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THE PEARL
held at $4.50 base up to five grains costs $6.00 above that size, and at ten grains will bring $8.00 and over.
The yield of fine white pearls in sizes over ten grains is not large and as there has been and is a steady demand for large pearls for the centres of necklaces, sizes from ten to fifteen grains bring from eight to eleven dollars mtdtiple when matched. Egg and pear-shaped pearls of the same grade, from five grains down, are worth twenty-five to thirty per cent, less than round pearls; between five and ten grains ten to fifteen per cent, less, and as they near fifteen grains and over the pear-shape become of equal value with the round.
Imperfections which can be hidden by the setting decrease the price twenty to thirty per cent., and there is about the same difference between button and round pearls, according to the size of the plane. The difference is still greater in the larger sizes. A yellow color reduces the value in the market from fifteen to fifty per cent, according to the depth and quality of the tint. The so-called blue pearls, which are of a dark leaden white, are worth
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