ON THE VALUATION OF PEARLS
I
HAVE already said
somewhere that pearls are not fragile. In fact, of all natural
products known to man, none are less subject to deterioration than
precious stones and pearls. (A pearl, by the way, is not a stone, for
it is not a mineral; it has a classification all its own among gems.)
They can thus, safe from corruption, undimmed in splendor, with their
intrinsic value preserved, be handed down intact from generation to
generation. From father to son, from grandmother to granddaughter,
they may be transferred as a proud continuity of possession, a bond of
memory, a spell linking the future to the past.
But
the Oriental pearl, gem in excelsis, queen of them all by reason of her
innate virtues and by her soft incomparable beauty, takes pride of
place. There can be none to gainsay that a well-matched, skillfully
graduated necklace of superfine natural pearls is a feast for the eyes
whether of experts or laymen.
But
few even of those who rank as connoisseurs realize the sum total in
courage, bravery, and disdain of mortal danger which goes to their
gathering. Even you, who have come so far with me, can have little
knowledge how much industry, infinite patience, and high adventure play
a part in their final perfecting. Long weeks and months of close work
can have no adequate chronicler.
Nor
is it at all obvious to the casual observer that the matching and
composing of those exquisite beads is invariably the work of a
consummate artist in his craft, a poet with his eye and hands. For the
task entails the perfect blending of
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