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PRICE
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The
price of pearls of the first grade, in Ceylon in 1904, weighing four
grains and upwards each, was about $5.00 per grain. At Macassar,
prices for the irregular shaped pearls of the Dutch Indies ranged from
twenty-five cents to $1.25 per grain base according to quality.
At
the Ceylon fisheries, two-thirds of the oysters taken have been the
government's share. These were auctioned off daily. The prices varied
considerably, not only from fishing to fishing, but daily during the
season. If the oysters sold one day, yielded well, prices went up and
vice versa. In i860, at the beginning of the Tinnevelly fishery, they
realized Rs 15. ($7.5°) per thousand and rose later to Rs 40. ($20.00).
In 1861 on the contrary they sold in the early part of the season for
$35.00 to $40.00 and fell to $20.00, at one time touching $8.50.
In
1871, the Tuticorin catch brought a little over $40.00 per thousand
average. The average price paid in 1858 at the Ceylon fisheries was a
little less than ten dollars, and as the pearl yield was good, the
speculators made
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