not until he had given it a hard blow with the hammer against the bottom of a flat-iron that he succeeded in breaking it.

As the foregoing and other notes had appeared on this subject, the author was led to observe that pearls are possessed of greater durability than is generally supposed. In order to demonstrate this satisfactorily, he took a number of American pearls and placed them upon different kinds of woods, such as white and yellow pine, white oak, teak, ash, cherry, chestnut, and rosewood. He then stood upon them, thus bringing a weight of more than two hundred pounds to bear upon them by means of his heel. The pearls were driven into the different woods, with the single exception of the rosewood, which offered greater resistance so that the pearl only entered partly. In but one instance did a pearl suffer by a slight scaling off. This shows the strength of the many concentric layers, both mineral and vegetable.

This does not signify that pearls should be stepped upon, trodden upon, or thrown about, as it is not unlikely that a pearl would crack if it should fall from some height upon a hardwood or stone floor.

It is believed by many that wrapping pearls in dyed velvets or in fatty woolen materials, and locking them up in safe-deposit vaults, may slightly change them. On the other hand, there is no doubt that sunlight will bleach a pearl, and hence it is that wearing them in the light and air cannot injuriously affect them.

For cleaning pearls, first rub them with a cloth dipped in alcohol diluted with warm (not hot) water, or in a weak solution of soap and water, then dip another cloth in clean water and rub the pearls until they are dry. Be careful not to leave them wet. Either salt, rice, pearl-powder, or some exceedingly soft substance may aid in cleaning them, but no abrasive such as ground pumice, electro-silicon, or any powder that is sold as a polishing powder, should be used.

[Illustration:

EVOLUTION OF A SEED-PEARL BROOCH

Mother-of-pearl plate Brass model Pearl brooch completed Design of brooch Mother-of-pearl sawn out ]

[Illustration:

Seed-pearls, Indian strings White horsehair for stringing ]

There are many things that will cause injury to pearls. Occasionally they are affected by the wearer having exudations from the skin induced by some disease or else by acids which pass out through the pores with the perspiration. A smoky atmosphere in which a sulphuric acid is present owing to sulphur in the coal, violent usage such as knocking severely, or dropping—all of these will in time cause more or less injury to a pearl, more especially to one of the whiter varieties; but it is believed that those of a yellowish cast are not so susceptible. Diderot mentioned this as early as 1765.

The “life” of a pearl is said to be fifty, one hundred, and perhaps even one hundred and fifty years; they certainly last for several generations. It has been asserted, without any particular authority, that pearls from the Pacific Ocean and those from Mexico do not last as long as those from the Orient, but this statement is questionable.

If there be any foundation for the belief that it is not well to lock pearls in a safe-deposit box, this is probably owing to the fact that the absolute exclusion from the air may cause the drying out of the organic constituent of the pearl. This may be obviated by putting the pearls in a piece of linen absolutely free from any chemical, at the same time placing with them a bit of blotting-paper or fiber-paper saturated with water; the whole should then be wrapped up in paraffin paper, which will prevent the evaporation of the moisture.

Many sentimental recitals have appeared in the press during the last ten years in regard to the dying of pearls. In connection with this there is a beautiful though mythical story to the effect that Carlotta, wife of the ill-fated Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, was the possessor of a large collection of pearls which had died, and that these pearls had been placed in a casket and sunk in the depths of the Adriatic, opposite the beautiful but unhappy palace home, Miramar, in the hope that the salt water would revive and restore their original luster. When, however, the time came to bring up the pearls from the sea, it was found that the casket had, in some way, broken loose from the chains, and all trace of it was lost. It is needless to state that there was absolutely no foundation for this romantic tale; indeed, these very pearls were afterward sold. Furthermore, pearls have never lived, and hence they can never die. They do, however, decay, if exposed to influences which destroy either the calcareous or the animal layer of the pearl itself. This is due to many causes: first, overheating, sometimes through the inexperience of a pearl driller; secondly, undue exposure to heat in the washing of a pearl necklace; thirdly, exposure to acids or acid fumes. Apparently there seems to be some foundation for the belief that if they are confined in safe-deposit boxes, probably in contact with wool or with the colored velvets of jewel-cases, the skin of the pearl may be more or less affected. There is no question that in the oriental fisheries so-called dead pearls have been found in the shell itself, probably owing to some disease of the pearl-oyster; and they have also appeared in the fresh-water pearl fisheries of the United States, where the pearls have been too long boiled in the opening of the shell, or where they have been swallowed and have passed through the body of some ruminant, such as a hog, etc.

[Illustration:

Facsimile letter of M. Gaston Mogeaud, Director of the Louvre, Paris, stating that the Madame Thiers’ pearls are in perfect condition, and have never been in better health. ]

[Illustration:

MADAME THIERS’S PEARL NECKLACE, BEQUEATHED TO THE LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS ]

Probably about no necklace has more been printed than about the famous necklace of Madame Thiers, now in the Louvre Museum of Paris. Article after article has gone over the face of the earth, stating that the pearls in this necklace were dying, and that a record was being kept of the slow death that was overtaking them. Through the courtesy of the director of the museum, M. Gaston Mogeaud, we are permitted to reproduce the following statement from a letter, showing very clearly that there is absolutely no truth in the assertion, and that this necklace has in no way suffered, or is likely to suffer, for many years to come.

“The necklace of Madame Thiers has caused much ink to flow, to such an extent that, a few months ago, the minister ordered an examination to be made by three expert jewelers, who have found that the pearls are in perfect condition, and have never been in better health.”

For assuring the safety of jewels there are the primitive methods such as are used in the East Indies, of hiding pearls in out-of-the-way places, where they often escape detection; or else they may be protected by means of an armored room, like the gem-room that contained the wonderful collection of the Duke of Brunswick when he resided in Paris. Decoy necklaces have even been made to represent the original, and so placed that they were taken away by the highwayman or stolen by the burglar under the belief that he was stealing the jewels; while in other cases the pearls have been carried in receptacles that would not be taken for jewel-caskets, a device resorted to by some travelers.

A word in regard to the former system of strong boxes or small safes for the home. These protect from fire and from the ordinary thief, but they have sometimes not proved so invulnerable to the expert cracksman. Quite recently a jewel chest has been devised which can be placed in a trunk and carried from city to city by the owner. It is provided with an exceedingly sensitive electrical apparatus, by means of which a loud burglar alarm is set off should the chest be lifted even one thirty-second of an inch or jarred ever so slightly. This alarm is set automatically when the owner turns the key, and if once started, it will ring for a couple of hours, stopping only when the box is unlocked, thus preventing the carrying away of what is otherwise a portable box.

Lastly, there are the more advanced methods, in use during the past two centuries, such as taking the jewels to a banker and allowing him to place them in his vault, where they are guarded as well as are his own belongings, but not always with the security of the modern safe-deposit vaults, where the gems are absolutely under the control of the owner, and can frequently be obtained at any hour of the day; or as safely kept as they are when deposited in the safe deposit of the jeweler, in whose establishment they can be cleaned, repaired, added to, or changed without risking their removal to another building.

XV

PEARLS AS USED IN ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION

XV PEARLS AS USED IN ORNAMENTS AND DECORATION

And the necklace, An India in itself, yet dazzling not.

BYRON, _Marino Faliero_.

The brilliant diamond and the love of its possession has captivated many to such a degree that it has often been the cause of intrigue and bloodshed; and national history has been influenced by its acquisition or retention. The pearl, however, though the most quiet of gems, has, in its own way, found favor in the sight of emperors and empresses, kings and queens, generals, nobles, and priests; and even savages have admired its quiet, stately dignity.

The following pages are devoted to a description of the various ornamental uses of the pearl in different times and countries. Naturally, many of the famous pearls in the following chapter, if considered purely as ornaments, might have found a place here.

The Egyptians of olden times do not appear to have used fine pearls, although they probably knew of them on account of the proximity of the Red Sea. M. J. de Morgan, the explorer, says: “In the tombs of Dashour I have never seen any; the only ones that I know of in Egyptian jewelry belong to the Ptolemaic period and are mounted in Greek style.”[422]

This statement is confirmed by Dr. William F. Petrie, the well-known Egyptologist, who writes under date of July 26, 1907: “The pearl was often used in Roman jewelry in Egypt, but I do not know of any instance of it in pure Egyptian work. The Romans pierced it and hung it by gold wire on earrings. They also made glass, pearl-like beads, called _luli_ by the modern natives. These beads are made by silvering glass beads and then flashing over them another coat of glass.”

Among specimens of the late Egyptian work we may note here some objects in the Louvre:

A pleasing decoration on gold wire is a necklace in the collection of the Egyptian Gallery. In this very small pearls are used as a connective decoration for the points of leaves, and to hold the leaves and ornaments is a gold wire which is secured by bending. This piece comprises 104 pearls, a greater number than is contained in any other object of antiquity found in Egypt.

An Egyptian pendant of unknown origin is also shown in this collection. At the lower end is a bull’s head, caparisoned, and the tip of each horn is fitted with a ball like the _embolados toros_ of the Spanish bull-fights. The rein is double, and above this there are two rondelles of an unidentified material; then comes a rondelle of lapis lazuli, and after this a rondelle of gold. The whole is strung with twisted gold wire. The center stone is an hexagonal amethyst, evidently a crystal, the two faces of which had been polished and incised. One of these faces represents a priest with a staff of office, and the other a priest holding an incense-burner with the hieroglyph of the altar. With one hand he is offering the two sacrifices, the mineral and the vegetable; in the other he holds a garland of flowers or leaves. Above this is an Oriental pearl somewhat worn and abraded. All these are secured by a twisted gold wire, to which four tiny gold beads of graduated size are affixed at the top of the pendant.

