by Guillaume Budé1
(1467-1540), the celebrated French Hellenist who lived during the reign
of Francis I and who is regarded as the founder of the Collège de
France. In his work entitled "De Asse," he states that he once inquired
of a gem dealer in Paris whether the latter could recall the weight of
some remarkable pearl which had passed through his hands. The dealer
replied that he had seen one weighing 30 carats (120 grains), whereupon
another gem dealer, who was present, remarked that he had in his
possession one of 40 carats (160 grains). This pearl was sold a few
days later for 3000 gold crowns ($6750). On another occasion Budé was
told that a pearl of exquisite beauty weighing 30 carats, had been sold
to the Duchesse de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XI of France, for the
sum of 4000 gold crowns ($9000).
In
regard to the manner of computing the value of pearls Budé writes : "I
think the ratio of these prices can be calculated. When I asked a gem
dealer what was the value of a pearl of four carats [sixteen grains],
according to the formula, he replied: Ί have seen such a pearl sell for
thirty gold crowns [$67.50].' Whereupon I asked: 'How much would you
estimate one weighing eight carats [thirty-two grains] ?' 'At least two
hundred gold crowns [$450],' he answered; and as I continued to ply him
with questions, gradually increasing the weight, he responded in such a
way that I could understand that the increase of the price bore not a
numerical, but a proportional relation to the weight; so that the above
mentioned eight-carat pearl, having double the weight of a four-carat
pearl, was valued at seven times as much. The same was true of a pearl
weighing twelve carats, twenty carats, and so on; the price augmenting
by a greater and greater increment as the weight increased."
In
the "Coronae Gemma Noblissima" of Wilhelmus Eo (1621, pp. 32, 33), an
instance is given of the rapid changes that are possible in the worth
of a pearl. A large and beautiful pearl was brought to Nuremberg by a
merchant who had paid 500 florins for it ; he soon found a purchaser
among the merchants there, who was willing to pay him 800 florins. This
latter merchant in his turn disposed of his gem for 1000 florins, and
shortly after it again changed hands twice, the first time at an
advance of 200 florins and the second at an advance of 300 florins. All
this happened within a few days. The writer tells us that the last
purchaser, who paid 1500 florins for the pearl, took it with him to
Venice "where the wealthy dames wear a great treasure of beautiful
pearls as necklaces upon their bare skin, and he will not have lost
anything on his pearl there."
In 1884, Mr. Edwin Streeter was asked by a member of a London
'Guillielmi Budaei, "De Asse," Venice, 1522, Lib. V, pp. 67, 68.
