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VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS 343
pearls.
Multiplying this by 144 we obtain, as the value of an ounce of such
pearls, $13.82. An ounce consisting of two thousand would be worth
$20.73, while if there were but one hundred to the ounce it would be
valued at $414.72, or $4.15 for each pearl and $.72 per grain of
weight. In this latter case the pearls would average 5-3/4 grains.
Another class of pearls denominated by this author as "scaramazzi,"
pearls of an irregular form and with protuberances, are estimated in a
similar way, but at exactly half of the above values. The baroque
pearls were not considered to be worth even half as much as the
"scaramazzi."
Scotch pearls (fresh-water) are mentioned by De Boot (1609, p. 88 sq.) among
the other western pearls—Bohemian, etc. He remarks that they were
valued much less than the oriental pearls, but if they were of
especially pure color their value was greater, although they lacked
the silvery hue characteristic of the eastern pearl. Fine pearls of
this sort were valued on a carat base of one fourth of a thaler ($.27),
so that a forty-grain pearl was worth $27, and one of eighty grains,
$108. The author of the Bologna treatise, "Delle Gemme," 1791,
attributes the lack of luster in the Scotch pearls to the presence of a
dark mass in the interior which interfered with the passage of light.
He estimates Scotch pearls to be worth one half the value of oriental pearls of mediocre quality, provided the former are fairly good.
A
Scotch writer of the seventeenth century is more enthusiastic in regard
to these pearls ; he mentions having paid one hundred rix dollars for
an exceptionally fine one, but he does not specify its weight. This is
the value given by De Boot for a pearl of this class weighing eighty
grains, as we have just mentioned. The Scotch writer asserts that he
could never sell a necklace of fine Scotch pearls in Scotland itself,
as every one wanted oriental pearls ; he continues : "At this very day
I can show some of our own Scots Pearls as fine, more hard and
transparent than any Oriental. It is true that the Oriental can be
easier matched, because they are all of a yellow water, yet foreigners
covet Scots Pearls."
In Ceylon1
and India, pearl-grading and valuing has received close attention, and
an elaborate system has been evolved by the pearl merchants. This
system has been in use for generations and possibly for centuries.
Although apparently very complicated, it is in reality quite simple, if
we only remember that the value of inferior pearls is determined by
their weight, whereas the value of superior pearls is computed from the
square of their weight.
1
See "Report to the Government of Cey- of Manaar," by W. A. Herdman,
F.R.S., Pt Ion on the Pearl Oyster Fisheries of the Gulf V, London,
1906, pp. 34-36.
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