There are six other pendants and earrings in the Egyptian Gallery, all of which contain pearls, and in most instances these pearls have been drilled and suspended by metal wires, unless they are used as an ornament facing outward. In four instances they are secured by a peg of gold.

The Assyrian and Persian bas-reliefs show that the sovereigns and great personages of those countries adorned themselves profusely with pearls. They wore them not only in their jewelry, but also on their garments and even in their beards![423] The coins of the Persian kings also bear testimony to the use of the gem in ancient Persia, since the sovereigns are represented wearing tiaras ornamented with triple rows of pearls.[424] The same may be said of the imperial Roman diadem from the time of Caracalla (188–217 A.D.).

One of the most interesting of all ancient pearl necklaces,[425] containing more pearls than any other that has been found, and in a better state of preservation, is the Susa necklace now in the Persian Gallery of the Louvre Museum. It consists of three rows, each containing 72 pearls, so that there are 216 in all. Ten gold bars, formed of three small disks, each about five millimeters in diameter, divide the necklace into nine equal sections; at each end there is a disk, ten millimeters in diameter, to which the three strands are secured. If there was any other setting, it has evidently disappeared, although it is quite possible that there may only have been a string at each end, as in the East Indian necklaces.

[Illustration:

ANTIQUE ORNAMENTS OF PEARLS

No. 1. Gold pin from Paphos, Island of Cyprus, mounted with large marine and small fresh-water pearl, now in British Museum.

Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Gold earrings and pins set with pearls, now in the Egyptian Gallery of the Louvre, Paris.

No. 9. Pearl and gold necklace found at Susa, Persia, now in the Louvre, Paris. ]

This ornament was found on the site of the ancient Susa or Shushan by M. J. de Morgan, February 10, 1901, in a bronze sarcophagus, which contained the skeleton of a woman, adorned with a great number of gold ornaments set and incrusted with precious stones. M. de Morgan gives _circa_ 350 B.C. as the probable date of these objects. The pearls were much deteriorated. About 238 were found, but many of them crumbled away when they were touched. M. de Morgan considers that the necklace was of the type of the “dog-collar” of to-day, and he believes that it originally comprised from 400 to 500 pearls.

According to a personal communication from M. P. Cavvadias, of the Société Archéologique d’Athènes, there are no pearls on the ancient ornaments preserved in the National Museum at Athens. This is hardly surprising in view of the fact that the greater part of these ornaments belong to the archaic period of Greek art; that is to say, to a time when the pearl was evidently unknown to the Greeks.

The fact that we do not find more evidence of the use of pearls in Greece at a later period need cause no surprise, when we consider how many of the treasures of Greek art have disappeared in the course of more than twenty centuries. There can be no question that they were known and used as ornaments at an early time, as we can infer from the description of them by Theophrastus and later Greek authors.

Dr. Edward Robinson of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other authorities on Greek art and archæology, maintain that the Arethusa necklace, and other ornaments of that time, depicted on coins, etc., were meant to represent gold ornaments, as it is believed by many that pearls were unknown in Greece at that period.

One of the most interesting specimens showing the use of a pearl in ancient times is a very beautiful pearl pin from Paphos, on the Island of Cyprus, which is mounted with a large marine pearl, probably the largest antique pearl ever found, measuring fourteen millimeters in diameter, and weighing about 70 grains. This, unfortunately, has been very much abraded and worn away, although more than half of the pearl is still present. It is surmounted by a small fresh-water pearl, four millimeters in diameter, weighing about two grains and in a much better state of preservation. This unusually interesting example of prehistoric pearl is in the Greek and Roman department of the British Museum, and we are able to show it by the courtesy of the keeper of that department, Dr. Charles Hercules Read.

In excavations made last spring (1907), in the Hauran district in Syria, Azeez Khayat found a number of loose pearls which had formed a necklace. The tomb in which they were discovered was cut in the rock, and appeared to be of Roman origin. The pearls were still attached to the old bronze wire with which they had been strung. Mr. Khayat also mentions the finding of a pearl pin, and a single earring bearing a pearl, in a rock-tomb at Cæsarea, in Syria. Rock-cut tombs from ten to twelve feet in depth are frequently discovered, and they probably date from the beginning of the Christian era.

The habit was so common of using pearls as a base to throw up the brilliance of other gems, that we may, perhaps, believe even in Caligula’s slippers of pearls, with rubies and emeralds set upon them like flowers.

The Roman ladies had a special favor for pearls as earrings, and it was one of their consuming ambitions to possess exceptionally fine specimens for this purpose. They preferred pear-shaped pearls, and often wore two or three of them strung together. They jingled gently as they moved about—a fitting accompaniment, it may be said, to their graceful movements—and from this jingling the name _crotalia_, or “rattles,” was applied to them.

The description given by Pliny of the pearl ornaments of Lollia Paulina is the principal claim which the wife of Caligula has on our interest.

I myselfe have seen Lollia Paulina when she was dressed ... so beset and bedeckt all over with hemeraulds and pearles, disposed in rewes, ranks, and courses one by another; round about the attire of her head, her cawle, her borders, her perruke of hair, her bongrace and chaplet; at her ears pendant, about her neck in a carcanet, upon her wrest in bracelets, & on her fingers in rings; that she glittered and shone againe like the sun as she went. The value of these ornaments she esteemed and rated at forty million Sestertij[426] and offered openly to prove it out of hand by her bookes of accounts and reckonings. Yet were not these jewels the gifts and presents of the prodigall prince her husband, but the goods and ornaments from her owne house, fallen to her by way of inheritance from her grandfather, which he had gotten together even by the robbing and spoiling of whole provinces. See what the issue and end was of those extortions and outrageous exactions of his: this was it. That M. Lollius, slandered and defamed for receiving bribes and presents of the kings in the East; and being out of favor with C. Cæsar, sonne of Augustus, and having lost his amitie, dranke a cup of poison, and prevented his judiciall triall: that forsooth his neece Lollia, all to be hanged with jewels of 400 hundred thousand Sestertij, should be seene glittering, and looked at of every man by candle-light all a supper time.[427]

[Illustration:

TYSZKIEWICZ BRONZE STATUETTE OF APHRODITE, SHOWING EARRINGS OF PEARL AND GOLD OF EARLY GREEK PERIOD

Now in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass. ]

And the taste of the Roman ladies for pearls has perpetuated itself in Italy, though other of the luxurious habits which in their case accompanied it, have long since died out. The women of Florence even now are not content if they do not possess a necklet of pearls, and this generally forms the marriage portion of the middle-class women. It is thought, just as it was in ancient Rome, that this gives an air of respectability, and forms a sure protection from insult in the street or elsewhere.

One of the earliest illustrations showing a pearl earring is the one in the ear of Julia, the daughter of Titus, incised on a splendid aquamarine in the Bibliothèque Nationale. This gem was formerly in the Treasury of St. Denis, and is considered to belong to the Carlovingian period.[428]

So large and heavy were the earrings worn in Rome that there were women known as _auriculæ ornatrices_, special doctresses whose sole occupation was the healing of ear tumors and of injured or infected ears. In a similar way, at the present day, we have the ear piercer, whose vocation, however, is rapidly becoming useless because of the ingenious modern devices for holding the pearls to unpierced ears; and we must consider this eminently desirable when we think of the ear-piercing outfits of the former jeweler, who never disinfected his apparatus, and when we recall the fact that it was always expected that the ear would swell, first, from the crude awl that was used, and, secondly, from the unsterilized instruments.

That the Romans believed in decorating the statues of their goddesses with pearls and dedicating them as offerings, is evidenced by the gift of Cleopatra’s pearl, which was cut in halves to make earrings for the Venus of the Pantheon; and by the buckler of British pearls for the statue of Venus Genetrix, given by Julius Cæsar. Quite a number of statues and busts of the Roman period, and some of an earlier time, have the ears pierced for the reception of earrings, and it is highly probable that pearls were used for this decoration. Among these are the busts of Pallas and Juno Lanuvina in the Vatican; that of Eirene, a marble copy of a work of Cephisdotus, in the Glyptothek, Munich, and the Venus de Medici in the Uffizi, Florence.

Pottier[429] mentions several other Greek statues which show that earrings were used for their adornment; as, for example, the winged Victory of Archernos, in Delos; the head of one of the caryatids found at Delphi, a cast of which is in the Louvre; the archaic Aphrodite of the Villa Ludovisi; the Athena from the frieze of the temple at Ægina; the Venus of Milo, etc. In other instances the ornament was simply painted on the ear as is shown in the Aphrodite in white marble which has been found in Marseilles. This may also have been the case in the frieze at Olympia. The earrings used in these statues were usually metal disks entirely covering the lobe of the ear. We have, however, many representations of pearl earrings in the paintings at Pompeii, and on cameos and coins. These show us several of the types mentioned by Pliny and other authors; still, they are smaller and more unpretentious than we might expect in view of the well-known luxury of the Roman ladies in this respect. The greater part of the earrings represented show a pearl suspended from a single wire; there are some, however, with three pearls, one above the other,[430] and a few bearing several pearls loosely hung together, answering to the description of the _crotalia_. Others, again, bear pear-shaped pearls or _elenchi_.[431] It is a singular fact that scarcely any of the busts of Roman women are ornamented with earrings, but it is quite possible that the cause for this must be sought in the desire of the artist to dispense with unimportant details which might detract from the general effect he wished to produce. We may note, however, four female figures in the Gallerie des Empereurs in the Louvre Museum, with the ears pierced for the reception of earrings (Nos. 1195, 1202, 1230, and 1269).

