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	THE PEARL

	dollars. In London during the early part of the nineteenth century, pearls from Panama of good size and quality brought about four dollars per grain. About 1865, fine oriental pearls were sold in London for $1.25 to $1.50 per grain in sizes up to three grains. Over that the price increased gradually with the size so that five grainers were worth about $2.50 per grain; ten grainers, $5.50 per grain; twenty grainers $13.00 per grain and thirty grainers about $17.00 per grain. If their fine grade equalled ours, there has been a remarkable advance in the last forty years, as fine oriental round pearls of thirty grains to-day, are worth in the United States $240.00 per grain flat. Up to this time and after, prices were quoted very generally by the carat. Later, the method of reckoning by the square or multiple became more general, and the price went to about two dollars per carat, in London, or fifty cents per grain base for ordinary sizes, the larger ones being valued by the piece according to the individual rarity and particular qualities, as before. At the Navigator's islands in 1858, 286