side
or from above that can enhance or detract from the color of the pearl.
This must be carefully considered, as it is not uncommon— more
especially in certain parts of Europe—that jewelers have for their
selling-offices rooms sumptuously fitted up with hangings of different
colors, and sometimes with ground glass windows, provided with heavy
silk hangings, so that artificial light becomes a necessity to make the
article sold plainly visible. In absolutely pure daylight, more
especially with an unclouded sky—on such days as are probably more
frequent in the United States than in some of the European countries—it
is possible to see the exact tint or color of the pearls ; that is,
whether it is really a pure white with a tinge of pink or an orient
tending to cream-white, or whether it is more or less tinted with what
is considered a crude or red color in a pearl. Besides this, in a pure
light it is possible to see whether the pearl is brilliant, and to
estimate the exact degree of its brilliancy; whether there are any
cracks, scratches, or mars on the surface; and, lastly, whether the
form is entirely regular. If one should select two necklaces, one
absolutely perfect and the other having slight blemishes as to color or
brilliancy, or with breaks, marks, or irregularities, these two
necklaces would be scarcely distinguishable from each other in
artificial light, or in daylight which had been partly confused with
artificial light; although the differences between the two would
signify that the former was worth two or three times as much as the
latter.
At
great receptions, large, and apparently magnificent pearls are
frequently seen, which are really of inferior quality, and yet, owing
to the absence of pure daylight, they can easily be mistaken for
perfect specimens by any one not especially familiar with pearls.
Indeed, if the royalties of Europe should wear all the pearls belonging
to the crown jewels at the same time, in a palace or hall lighted with
candles, gas, or even with some types of electric light, they would
frequently seem to have a quality which many of them do not and never
did possess. It is, therefore, essential for the buyer to use every
precaution in reference to the light in which he examines his purchase.
And -we may add that it is just as essential that he should know the
dealer from whom he buys ; for, sometimes, after a few weeks or months,
cracks or blemishes develop that were not apparent at first, more
especially when the pearls have been "improved" for a prospective
purchaser.
A test to ascertain the quality of pearls is quaintly expressed in a work published in 1778, as follows:
How
to know good pearls. To discover the hidden Defects and Faults of a
Pearl and to know whether she is speckled or broken or has any other
imperfections, the best way is to make trial of it by the Reverberation
of the