[Illustration:

Pearl earrings from Herculaneum and Pompeii ]

Many numismatists, among them Dr. F. Louis Comparette,[432] believe that the necklaces and earrings represented on Greek coins from the fifth century B.C. are intended to represent pearl ornaments, since the personages depicted are in all cases female divinities, goddesses, or nymphs, held in great veneration in the city where the coins were minted, and it is almost certain that the artist intended to portray the choicest and most beautiful of gems as an adornment for the beautiful head of the city’s patron.

The Syracusan coins, by Euvenetus, minted in the early part of the fifth century B.C., and bearing the head of Arethusa, seem to be the earliest coins showing a neck and ear ornament. This was later imitated on the Greek and Greco-Roman coins. A coin of Sulla shows a double necklace, one strand consisting of round beads and the other of pendants. The later coins almost always represent the goddesses with neck and ear ornaments. Some of the latter, however, resembling amphoræ, are neither round nor pear-shaped.

In view of the great fondness of the Romans for pearls, it is not surprising that many of these gems have been found in the excavations at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capodimonte. The collection of earrings preserved in the Naples Museum is especially noteworthy. Here we can see earrings consisting of a simple golden hoop, from which hangs a wire bearing a single pearl; others in which a cross-bar is attached to the hoop, and at each end of this bar is a loosely hung wire with a pearl at its extremity, this earring suggesting the _crotalia_ mentioned by Pliny (see Fig. A); and still others wherein the pearls are strung directly on the hoop. The cross-bars are of various designs, sometimes entirely smooth, and again shaped like a cornice or a pediment; in other cases we have an earring with two pearls on a wire, then a pierced transparent stone, and beneath that, two pearls terminating the large drop. A few of the earrings are more elaborate, as, for example, one represented in Fig. B which was found in Pompeii, March 8, 1870. Here there is an emerald in the center, surrounded by gold rays, between which were set eight pearls, two of which are now missing; above is a small pearl. The single earring shown in Fig. D came from Herculaneum, and bears a circlet of thirteen pearls, alternating with rubies and other stones; beneath there is a link from which depends a pearl about seven and a fifth millimeters in diameter, and weighing nearly twelve grains. The fact that we know the latest date to which these pearls can be assigned, namely, 79 A.D., renders them peculiarly interesting and valuable from a historical point of view. Naturally, many of them are calcined or otherwise damaged, but others are fairly well preserved as to form, although the luster has departed from them. There are twenty-seven earrings in the collection, and the pearls number about one hundred. No great pearls were found.

In the Roman excavations, and in those of other early remains, many objects are found in which there may be a sapphire, an emerald, or several other stones, pierced, and pendant on a gold wire, with a blank space between, showing that something was there originally. This object has apparently decomposed and fallen away. We may reasonably suppose that it was either a pearl or a glass bead, and it is unlikely that glass would be used in connection with the more precious materials. This pearl or glass may have been affected by the organic acids or the acids resulting from the decomposition of the body with which the ornament was buried for a score of centuries.

Among the ancient jewels containing pearls which are preserved in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, we may mention a broken gold ring with a roughly cut turquoise and two pendants, each set with two pearls separated by a garnet. This object was found in southern Siberia during the reign of Peter the Great, and may belong to the second century before Christ. Also may be noted a pair of gold earrings, with an engraved six-rayed star, in the center of which a pearl is set, while below hang three pendant sticks, two of which have a pearl at the extremity. These earrings were found in 1892 in a tomb situated close to the site of the ancient town of Chersonesus, in the Crimea. As a coin of the Emperor Gordianus III (224–244 A.D.) was discovered in the same tomb, we may assign the earrings to the first half of the third century A.D.

Beside another pair of earrings, one of which is set with a pearl, and two pearl-headed pins, all from the neighborhood of Tiflis, in the Crimea, we may especially refer to an earring made of a plain, thick, golden wire, on which seven pearls are threaded; one of these occupies the center and the others are grouped around it. This earring was purchased in 1903 by the Russian Imperial Archæological Commission from a collector residing at Odessa; it is said to have been found on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Olbia, but we have no definite external or internal evidence to sustain this view.

We may also note the gold necklace and earrings[433] containing pearls found near the site of Olbia during the reign of Napoleon III, and now in the collection of the Roman, Campana. These objects are especially interesting owing to the fact that the pearls are drilled and a gold cap is set on each side.

A pair of pearl earrings were found in a tomb on Mount Mithridates, near Kertch, in the Crimea. These earrings probably belong to the third or fourth century of our era. Of the four pearls which originally adorned the cross-bars, only one has been preserved. Another pair of earrings was discovered in the same place. It is probable that they were ornamented with pearls in a similar way, but the latter have entirely disappeared.

[Illustration:

ANTIQUE PEARL ORNAMENTS

No. 1. Gold earring with turquoise top. Two pearls, two garnets, and two pearls. Found in southern Siberia in 1726; believed to be of the second century, A.D.

No. 2. Brass earring with one pearl and glass beads. Fourth century, A.D.

No. 3. Brass dress pin. Sphere of amber, surmounted by a pearl. Found near village of Mzchet Caucasus. Fourth century, A.D.

No. 4. Carnelian dress pins with pearl tops. Early Christian.

No. 5. Gold earring, hook and eye type. From Olbia, the site of an ancient Greek colony. Fourth century, A.D.

Nos. 1 to 5 are from the collection of the Imperial Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

Nos. 6–8–9. Pearl and gold earrings, Greek, from the Island of Cyprus. Second century, A.D.

No. 7. Roman brooch (pearls and gold), found in the river Thames, England. Ninth century, A.D. ]

Gabriele Bremond states in his “Viaggi di Egitto,” _Lib._ I, c. 30, that it was a Mohammedan custom to embroider baldachins and carpets of precious metals with pearls. This use is especially typified in a baldachin of gold embroidered with pearls which is over the sepulcher of Mohammed at Mecca.[434]

When the Mohammedans captured the Persian city Ctesiphon, in 637, they collected an immense booty. Each of the 60,000 soldiers received the value of 12,000 dirhems ($1560), a total of $93,600,000. Among the treasures sent to Caliph Omar (581–644), in Medina, was a crown, perhaps that of Khusrau I (499–579), which Tabari says was studded with 1000 pearls each as large as a bird’s egg.[435] There was also a wonderful carpet 450 feet long and 90 broad, with a border of emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and pearls, representing luxuriant foliage and beautiful flowers. Tabari states that it was called the “Winter Carpet,” because “the Persian kings used it in winter when there was no longer verdure or flowers, for whoever was seated on this carpet thought he looked out upon a garden or a green field.”[436]

On the occasion of the marriage of the Caliph Al-Mamun (786–833) with the daughter of Hassan Sahal, all the grandees of Al-Mamun received slaves of both sexes as presents from the bride’s father. The preliminary negotiations were held at Fomal Saleh, and the road traversed by the bride and bridegroom to reach Bagdad, a distance of one hundred miles, was covered with mats of cloth of gold and silver. We are told that the bride wore on her head-dress a thousand pearls, each of which is said to have been of enormous value.[437]

Describing the birthday festival of Kublai Khan (_circa_ 1275 A.D.), Marco Polo says: “The Great Kaan dresses in the best of his robes, all wrought with beaten gold; and full 12,000 Barons and Knights on that day came forth dressed in robes of the same colour, and precisely like those of the Great Kaan, except that they are not so costly; but still they are all of the same colour as his, and are also of silk and gold. Every man so clothed has a girdle of gold; and this as well as the dress is given him by the Sovereign. And I will aver that there are some of these suits decked with so many pearls and precious stones that a single suit shall be worth full 10,000 golden bezants [about $25,000].”[438]

In the Kan period, in China, the dead bodies of the emperors were embalmed and wrapped in a garment ornamented with pearls. They were then inclosed in a case of jade.[439]

Speaking of the jewels of the King of Maabar, or what is now known as the Coromandel Coast, Marco Polo tells us: “It is a fact that the king goes as bare as the rest, only round his loins he has a piece of fine cloth and round his neck he has a necklace entirely of precious stones,—rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and the like, insomuch that this collar is of great value. He wears also hanging in front of his chest from the neck downwards, a fine silk thread strung with 104 large pearls and rubies of great price. The reason why he wears this cord with the 104 great pearls is (according to what they tell) that every day, morning and evening, he has to say 104 prayers to his idols. Such is their religion and custom; and thus did all the kings his ancestors before him, and they bequeathed the string of pearls to him that he should do the like.”[440]

A favorite East Indian amulet is known as the “Nao-ratna” or “Nao-ratan,” and consists of “nine gems”: in former times the pearl, ruby, topaz, diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli, coral, sapphire, and a stone, not identified, called the gomeda. At the present time these stones are generally the coral, topaz, sapphire, ruby, flat diamond, cut diamond, emerald, hyacinth, and carbuncle. This talisman may suggest the Urim and Thummin or sacred oracle of the Jews, which was said to have been taken from Jerusalem in 615 A.D. by Khusrau II, the Sassanian Persian king.

The East Indian custom for persons of quality was to wear a pearl between two colored stones in each ear, that is, either between two rubies or two emeralds; and Tavernier noted, about 1670, that there was no person of any consideration in those regions who did not wear, in each ear, a pearl set between two colored stones. Another favorite ornament for women in India is a girdle elegantly embroidered, bearing a large pendant pearl in front, where it is fastened.[441]

A necklace of twenty-seven pearls bears in India the name of _nakshatra mālā, nakshatras_ (originally “stars”) being the name of the twenty-seven divisions of the Hindu zodiac.[442]

In the Indian jewels often a small spot of enamel is fastened or melted on to a gold wire, and then one or several pearls are hung upon it; or beads of some gems, as sapphire, ruby, emerald, or even glass, may be added or alternated with pearls. Then the enamel stop-piece is turned down and the other end of the gold wire is twisted on to the setting, loosely, in such a manner as to swing freely. It is the effect of these dozens or even hundreds of swinging drops that add such grace and elegance to East Indian jewelry.

