been advanced at one period to the first rank among gems, and
at another, consigned to oblivion. In France, they reached
their climax during the regency of Catherine de Medici, where
they were preferred to any other gem, until they were superseded by the diamond, in the time of Louis XIV.
The largest pearl known to Pliny weighed a little more
than fifty-eight carats,— a magnitude not often equalled, except
by baroques ; the finest in the French regalia, as shown by the
inventory, did not exceed twenty-seven carats. The celebrated
pearl of Phillip II., known as " La Pelegrina," belonging to the
Spanish crown, weighs thirty-four carats. It is pear-shaped
and was obtained from Panama, or from San Margarita, on the
coast of South America, and is valued at fourteen thousand
four hundred ducats. The name " La Pelegrina " has been
given to another pearl, claiming to be the largest perfect specimen known in Europe, weighing one hundred and twenty
carats. It was brought from India and sold to Philip IV.,
King of Spain, but is now, it is said, in the possession of one
of the noble families of Russia. A pearl owned by one of the
sovereigns of Persia weighed one hundred and sixty-eight
carats, and was valued at two hundred and eighty thousand
dollars. The present Shah of Persia and the Imaum of Muscat each own a gem of this kind, of inestimable value. A pearl
remarkable for beauty, transparency, and perfection of form,
though of little more than twelve carats in weight, was owned
by an Arabian prince, who refused to sell it to the Moslem
emperor Aurungzeeb for one hundred and forty thousand
livres. The specimen in the Hope collection, South Kensington, considered one of the largest known, is pear-shaped, and
yields the remarkable bulk of three ounces.
Tavernier mentions several pearls distinguished for size, one
of which, owned by the Great Mogul, served as pendant to his
