VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS 329
minute accuracy that the margin of error did not exceed one carat during that time.
The mina, the
sixtieth part of the lesser Alexandrian talent of silver, was divided
by the Romans, when they occupied Egypt, into twelve ounces (unciae), and,
weighing as it did 5460 grains, it became the predecessor of the
European pounds of which the troy pound is a type. If we may believe a
Syrian authority, Anania of Shiraz, who wrote in the sixth century, the
carat or diamond weight was originally formed from one of these ounces
by taking the 1/144 part.1
We find in Murray2 that the Greek κεράτιον was originally identical with the Latin siliqua, and was called the siliqua Graeca. As a measure of weight and fineness the carat represents the Roman siliqua as 1/24 of the golden solidus of Constantine, which was Ye of an ounce, hence the various values into which 1/24 and 1/144 enter, or originally entered. As a measure of weight for diamonds and precious stones, it was originally 1/144 of
an ounce or 3-1/3 grains. It is stated in Hakluyt ( Voy. II, pp. 1,
225, 1598) : "Those pearls are praised according to the caracts which
they weigh ; every caract is four graines."
There
have been at all times men who possessed a delicate touch or a fine
sense of feeling, but probably few men are living to-day who would be
able to accomplish the feat attributed to Julius Caesar, namely, that
of estimating the weight of a pearl by simply holding it in his hand.
There are very few who can tell the weight of a pearl in this way, and
while the story may be historically interesting, it is rather dubious.
To
attempt to formulate a list of prices, comparative or otherwise, of
pearls, is almost an impossibility, as probably no two authors of the
past three centuries have ever seen the same lot of pearls, nor have
their estimates always been the same as to quality, rarity and value.
As
interesting statistics from an historical point of view, there will be
presented here a list of the values of pearls dating back some ten
centuries. That there always has existed a higher valuation for the
larger pearls, which are the rarest, will readily be apparent, but that
the correct value of a pearl of one, ten, twenty or fifty grains be
definitely given for the years 1602, 1702, 1802, or 1902 is an
impossibility. However, we believe this to be the first attempt to
present so large a body of carefully selected quotations, and they are
given to the reader, whether he be layman or professional, for what
they are worth.
In
regard to the smaller pearls, as is the case with the smaller
diamonds, prices have been dependent upon the changes of fashion ; that
1 William Hallock and Herbert T. Wade, 2 "A New English Dictionary," Oxford and
"Outlines
of the Evolution of Weights and New York, 1893, Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 105.
Measures and the Metric System," New York, 1906, p. 25.