[Illustration:

EAST INDIAN NECKLACE OF PEARLS, TABLE DIAMONDS, GLASS BEADS, GOLD AND ENAMEL

Property of an American lady ]

In China, such precious stones as the ruby, sapphire—both blue and yellow—the emerald, and the pink tourmaline, are not facetted, as with us, but are generally polished in conformity to the shape of the bead or other ornament, and never have a lathe-turned or cut appearance; they are either set in cabochon or as beads, rounded, oval, or elongated. All these forms, and the colors used by the Chinese, lend themselves well to combinations with pearls; and hence pearls are often found in Chinese jewelry, especially in those ornaments which are flexible and graceful, in which the pearls and gems are strung on wire and allowed to swing freely with a gentle tinkle when the wearer moves. This is not unlike the setting of such gems in ancient Roman times. An admirable example is shown and described in Bushell’s “Chinese Art” (Vol. II, plate 108, page 90). In this head-dress of a Manchu lady, there are combined with the pearls, jadeite, amethyst, amber, and coral, on a gilt silver openwork, with blue kingfisher feathers. This great cap of state is an admirable example of pure Chinese design and workmanship. The pendant strings of pearls are occasionally relieved by a bit of carved jade, carnelian or coral, especially the latter. Another example, the “cap of state” has silver-gilt openwork and immortelles (Taoist symbols), and is much enhanced in beauty by a decoration or inlay of plates of the beautiful blue feathers of the kingfisher, which are used so extensively and effectively in Chinese jewelry. The pearls are scattered at intervals over the cap, and ten strings of them hang from the sides of it. This is believed to be of Manchu origin by Dr. Stephen W. Bushell, the great Chinese scholar, to whom we are indebted for the use of the illustration. We are also told that young ladies in China wear a sort of crown constructed of pasteboard, covered with silk. This is adorned with pearls, diamonds, and other jewels.[443]

The pearls on many Chinese ornaments were generally strung upon silk, often with half a dozen or a dozen seed-pearls above and below the large pearl, to hold the latter in place, and also to add a softness to the whole jewel. The end pendant pearl, even if pear-shaped, was usually pierced entirely through, and a wire that was worked through it was flattened out, and this gold head was again ornamented in some way. A Chinese pendant from the China-Japan war-loot offers an excellent illustration of this kind of pearl-setting. This was preserved in a double box of finely carved gold.

The rosaries containing 104 pearls, which are used to-day, were mentioned centuries ago by Marco Polo, and an excellent pearl string of this kind has been in the Russian Treasury at Moscow for over two hundred years. Dr. Stewart Culin, the archæologist, who has paid much attention to Chinese customs, informs us that the black and white counters made for use in games by the Chinese are called black and white pearls.

Dr. T. Nishikawa writes us in 1908 that pearls were used in Japan for ornamental purposes more than a thousand years ago. Large abalone pearls are found in images of Buddha made in 300 A.D. Fresh-water pearls, usually from Dipsas and Unio, were also used. A beautiful color-print was made by Hoku’ai of the first pearl, called “tide-jewel” by the Japanese.

Most interesting pearls are those in a brooch in the British Museum, which was discovered in 1839 while excavating a sewer opposite Ludgate Hill in Thames Street, at the depth of about nine feet, in a dark-colored artificial stratum of earth, unaccompanied by any remains that could aid in throwing light upon its history. It is four inches and a half in circumference, and is composed of a circular compartment an inch and a quarter in diameter, set with variegated enamel, representing a full-faced head and bust, with a crown on the head, and the drapery of a mantle, formed of threads of gold effectively arranged so as to mark the features of the face and the folds of the drapery; this is inclosed in a border of rich gold filigree work, set at equal distances with four pearls.[444] Dr. Charles Roach Smith attributes this brooch to the time of King Alfred, and supposes it to have been executed in England by a foreign artist. He only ventures a conjecture that the head might be that of King Alfred.

Crowns, both ancient and modern, are richly ornamented with pearls. We shall treat of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire and of the imperial Austrian crown in the following chapter. One of the most interesting and ancient is the famous crown of Khusrau II (reigned 590–638), made in the latter part of the sixth century, which was brought to light by Shah Abbas after a thousand years of concealment in an obscure fortress among the mountains of Lauristan. It does not contain diamonds among its ornaments, but is incrusted with pearls and rubies.[445]

From the representation given on the cup of Khusrau, the throne of the Sassanian Persian kings appears to have been as large as a couch; it was supported by four winged animals, whose model had been borrowed by the Sassanians from their ancestors, and it was covered with an embroidered stuff thrown over mattresses and cushions. If we may believe Tabari (“Chronicles,” trans. by Zotenberg, Vol. II, p. 304), this throne was of gold, enriched with precious stones, and surmounted by a crown of gold and pearls, so heavy that the sovereign could not wear it, and therefore had it suspended above his head.[446]

One of the crowns in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg was discovered in 1864 in a tumulus near Novo-Tcherkask, with many other valuable objects, all of which had apparently been buried with some important personage. This crown resembles somewhat that of Reccesvinthus in the treasure of Guerrazar, although some portions of it seem to belong to the period of the Roman empire. The conjecture has been made that the crown may have been worn by a queen since it is decorated with a finely executed bust of a woman in amethyst. The crown itself is of pure gold, and was bordered with two rows of pearls, which have disappeared, leaving only the small disks to which they were attached; besides these, it was ornamented with a number of uncut precious stones. The date of this object cannot be exactly determined, although the consensus of opinion is that it belongs to about the third century after Christ. Possibly the bust and some other portions, which appear to be of Greco-Roman workmanship, are of this period, while the rest of the crown was executed one or two centuries later; it is about seven inches in diameter and two in height.[447]

Toward the end of the year 1858 a French officer who lived in Spain, while making some excavations on a property he owned there, discovered fourteen small gold crowns. They were taken to the Spanish mint and are said to have been melted for bullion. New excavations on the same spot brought to light eight other crowns of considerable weight, of the finest workmanship, and incrusted with precious stones, pearls, etc. There is no doubt that these crowns were buried in the early years of the eighth century, when the Arabs, led by Tarik, invaded Spain and forced the Gothic dynasty to take refuge in the north of Europe. The importance of this discovery is very great, since it gives us positive evidence of the development of the goldsmith’s art in Spain at that early period. An inscription proves that one of the crowns was dedicated in the second half of the seventh century, and it is one of the few authentic memorials we possess of that epoch. In February, 1859, the eight crowns were purchased by the French government and placed in the Musée de Cluny. Two other crowns found in the same place were added in 1860, and complete the collection.

The largest of these crowns is that of the Gothic king, Reccesvinthus, who was King of Spain from 649 to 672. It is composed of a wide band of solid gold, ten centimeters wide and twenty-one centimeters in diameter (about four and eight inches respectively). This band, which opens by means of a hinge, is surrounded by two borders of gold set with the red stones of Caria, called “gemmae alabandenses,” and the band itself is studded with thirty large oriental sapphires of the greatest beauty. Thirty fine pearls of appropriate size alternate with the sapphires on a ground incrusted with the red stones above mentioned. From twenty-three small gold chains depend large letters in cloisonné, and also incrusted, forming the sentence: RECCESVINTHUS REX OFFERET. Each letter has a gold pendant with a pearl from which hangs a pear-shaped sapphire.

The crown is suspended from four chains, converging to a double floral ornament of solid gold, adorned with twelve sapphire pendants. This ornament, the leaves of which are open, is surmounted by a capital of rock crystal, then comes a ball of the same material, and the whole is terminated by the gold center to which the four chains are attached.

The cross, which is suspended underneath the crown by a gold chain, is remarkable for its elegance and its richness. It is of solid gold and is inlaid with six very fine sapphires and eight large pearls, each of which is mounted in relief with claws. At the back, the cross still bears the wire by which it was attached to the royal mantle. The inside of the crown is quite smooth; the outside is composed of elegant fleurettes in openwork, the leaves being filled with the same species of red carnelian mentioned above. There are thirty sapphires, all of the finest water, and a few of them show the natural facetted crystallization; the two principal ones, placed in the center of the band, are thirty millimeters in diameter. The pearls are of an exceptional size, and only a few of them have been injured by time. The total number on the crown, cross, and top ornament, is seventy, thirty of which are unusually large. The chains are each composed of five openwork ornaments with an enamel paste inlaid in the gold edge. A close examination of the crown shows that it had been worn before the king presented it to some church.

The royal Hungarian crown given to St. Stephen by the pope in the year 1000 A.D., when Hungary became an empire, is one of the most ancient crowns in existence. It contains 320 pearls and was procured in Byzantium. It was pledged to the emperor, Frederick IV, by Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, probably about 1440.

