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SOURCES OF PEARLS
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particularly for fountain-basins, and for bénitiers, or holy-water fonts. A beautiful pair used as bénitiers in the Church of St. Sulpice
in Paris is said to have been a gift of the Republic of Venice to
Francis I. There seems to be no established fishery for this mollusk,
and the pearls very rarely come on the market. About four years ago in
New York City an effort was made to market one weighing about 200
grains. The owner represented that it was a "cocoanut pearl," and
offered to sell it for $2000 ; whereas its actual value was probably
not over $10 or $20, and that only for a museum collection.
Pearls of slight luster also occur in the quahog, or hard clam {Venus mercenaria),
of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Although these are rare,
they are generally of good form, and some weigh upward of eighty grains
each. They are commonly of dark color, purplish, ordinarily, but they
may be white, pale lilac, brown, and even purplish black, or black. The
white ones—which so nearly resemble ivory buttons as readily to pass
for them at a casual glance— are of little value ; but fine dark ones
have retailed at from $10 to $100 each. There is little demand for
them, for unless the color is very good, they possess slight beauty,
lacking the orient peculiar to choice pearls. Pearls have also been
reported from the edible clam of the Pacific coast of America.
Shelly concretions are found in the edible oyster of America (Ostrea virginica), as well as in that of Europe (O. edulis) ;
but these are commonly objects of personal interest or of local
curiosity, rather than of artistic or commercial value, as they are
lacking in luster and iridescence. Most of them are dull or
opal-white, some are purple, and a few are white on one side and purple
on the other. As many as fifty of these formations have been found in a
single oyster. Sometimes they are of odd appearance, suggesting the
human eye or face, and recently one was found which bore a striking
resemblance to a human skull. Notwithstanding many news items to the
contrary, it is doubtful whether the choicest pearl from an edible
oyster would sell for as high as $20 on its own merits; professional
shuckers have opened thousands of bushels of oysters without finding
one which would sell for ten cents.
Among univalves, the most prominent pearl-producer is probably the common conch or great conch {Strombus gigas) of
the West Indies and the Florida coast, which secretes beautiful pink
pearls of considerable value. This is one of the largest of the
univalve shells, some individuals measuring twelve inches in length,
and weighing five or six pounds. The graceful curves and the delicate
tints of lovely pink color make it exceedingly attractive. The conch
abounds in the waters of the West Indies, especially in the Bahamas,
where many
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