MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HISTORY 29
gems,
and this adversely affected the demand for pearls. Furthermore,
cleverly fashioned imitations manufactured at a low cost also served to
decrease the relative rank and fashion of the sea-born gems. In the
eighteenth century, pearls were relatively scarce ; the resources of
the American seas were largely exhausted, likewise the Ceylon and Red
Sea fisheries were not to be depended on, and practically the entire
supply came from the Persian Gulf, with a few from European rivers and
the waters of China. As a result, although they continued to be prized
by connoisseurs, pearls were not so extensively sought after by the
rank and file of jewel purchasers.
It
should be noted, however, that from the most ancient times, the princes
of India and of Persia have had their pick and choice of the output
from Ceylon and the Persian Gulf ; and the largest single collections
of the Western world have never equaled the possessions of some of
those rulers. Some Indian princes have loaded themselves with thousands
of pearls, and individual ornaments have been valued not only by
oriental, but by European experts, at several millions of dollars.
The
great diamond resources of Brazil were discovered in 1727, and after a
few years these came on the market at the rate of 140,000 carats
annually. At that time ladies of rank did not esteem diamonds so highly
as pearls. This distinction was accentuated by Lord Hervey in his
account of the coronation, in 1727, of George II and his consort
Caroline, who wore not only the great pearl necklace inherited from
Queen Anne, but "had on her head and shoulders all the pearls she could
borrow of the ladies of quality at one end of the town, and on her
petticoat all the diamonds she could hire of the Jews and jewelers at
the other ; so that the appearance and the truth of her finery was a
mixture of magnificence and meanness not unlike the éclat of royalty in many other particulars, when it comes to be nicely considered and its source traced to what money hires or flattery lends." 1 In a portrait of Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of George III, the pearls and diamonds appear equally popular.
On
the entry of the British into possession of Ceylon in 1796, the
fisheries of that country were resumed with great success after thirty
years of idleness, resulting in very large outputs for several seasons.
But owing to exhaustion of the areas, they were soon reduced, and the
yield became small and uncertain.
About
1845, pearls came on the market from the Tuamotu Archipelago and other
South Sea islands, and the industry was revived on the Mexican coast.
The pearls from these localities are noted for their range of
coloration, and particularly for the very dark shades,
1 Croker, " Lord Hervey's Memoirs," London, 1848, Vol. I, pp. 88, 89.