[Illustration:

CROWN OF RECCESVINTHUS AND OTHER GOTHIC CROWNS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY

From the treasure of Guarrazar, near Toledo

Musée de Cluny, Paris ]

In the cathedral of Prague (the metropolitan church of St. Vitus) there may be seen the crown which was made by the order of Charles IV (1378) out of four pounds, ten and a quarter ounces of gold. It is adorned with twenty-nine pearls, forty-seven rubies, twenty sapphires, and twenty-five emeralds. The value of the gold and gems was estimated at $10,000 in 1898, which is probably less than it would be worth to-day. The sacred crown worn by St. Wenceslaus was inserted within the crown of Charles IV at the instance of Queen Blanca. The golden scepter and the golden orb are of very beautiful workmanship. The scepter has six rubies, eight sapphires, and thirty-one pearls. There may also be seen in the treasury a gilded monstrance, in the style of the Renaissance, studded with pearls and precious stones, a gift of the princely family of Schwarzenberg. Within the same cathedral, in the tabernacle of the chapel of St. Ludmilla, wife of the first Duke of Bohemia, is the head of that saint, bearing a crown studded with 1800 pearls.[448]

The crown of Vladimir, with its singular and thoroughly Russian form, is preserved in the treasury of the Kremlin at Moscow, and has been used at the coronation of all the Russian emperors. It has borne the name of the crown or cap of Monomachus from the reign of Ivan IV. Although, to judge from this designation, the crown was probably executed in the twelfth or thirteenth century, there is a legend to the effect that it was sent, in 988, from Byzantium by the ruler as a gift to St. Vladimir. It is executed in filigree work, and is surmounted by a plain cross with four pearls at the extremities; between these pearls are set a topaz, a sapphire, and a ruby. The crown itself is ornamented with four emeralds, four rubies, and twenty-five pearls from Ormus, set in gold. The cap has a bordering of sable fur, and is lined with red satin. (See Maskell, “Russian Art,” London, 1884, p. 125.)

The imperial state crown of her Majesty Queen Victoria, was made in the year 1838 by Messrs. Rondell and Bridge, with jewels taken from old crowns, and others furnished by command of her Majesty. It consisted of diamonds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, set in silver and gold. It had a crimson velvet cap with ermine border, and was lined with white silk. Its gross weight was thirty-nine ounces five pennyweights troy. The lower part of the band above the ermine border consisted of a row of 129 pearls, and the upper part of a row of 112 pearls; between these rows, in the front of the crown, was a large sapphire (partly drilled) purchased for the crown by his Majesty George IV. In the front of the crown, and in the center of a diamond Maltese cross, was the famous ruby said to have been given to Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), by Don Pedro, King of Castile, after the battle of Nájera, near Vittoria, 1367 A.D. This ruby was worn in the helmet of Henry V at the battle of Agincourt, 1415 A.D. It was pierced quite through, after the eastern custom, the upper part of the piercing being filled up by a small ruby. From the Maltese cross issued four imperial arches composed of oak leaves and acorns, thirty-two pearls forming the acorns. From the upper part of the arches were suspended four large pendant, pear-shaped pearls with rose diamond cups.[449] Writing in 1850, Barbot, the French jeweler, placed the value of this crown at $600,000.

The crown of St. Edward, the official crown of England, is used at each coronation.[450] The original crown of this name was destroyed by the republicans in 1649, but at the time of the coronation of Charles II, another crown was made to take its place, under the direction of Sir Robert Viner. As far as can be known, this crown was an exact copy of the older one, which was worn by Edward the Confessor, and perhaps even by King Alfred. The crown in use at present is of gold, richly studded with pearls and precious stones of various kinds: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. There is a mound of gold on top, and on this a cross of gold ornamented with very large oval pearls, one attached to the top and the two others pendant from the ends of the cross. The present arrangement of the jewels cannot date back earlier than 1689, as the crown was found to be despoiled of them at the time of the accession of William and Mary. Those now in the crown are acknowledged to be inferior to the former ones.

The orb or mound which is placed in the king’s hand immediately after his coronation, is a ball of gold, six inches in diameter, surrounded by a band of the same metal ornamented with roses of diamonds set around other precious stones, and bordered with pearls. It is surmounted by a cross, embellished with four larger pearls at the angles near its center, and three others at the ends. The orb, including the cross, is eleven inches high, and it is figured on the coins of many of the English kings, who are represented holding it in their left hands.

The regalia of Scotland,[451] consisting of the crown, scepter, and sword of state, are preserved in the castle of Edinburgh. It is not certainly known at what time this crown was executed. At the coronation of Robert Bruce (1274–1329) a simple circlet of gold was used; this fell into the hands of the English after the battle of Methven in 1306. In 1307 Edward I issued a pardon at the request of his “beloved Queen Margarate,” to a certain Galfredus de Coigniers, who was said to have concealed and kept “a certain coronet of gold with which Robert the Bruce, enemy and rebel of the King, had caused himself to be crowned in our own Kingdom of Scotland.”

[Illustration:

Photograph by W. & D. Downey, London

HER MAJESTY, QUEEN ALEXANDRA OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, EMPRESS OF INDIA ]

Sir Walter Scott, in his account of the regalia, gives it as his opinion that the present crown was probably made for Robert Bruce at a later date, and that it was used at the coronation of his son, David II (1324–1376). The style of workmanship indicates a fourteenth-century origin. The crown was originally open and was arched over by James V (1512–1542). As Scott notes, this was done to many royal crowns in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in order to assimilate them to the type of the old imperial crowns.

The following description is slightly abridged from that given by Sir Walter Scott:

The lower part consists of two circles, the undermost much broader than that which rises over it; both are of the purest gold and the uppermost is surmounted by a range of _fleur-de-lis_ interchanged with crosses _fleurées_, and with knobs or pinnacles of gold topped with large pearls; this produces a very rich effect. The under and broader circle is adorned with twenty-two precious stones, betwixt each of which is interposed an oriental pearl. The stones are topazes, amethysts, emeralds, rubies and jacinths; they are not polished by the lapidary, or cut into facets in the more modern fashion, but are set plain, in the ancient style of jewellers’ work. The smaller circle is adorned with small diamonds and sapphires alternately. These two circles, thus ornamented, seem to have formed the original Diadem or Crown of Scotland, until the reign of James V, who added two imperial arches rising from the circle, and crossing each other, closing at the top in a mound of gold, which again is surmounted by a large cross _patée_ ornamented with pearls and bearing the characters J.R.V. These additional arches are attached to the original crown by tacks of gold, and there is some inferiority in the quality of the metal.

The bonnet or tiara worn under the crown was anciently of purple, but is now of crimson velvet, turned up with ermine—a change first adopted in the year 1695. The tiara is adorned with four superb pearls set in gold, and fastened in the velvet which appears between the arches. The crown measures about nine inches in diameter, twenty-seven in circumference, and about six and a half in height from the bottom of the lower circle to the top of the cross.

The scepter, made by order of James V at the time he added the arches to the crown, is a slender silver rod about thirty-nine inches long. An antique capital of embossed leaves supports three small figures representing the Virgin Mary, St. Andrew, and St. James, above which is a crystal ball, surmounted by an oriental pearl.

The regalia have passed through many vicissitudes. After the execution of Charles I, his son Charles II was crowned King of Scotland at Scone on January 1, 1651. On the advance of the parliamentary army into Scotland, the regalia were placed in the care of the Earl Mareschal who preserved them in his castle of Dunrottar, and here they were kept until the castle was besieged and on the point of falling into the hands of the English. In this extremity, they were rescued by Christian Fletcher, wife of the Rev. James Granger, minister of Kinneff. She obtained permission from the English general to pay a visit to the Lady Mareschal and succeeded in carrying off the regalia. Her husband buried them in the church of Kinneff, just in front of the pulpit. When they were brought to light again after the Restoration, an Act of Parliament was passed which, after reciting Christian Fletcher’s services in the matter, stated: “Therefore, the King’s Majestie, with advice of his estates in Parliament, doe appoint Two Thousand Merks Scots to be forthwith paid unto her by his Majestie’s thresaurer, out of the readiest of his Majestie’s rents, as a testimony of their sense of her service.”

In 1707, after the union of England and Scotland, it was considered wiser to remove the regalia from public view, since they were calculated to arouse memories of the old Scotch monarchy. These precious objects were therefore inclosed in a chest, which was their usual receptacle, and locked up in the crown-room, a strong vaulted apartment in Edinburgh Castle. There the regalia remained until 1817, when, as doubts had been expressed as to their existence, a commission of investigation was appointed, one of the members being Sir Walter Scott. The chest—which had probably been the jewel-safe of the Stuarts—was forced open, and the regalia were found within, just as they had been deposited in 1707.

An imperial German crown does not exist; a design has been made and accepted, but at the present date, 1907, it has not yet been executed. On festive occasions, when the imperial insignia are necessary, the Prussian insignia are used, especially the Prussian royal crown. This consists of a circlet of gold set with thirteen diamonds. On this are five leaves, each composed of three larger diamonds and a smaller one, and four prongs, each bearing a diamond and above it a large pearl. From the five leaves start the same number of semicircular arches, tapering toward the central point, where they unite. Each of these is set with ten diamonds of decreasing size. On the center rests an imperial globe. It consists of a large Indian-cut sapphire,—the counterpart of the one on the Austrian imperial crown, evidently dating from the time of the Crusades,—and above it rises a chaplet ornamented with diamonds. The crown has a lining of purple velvet reaching to the arches. Between the arches are eight pearl pendants of an average weight of 80 grains; they are 25 millimeters in length, and have a fine, brilliant white color, although they are not perfectly regular in form.

In addition there belongs to the regalia a pearl necklace of three rows; the first consists of thirty-seven pearls averaging 28 grains each; the second of thirty-nine pearls averaging 34 grains, and the third of forty-five pearls averaging 39 grains. There is also a guard chain of 114 pearls, averaging 20 grains, making a total of 2280 grains for the chain. These pearls are also of irregular form.[452]

The crown jewels of the Sultan Abdul-Aziz (1830–1876) were of immense richness and value. At the exhibition in Vienna, 1873, many of these were exhibited in a building created specially for the purposes of display and protection. They were in five compartments, in what might be termed five impregnable fire-proof safes of a peculiar construction. Among other interesting objects was the armor of Sultan Murad I (1319–1389), the founder of the Ottoman empire in Europe. This armor is of the most delicate oriental workmanship. Diamonds, pearls, and rubies are worked broadcast over it with exquisite taste.[453]

In Germany and Austro-Hungary there are many valuable ecclesiastical ornaments, some of which possess great interest for the history of early German art. They also serve to show the appreciation of the pearl even in the Dark Ages and the Early Renaissance period.

