VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS 355
Black
pearls do not seem to have been regarded with any favor by the
ancients, and we find no mention of them by medieval writers. Only
fifty years ago a perfectly round, black pearl, weighing 8 grains, was
sold for £4 ($20) ; to-day this pearl would easily bring £100 ($500).
Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, may be said to have brought
them into favor ; she owned a splendid necklace of black pearls which
was sold at Christie's, after the fall of Napoleon, for the sum of
£4000 ($20,000). Some time later, the Marquis of Bath bought, at
Christie's, the pearl which formed the clasp of the necklace, paying
£1000 ($5000) for it; he destined it for the center of a bracelet.
Greenish-black
pearls are perhaps valued higher than any other colored pearls, if
they have the proper orient ; this is probably partly owing to their
rarity. A bluish-black pearl possessing a fine orient commands almost
the same price as a pure black pearl. Those which are found in the Placuna placenta are often of a dull gray hue, while those produced by the Pinna squamosa are generally brown in color.
Baroque
pearls were formerly much worn and appreciated in Spain and Poland.
Their price varies greatly, according to their size, their beauty, and
also to their scarcity in any particular place. The pieces of pearl
detached from the shells—often half-pearl and half mother-of-pearl, and
called "de fantaisie"—are always very irregular in form, and sometimes
offer a certain resemblance to a part of the human or animal form.1
How
is it that such quantities of jewels are continually brought from the
East, and such a wealth of them continues to exist there, when there
are now no very extensive mines that maintain a constant supply? The
reason is that from time immemorial, precious stones have been the form
in which wealth, in those lands, has been hoarded and preserved. Until
very recently, in the Orient, interest-bearing securities have been
unknown; and hence jewels have been sought and kept as an investment,
and sold only when money was needed for special purposes, as in times
of war, famine, or other emergency.
Their
small bulk made them easy to conceal and to transport, and hence they
were well adapted for such use. How long this condition will last, is
perhaps dependent only upon the introduction of interest-paying
investments, and of the new forms of Western civilization that involve
greater'expenses and require means of income in excess of the older and
simpler conditions.
The
wealth of jewels possessed by Oriental monarchs, notables, and dealers,
has been the theme of story and tradition, time out of mind. We of the
West have been disposed to regard these tales as largely ex-
1 Charles Barbot, "Traité Complète des Pierres Précieuses," Paris, 1858, pp. 464, 465.
