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FACTS AND FANCIES
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attention. They pass therefore among those considered unworthy of notice.
A
brown pearl valued at $25,000 was exhibited by Marchisini of Florence
at the Maritime International Exhibition at Naples in 1871. Among the
Dudley pearls exhibited at the London Exhibition of 1872 was a necklace
of exceptionally fine pearls valued at $150,000. The late Czar of
Russia spent twenty-five years in collecting sufficient perfect Virgin
pearls to form a necklace for his wife. The Countess Henckel owns a
necklace of pearls which for value and associations is unrivalled. It
is composed of three strands, each at one time being a separate and
historical necklace. One was the famous necklace belonging to the
Empress Eugenie which has been valued at £20,000; one known as "the
necklace of the Virgin of Atokha," formerly owned by a member of- the
Spanish nobility, the third belonged to the ex-Queen of Naples. For
value this is exceeded by a single strand necklace of large pearls
lately bought by a western millionaire of the United States. It is
composed of thirty-seven pearls ranging from
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