One of the most curious productions of early German art is a reliquary in the form of a sack, which is from Enger near Herford, and is exhibited in the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin. It is set with cameos and pearls; several of the latter have dropped out; a few, however, remain in their setting. According to a very probable tradition, this reliquary was given by Charlemagne to the Saxon duke, Wittekind, on the occasion of his baptism in 785. It is of very rude and primitive workmanship and, if we accept the tradition, it is not unlikely that it was executed at Aix-la-Chapelle.[454]

An interesting example of German art, from the time of Archbishop Egbert of Treves (977–993), is a frame now in the Beuth-Schinkel Museum, at Charlottenburg. This was probably the framework of a portable altar. It is decorated with a simple geometrical design in the three primary colors, and has four polished stones and four pearls on the outer border of gold filigree. Another example of the art of Treves at the time of Archbishop Egbert is the Echternacher Codex. The gold-plated cover is a worthy product of the school: ivory, enamel, and mosaic are combined in its decoration with rows of pearls. Among the representations of many saints, appears the figure of the Empress Theophanu, daughter of the Greek emperor, Romanos II, with the inscription “Theophaniu imp.” Opposite is a youthful figure, probably that of her son, Otho III. It seems likely that the work was executed, at the command of the empress, between 983 and 991.[455]

In the cathedral of Treves is the portable altar known as the altar of St. Andrew. This was primarily a reliquary and secondarily an altar. In memory of the relic of the sandal of St. Andrew, which was greatly prized by Archbishop Egbert, this altar bears the representation of a foot executed in wood and covered with plates of gold. The front of the case is divided into three fields; that in the middle containing a Byzantine lion in gold relief, and the others the symbols of the four evangelists in enamel work. The border is formed of rectangular pieces of enamel and smaller ones of gold, and it is set with round stones alternating with half-pearls; the ends are covered with filigree and enamel work wherein are embedded strings of pearls. A coin of Justinian II is set in the middle of the back of the case and is surrounded by a wreath of larger pearls.[456]

A gold cross, the work of Rogkerus Theophilus, is in the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin, and comes from Herford. The frame, which is of wood, is covered with plates of gold; at the extremities and in the center are groups of precious stones surrounded by pearls; at the base is a fine Augustan cameo with a wreath of pearls; the entire cross is covered with filigree work and decorated with pearls in groups of threes. The arrangement of the precious stones, and the enhancement of their beauty by means of the circles of pearls, are highly artistic. As a work of Rogkerus, this cross must have been executed at the very end of the eleventh century and it may be regarded as one of the finest examples of the art of this period.[457]

A very rich collection of ecclesiastical ornaments is contained in the treasury of the cathedral of Gran in Hungary.[458] One of the most interesting objects is a reliquary in the form of a Latin cross, which is of great historical and artistic value. An inventory made after 1528 describes it briefly: “crux aurea continens lignum vitae” (a gold cross containing the wood of life). Although this reliquary probably belongs to the end of the twelfth century, the inventory of 1659 describes it as a gift of King Stephen, and proceeds to say that the kings of Hungary took their coronation oath upon it. This custom has been preserved to the present day, and Emperor Francis Joseph, on the occasion of his coronation as King of Hungary, June 8, 1867, swore, upon this cross, to uphold the constitution and the laws of the land. The cross is decorated with plates of gold in filigree design, and has four en cabochon cut sapphires and eighteen oriental pearls.

The greatest treasure of the collection is known as the cross of Corvinus, King of Hungary, and is decorated with a great number of pearls.[459] It is a remarkable example of early Italian Renaissance art. The entire structure is about twenty-eight inches high; the pedestal is triangular and ornamented with pearls and precious stones; three sphinxes bearing shields with the arms of Corvinus support a disk from which springs a triangular support sloping outward; on the three sides are mythological figures. Upon this base rests the chapel, a light Gothic structure with the figure of the Saviour bound to a pillar in the center, and the busts of three prophets in the niches outside. Above all is the crucifix, on each side of which are figures of the Blessed Virgin and of St. John. Around the base and about each division of this elaborate design is a row of pearls; the Gothic chapel is surmounted by a close-set row, and each of its six pinnacles terminates in an oval pearl. The cross itself has fifteen large pearls disposed in twos and threes, and many smaller ones. There are at least two hundred pearls on the whole structure.

Another cross, with the arms of the primate, George Szolepchényi, and bearing the date 1667, is of pure design and richly decorated with pearls and precious stones.[460] It is quite possible that this cross, which seems to belong to a better period, was bought by the archbishop, who afterward added his arms. There are thirteen oriental pearls, three at the top, three at the end of each of the arms, and four at the intersection. This cross was used as an “instrumentum pacis,” for the kiss of peace, on solemn occasions such as coronations.

We may also note the pendant with the image of the Virgin Mary as patroness of Hungary, which is of gold enamel and has two pendant pearls and a sapphire, and likewise the pectoral cross of the primate, Emerich Losy; this is of gold, decorated with green, blue, and black enamel, and has three pendant pear-shaped pearls, one quite large, as well as thirty-four smaller round pearls.

Among the many valuable and interesting objects in the treasury of the house and chapel of Maria Loretto am Hradschin,[461] at Prague, there is a monstrance of silver-gilt, thirty-seven and a half inches high and fifteen and three quarter inches wide. It dates from the beginning of the eighteenth century, and is not a harmonious whole, but only a combination of different ornaments of precious stones, corals, and several hundred pearls of various sizes. All these are the devotional offerings of now unknown givers, and many of the pieces are of artistic workmanship. This monstrance owes its origin to Josef von Bilin, who was a monk of the Capuchin order and a sacristan of Maria Loretto. On account of the many pearls which adorn it, it is known by the name of the “Pearl Monstrance.”

Another monstrance of Arabic gold, of the year 1680, is twenty inches high and is studded with fifty-one pearls, of which twenty-nine surround the disk, while the remainder are on the plate and the base. There are also two crowns of silver-gilt for the statues of the Virgin and of the Infant Jesus. The larger of these crowns has eighteen diamonds, a ruby, and 102 pearls set in two rows; while the smaller has nineteen diamonds and a great number of pearls; both crowns are made up of the offerings of the faithful.

In a historic description of the pearls in the treasury of the Kremlin, Margeret, a Burgundian captain (“Estat de l’empire de Russie,” 1649), says that the treasury was “full of all kinds of jewels, principally pearls, for they are worn in Russia more than in the rest of Europe. I have seen fifty changes of raiment for the emperors around each of which there were jewels for a bordering, and the robes were entirely bordered with pearls, some with a border of pearls measuring a foot, half a foot, or four inches in width. I have seen dozens of bed-coverings embroidered with pearls.”[462]

In the treasury of the celebrated Troiza Monastery near Moscow, there is an immense collection of ornamental objects for ecclesiastical use, the value of which has been estimated at many millions of rubles. Here may be seen miters and bishops’ crooks—many of them of solid gold and set with precious stones—Bibles and missals in golden bindings, priestly vestments, altar-cloths, etc., all literally covered with pearls. There is also a dish filled with large pearls of enormous value.[463]

The use of fresh-water pearls in one of the most interesting ecclesiastical objects of antiquity is shown in the “Shrine of St. Patrick’s Gospels,” which is in the Dublin Museum. It was purchased by the Irish Royal Academy in 1845 for £300 ($1500). This shrine, known as the “domnach airgid,” is of Irish manufacture and was perhaps made in the eleventh or twelfth century. It was found in the neighborhood of Clones, in County Monaghan, and is ornamented with three bosses which contained uncut crystals, and are decorated with figures of grotesque animals and traceries enameled in blue paste; between these may be seen representations of four horsemen. On each of the four corners there was a fresh-water pearl, one of which still remains in its setting. According to George Petrie, LL.D., in his “Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language,” the shrine bears an inscription to the effect that it was made by John O’Barrdan at the instance of John O’Carbry, Abbot of Clones, who died in 1353.

[Illustration:

CROWN OF ST. EDWARD

The official crown of England ]

Dr. R. F. Scharff informs us that there is also in the Dublin Museum a modern Celtic gold brooch, presented to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her visit to Ireland in 1849, and containing a pearl of beautiful luster, discovered in Lough Esk, which is in the western part of Ireland. Dr. Scharff says that this pearl is undoubtedly from the _Margaritifera margaritifera_.

Mr. W. Forbes Howie of Dublin writes that the shrine of O’Donnel, made in 1084, originally contained pearls. It still retains some pieces of amber and coral. Mr. Howie believes that fresh-water pearls were freely used in the decoration of ancient Irish shrines.

The inventories of jewels and ornaments belonging to the kings and queens of France, to the nobility, and to the treasures of the Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris, and of the abbey and church of St. Denis, all mention a large number of objects decorated with pearls.[464] The more important of these are given below.

The following ornaments decorated with pearls are mentioned in the inventory of Louis, Duke of Anjou, which was made _circa_ 1360:[465]

A large silver-gilt foot for a vase or chalice, resting upon six lions couchant, and set with groups of four pearls with a garnet in the middle.

A half girdle of gold with a hinge bearing two ornaments, one a balas set between two eagles. Between the ornaments is a gold bar set with eight pearls in two rows. In front is a clasp with a large sapphire in the middle, surrounded by two balases and two sapphires alternating with pearls.

