reasons
are chary of information, nor will they make such pieces common by
allowing many to see and handle them. The buyer is equally averse to
publicity, so that exact knowledge does not pass far beyond the dealer
and his customer as a rule.
The
finest pearl known is that in the Museum of Zosima, in Moscow, called
La Pellegrina. It is perfectly round and so lustrous that it appears to
be transparent. It weighs about 112 grains and was bought of the
captain of an East India ship at Leghorn.
The
largest known pearl to-day is in the Beresford Hope collection shown at
the South Kensington Museum, London. It is two inches long and its
circumference is four and a half inches. It weighs three ounces (1818
grains).
Tavernier
saw a pearl in 1663 belonging to the Shah of Persia which was valued at
3200 tomans or about $320,000 of our money. It was very perfect,
pear-shaped, and nearly three inches long. It is believed to have come
from the ancient fishery at Catifa in Arabia. Even this great sum was
exceeded by Pliny in his estimate of the pearl Cleopatra is said to
have
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