A gold brooch having a balas-ruby in the middle, and at each side four sapphires and four clusters each of five quite large pearls.

A gold brooch of a very pretty design, with five balas-rubies, two sapphires, and eight very round pearls weighing about four carats each. At each end of the brooch is a flat pearl weighing about five carats.

There is in the Bibliothèque Nationale[466] in Paris, the original record of the execution of the testament of the Comte de Montpensier, son of the Duc de Berri. This document was written in 1398, and it mentions that the sale of the jewels and plate of the count produced the sum of “2390 livres tournois 11 sols 3 deniers [about $8265].” In the record we have a description of “a large gold cup, weighing 5 marcs, 7 ounces, 1 gros [nearly 3 lbs.], whereon there is a crown of precious stones.” The decoration of the cup comprised thirty large pearls, six balas-rubies, and four sapphires, and we are told that the Duc de Berri retained it for his own use.

An early mention of the use of pearls in rings occurs in the inventory of the Duc de Berri,[467] to whom we have just referred. This inventory, which was made in 1416, notes a gold ring with black enamel, set with a pearl called “the great pearl of Berri.”

The inventory of the personal property of Marguerite, Countess of Flanders, the mother of the Duke of Burgundy, was made in 1405.[468] In this inventory we have a list of an immense number of ornamental objects of every sort and kind, and everything, from the ducal crown to the smallest trinket, is garnished with pearls. In most cases the number of pearls is given, and we find that no less than 4494 are enumerated. Evidently the duchess was ever ready to honor the precious gem to which she owed her name, and fully recognized its poetical significance. The following are a few of the more noteworthy ornaments in the inventory:

The circlet of the great crown, composed of eight sections; four of which each comprise sixteen pearls, four diamonds, and four balas-rubies, with a sapphire in the center; the four others contain sixteen pearls, four diamonds, and four sapphires, with a balas-ruby in the center; beside this there are two pearls in each section. Also, eight large fleurons of the great crown, four of which bear each twenty-three pearls, five diamonds, three balas-rubies and a sapphire, and the other four each twenty-three pearls, five diamonds, four sapphires, and a balas-ruby; and eight small fleurons of the said crown garnished each with a pearl, a sapphire, and a balas-ruby. The whole is valued at 8724 florins ($22,682).

A gold cap with ten large ornaments fashioned like brooches, five of which are each of six pearls and a balas-ruby, and the other five each of five pearls and two balas-rubies, and between each ornament there is a balas-ruby. This is appraised at 2159 florins ($5613).

A head-dress garnished with balas-rubies and sapphires and tassels of large pearls, each of six pearls, and with a row of larger balas-rubies, larger sapphires and larger pearls. This was estimated at 2030 florins ($5278).

A gold necklace, enameled white and green, garnished with nine rubies, thirteen diamonds and thirteen pearls, with a clasp of three small rubies, and three large pearls with one large diamond in the center. The worth of this necklace is given as 1923 florins ($5000).

The jewels and ornamental objects in this inventory are appraised at the sum of 56,129 florins,—about $145,000,—equivalent to a much larger sum to-day in consideration of the greater purchasing power of money in the fifteenth century.

In 1480, during the reign of Louis XI, an inventory was made of the objects preserved in the treasury of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.[469] We select the following items from this inventory:

A very beautiful cross, covered with gold, bearing on one side a crystal reliquary which contained a piece of the True Cross. On supports attached to the cross were images of the Virgin Mary and of St. John, each holding a reliquary. The cross itself rested on a square silver-gilt base bearing the images of the four evangelists. The ornamentation consisted of fifty large Scotch pearls and 142 small ones, intermixed with garnets and emeralds; there were also many balas-rubies and sapphires of different sizes. The inventory says: “The goldsmith Nicholas Roet declares that the stones are genuine and that the pearls are from Scotland.”

Another gold cross, resting on a silver-gilt base which bore the arms of France and Burgundy, was decorated with fourteen sapphires, twenty balas-rubies, and twenty-four Scotch pearls. On the base were the figures of St. Louis and of the queen, kneeling in prayer.

Still another cross, covered with gold and of Venetian workmanship, bore thirty-nine pearls, twenty-seven balas-rubies, and four sapphires. A clasp attached to this cross was set with four large perforated pearls surrounded by small emeralds and sapphires.

A silver-gilt ornament, consisting of a golden image of St. Louis seated on a silver throne and holding in his hand a reliquary decorated with twelve pearls, six emeralds, and six Alexandrian rubies. The crown of the image was set with four large oriental pearls, three balas-rubies, etc.

An ivory image of the Virgin Mary, supported by a silver-gilt base with the arms of France. This base was borne by four lions. On the head of the Virgin was a crown of gold adorned with eight large, round, oriental pearls and four small ones, as well as four emeralds and four balas-rubies. On the breast of the image was a very large, square emerald.

A splendid miter studded with good-sized pearls and decorated with emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and balas-rubies. The pendants were covered with seed-pearls and precious stones.

A fine chasuble of Indian satin lined with crimson taffeta and covered with lilies, birds, unicorns, etc., embroidered in gold and pearls. It was also adorned with small clusters of pearls and with two shields bearing the arms of France and Navarre, quartered.

A beautiful copy of the gospels with covers of gold, ornamented with fourteen large sapphires, thirteen balas-rubies, two cameos, and eighty-nine good-sized pearls.

The following items are taken from the inventory of the treasury of the abbey of St. Denis, made in 1534, during the reign of Francis I. This record is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris:[470]

A crown of gold, with four fleurons, garnished with several balas-rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and pearls; valued at 59,980 crowns (about $135,000).

A golden cross and within it a piece of the True Cross which belonged to “Jeanne d’Evreux, royne de France et de Navarre,” valued, with the pearls that decorate it, at 345 crowns ($776).

A wooden chest containing eleven cases in which were many precious stones and large and small pearls, both oriental and Scotch; valued at 1858 crowns ($4180).

A number of priestly vestments embroidered with seed-pearls are inventoried at 1200 crowns ($2700).

A blue satin chasuble bordered with pearls is valued at 350 crowns ($787).

An altar-table, set in the “grand altar,” is described as elaborately decorated with “arches and pillars and images of gold” in low relief, and garnished with precious stones and pearls. The value is given as 1203 crowns ($2700).

Another altar-table similarly ornamented is valued at 2645 crowns ($5850). Above this table was a great cross of gold with a silver border, called the “cross of St. Eloysius” (the patron saint of goldsmiths); this was valued at 2291 crowns ($5154).

Over the sarcophagus containing the body of St. Denis, there was “a large tabernacle of wood-work resembling a church, with a lofty nave and low arches.” In this nave and in the transepts there were three representations of sarcophagi; the whole was covered with gold, precious stones, and pearls, and was valued at 7275 crowns ($16,368).

The head of St. Denis, incased in gold, was borne by two silver-gilt angels, while a third held a small shrine containing a portion of the jaw-bone of the saint. All these objects were studded with precious stones and pearls, and were valued at 5622 crowns ($12,650).

There were also in the treasury several miters covered with “ounce-pearls” and decorated with gold and silver bands; on this field several larger pearls were set. One of these miters is valued at 964 crowns ($2169) and another at 509 crowns ($1135).

The total value of the articles inventoried is 185,500 crowns (at least $417,375).

Inventories of the property of the dukes of Lorraine, dated 1544, 1552, and 1614, mention a number of pearl ornaments. In the inventory of 1544, made about the time of the accession of Francis I of Lorraine, we read of “a very fine case of silver-gilt around which are thirteen personages in gold, and on the lock three balases and five pearls.” The inventory of 1552, made while Charles II was duke, mentions “a cap of crimson velvet whereon there are large pearls,” and another cap “entirely covered with pearls.” It is, however, in the inventory of 1614, made a few years after the accession of Henry II of Lorraine, that we find the greatest number of items relating to pearls. An estimate of the value of the rings and jewels was “faicte du commandement de son Altèze par jouailliers et Lapidaires et Espertz dudit ars.” All these jewels were to remain forever the property of the Duchy of Lorraine. Among the items relating to pearls, the following are worthy of note:

A gold collar with seven settings, each containing one large diamond and two large pearls. The diamond in the center was believed to weigh fifteen carats, and the collar was valued at 35,000 crowns (about $70,000).

Another collar contained seven diamonds and sixteen pearls set in pairs, and was considered to be worth 19,750 crowns (about $40,000).

A collection of one hundred large pearls, some weighing twenty grains, some twenty-four, some twenty-eight, and a few thirty-two grains, were estimated at 12,000 crowns ($24,000).

A large pearl, very nearly pear-shaped and almost as large as a pigeon’s egg, was set down at 2000 crowns ($4000).

A very fine pear-shaped pearl weighing forty-eight grains was valued at 800 crowns ($1600).

Another pear-shaped pearl weighing about thirty-two grains was placed at 500 crowns ($1000).

Four other pear-shaped pearls, nearly as large as the one above mentioned, were estimated at 300 crowns ($600), while a round “pearl of Seville” was valued at only fifty crowns ($100).

Six clusters of pearls, each containing two of fourteen grains, and four of eight grains, were thought to be worth 700 crowns ($1400).

A large chalice was decorated with seven large oriental emeralds and eight clusters, each composed of fourteen fine, round pearls, six of twelve grains and eight of eight grains; the whole valued at 2400 crowns ($4800).

A hat ornament composed of eleven fine rubies and ten large, round pearls, each weighing twelve grains, was estimated at 800 crowns ($1600).

A similar ornament, composed of thirteen rubies and fourteen pearls,

## partly flat and partly round, was placed at 2000 crowns ($4000).

A collar set with seven fine rubies and the same number of round pearls, each weighing twelve grains, and with seven other pendant pearls, was valued at 550 crowns ($1100).

There was also a bed called the “bed of pearls,” which was elaborately decorated with ornamentation in gold and richly studded with pearls.

The inventory made in 1634 of the ornaments, etc., contained in the abbey of St. Denis, offers some new material and a fuller description of a few of the objects mentioned in the inventory of 1534. The most noteworthy entries are given below:

A golden scepter upon a staff of wood. The scepter bears the figure of Charlemagne seated upon a throne; at the corners are two lions and two eagles (one of the latter was lacking in 1634). The figure holds a scepter in its right hand, and a globe surmounted by a cross in its left; on its head is a crown with a large, round, oriental pearl valued at 200 livres ($135). The throne rested on a fleur-de-lys, beneath which was a ball of gold ornamented with eight oriental pearls. Around the throne was the inscription: “Sanctus Carolus Magnus Italia Roma Gallia Germania,” and three clusters of three pearls each. The value of this scepter was given at 3300 livres, or about $2200.

The reliquary of the hand of St. Thomas. Two angels, resting on a silver-gilt base, bore the crystal receptacle containing the relic. The ornamentation consisted of eight clusters of four large pearls each, with a small diamond in the center. On the hand was a gold band bearing the inscription: “Hic est manus beati Thomae apti. quam misit in latus domini nostri Jesu Christi.” On the hand was a pontifical ring set with a large sapphire. The reliquary also bore the images of St. John the Baptist, of St. Thomas, and of the Virgin Mary. It was valued at 5590 livres, or about $3700.

A vessel made of a porphyry resembling jasper and embellished with forty-six pearls; estimated at 1500 livres ($1000).

A cope given by Anne of Bretagne, Queen of France, and bearing six scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary embroidered in gold and pearls; the whole bordered with pearls and gold of Cyprus. On the cope were the letters A and S, and the words “plutost mourir.” There were two ounces of pearls. Valued at 2000 livres ($1350).

A vase of rock crystal, of antique workmanship, with a cover and base of silver-gilt; the top decorated with a band of amethysts, garnets, and sapphires, alternating with Scotch and oriental pearls. On the base are various precious stones and twenty-three Scotch and oriental pearls, and the inscription “Hoc vas sponsa dedit Anor. regi Ludovico.” This vase was given by Eleanor of Aquitaine to her husband, Louis VII of France (1137–1180), by whom it was bestowed upon Suger, Abbot of St. Denis (1082–1152). The goldsmith work and decoration belong to the time of Suger. The vase is now in the Louvre.

A chalice of agate, with two handles, and engraved with the figures of men, animals, and birds. It stood on a foot of gold adorned with sixteen sapphires, forty-four pearls, and twenty-two clusters of fourteen pearls each. This chalice rested upon a paten of porphyry decorated with seven fishes inlaid in gold, and with a bordering of pearls and precious stones disposed around the edge. Both together valued at 25,000 livres (about $16,000).

[Illustration:

THE EMPRESS DOWAGER OF CHINA

From a portrait painted by Miss Katharine A. Carl ]

A vase of agate with a foot of silver-gilt, and furnished with a cover and a spout in the form of a serpent, both of silver-gilt. Around the base an inscription: “Dum libare deo gemmis debemus et auro, Hoc ego Sugerus offero vas domino” (Since we should pour libations to God out of gems and gold, I, Suger, offer this vessel to the Lord). This vase, which is now in the Louvre and is of sardonyx, was enriched with many precious stones and with nineteen Scotch and oriental pearls. The value given was 1500 livres (about $1000).

A book beginning: “Kyrie Eleison,” with covers of wood, one overlaid with gold and the other with silver. On the golden cover was an ivory crucifix, and images, in ivory, of the Virgin Mary and of St. John. The cross was bordered with seed-pearls, as were the diadems of the images. The cover was also decorated with an engraved crysolite, an engraved peridot, and with sapphires, emeralds, and garnets.[471]

A curious item regarding the use of pearls in embroidery is contained in one of the inventories of the dukes of Burgundy, made in 1414; this reads as follows:

The sum of 276 livres 7 sols 6 deniers tournois (about $960), the price of 960 pearls destined to ornament a dress; along the sleeves are embroidered the words of the song “Madame, je suis joyeulx,” and the notes are also marked along the sleeves. On each sleeve are 264 pearls which help in forming the notes of the said song, numbering 142; that is to say, a square made of four pearls for each note.[472]

Mention is made in two old French documents of the use of pearls from Compiegne in ornamentation. In the “Inventaire de la royne Clémence,” in 1328, we read of “a cock covered with precious stones and bearing a pearl of Compiègne”; and in the “Comptes Royaux,” under date of 1353, appears this item: “For four pearls, oriental, Scotch and of Compiègne, for the said arm-chair, 48 crowns.” As these pearls could not have been found in Compiègne, we may suppose that there was a market for their sale in that place, which gave rise to the designation.[473]

The English authority and writer on early English silver, F. Alfred Jones, communicated, under date of September, 1907, that pearls were rarely used in old English plate; in fact, any such embellishments were of exceedingly infrequent occurrence. They are, however, frequently mentioned in the inventory of the marvelous collection of gold plate dispersed by Charles I of England, which may have dated from the time of the looting of the churches and monasteries by Henry VIII.

The following items are from the inventories of Philip II of Spain and of Margarita, wife of Philip III. The original documents are in the Austrian archives.

A golden cup which came from England. Around the foot was a wreath of fifteen fleurons, each containing pearls, and also four St. Andrew’s crosses comprising eighteen pearls each. The interior of the cup showed scenes from the life of St. George and was studded with pearls, while thirty-one pearl pendants hung from the edge. 11,897 reals (about $1700).[474]

Some curious jewels, belonging to Queen Margarita, wife of Philip III of Spain, were entered in an inventory made in 1611.

An imperial eagle, full of diamonds, that came from England, with two pendants of two pearls, which could be unhooked from the said eagle and were worn by her Majesty at two masks as earrings. Valued at 77,000 reals (about $11,000).

Gold earrings, enameled in various colors, with seven diamonds in each one and three pendant pearls, two small ones of equal size and the other shaped like a pear. Valued at 1320 reals ($188).[475]

In the older Spanish jewelry pearls were frequently entirely pierced through, as if they had been worn in necklaces; and if hung as drops of one to three or more, they were strung on a wire, the upper end usually forming an ornament, and they were kept from falling off below by flattening the lower end of the wire, this flattening acting as a stop. These styles have a marked resemblance to the oriental methods elsewhere described, and suggest the derivation of the early Spanish pearl mounting from the Moorish occupation of the country. If they were set singly on any part of the jewel, they were put on a wire peg fastened to it, and then the end of the wire which projected was hammered flat to keep the pearl in place. Excellent examples of these styles are the Spanish earrings in the collection of the Hispano-American Museum of New York. The same method was used in Transylvania in the seventeenth century with remarkably artistic effect.

The pearls of the Virgin of the Rosary in the church of St. Domingo, Lima, were famous. It is believed that they were sold in the war of independence. Those of the monstrance in the sanctuary of the cathedral of Lima were sold during the last war with Chile. The monstrance of the cathedral of Cuzco still shows pearls and emeralds, but they are of small size.

A lady who left a great fortune in pearls to the church of Nazareno and the House of the Poor of the church of St. Peter, Lima, was Doña Maria Fernandez de Córdoba, from the family of Borda, grandmother to the minister of Peru in Washington. She was a descendant of Hernan Cortés and of Pizarro by her ancestor Carmen Cortés.

The pearls of Lima figure prominently in the history of the Peruvian families. The war of independence, which ended in 1822, was followed by the suppression of the entailed estates; this forced a division of the family fortunes, and it became necessary to sell the family jewels in Europe. Thither went all the famous pearls of the Peruvian aristocracy, whose luxury is proven by the fact that in 1780 there were in Lima no less than two thousand private carriages.

One of the most remarkable uses of Bohemian pearls was that of a large triptych owned by Count Moritz of Lobkowitz and Duke of Raudnitz. It measured six or more feet in height. The entire borders were ornamented with pearls. The center of the triptych represented the ascension of Christ on a chariot drawn by lambs. In the panel to the right was the Angel Gabriel, and to the left the Virgin Mary praying. The borders and lettering were magnificently embroidered and decorated in Bohemian pearls. This object probably dated from the sixteenth or early part of the seventeenth century. It was estimated by one of the authors to contain at least one hundred thousand pearls.

Madame Zelie Nuttal, the great Maya scholar, personally writes that pearls are not mentioned either as articles of tribute or of decoration in ancient Mexican codices; possibly a lack of fine, hard instruments with which to drill holes in pearls may have caused them to be comparatively little used in personal adornment. Neither do they appear to have been found incrusted in prehistoric objects, and we have no written evidence of their having been used in this way. We do not know of any instances of the wearing of pearls by the Indian women, but the women of the higher classes used to wear them profusely, more especially drop-earrings and pendants. Madame Nuttal also communicates as follows:

Bernadino de Sahagun states: “There are also pearls in New Spain, and they are familiar to everybody. They are named epyollotti,[476] which means the heart of the shell, because they are formed in the shell of the oyster.” In Molina’s dictionary “seed-pearls” are named “piciltic epyollotti,” which means “water-stars,” a poetical name, composed of the word a = att = water, and cittallin = star. The latter name leads us to infer the possibility that the “star-skirt, or skirt of, or with stars,” the “cittallin icue” of the living image of the goddess “Tlamateculitti” was decorated with _pearls_, although it is only described (