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VALUES AND COMMERCE OF PEARLS
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Sun-beams
; for by this means your eye will penetrate into the very Centre of the
Pearl and discover the least defect it has ; you will then see whether
it be pure, or has any spots or not, and consequently you may the
better guess its value.1
If
you can cause a ray of sunlight or of electric light to fall on a
pearl, the light will penetrate it and show any specks, inclosed
blemishes or impurities. This can probably best be done by wrapping
about the pearl a dark cloth of velvet or other material and having the
ray fall slantingly, whereby the defects are much more clearly shown
than if the ray be allowed to fall directly upon the gem.
A
pearl necklace valued at $200,000, shown at one of our recent great
expositions, was to all appearances a remarkably beautiful collection,
and it was only when the intending purchaser took them from their
velvet bed and held them in his hands that he realized that there was
not a perfect pearl in the entire collection. It must have taken more
than a week of study for the clever dealer to arrange them so that the
best part, sometimes the only good part of each pearl, should be where
the eye would fall upon it. After they had been turned in the hands a
few seconds, not one perfect specimen was visible.
The
demand for pearls has been so great, and the enhancement of value so
rapid, that the greatest ingenuity has been employed in presenting the
best part of the gems to view, as well as in many other ways. The
result is that when pearls are to be used as borders or as a gallery on
a comb or brooch, they are pierced in such a way that only the best
side shall be outward, so that the general effect produced is that of a
perfect row of pearls ; but a careful examination may show that two
thirds or three fourths of them are irregular, and bear abrasion
marks, indentations, or other imperfections.
Following
the analogy of the well-known precious stones—the diamond, the ruby,
the sapphire, the emerald and those of less importance—the pearl is
equally potent in creating great and permanent values for itself in
catering to the human love of adornment; and though these large values
may be greatly in excess of the original price that it commanded in the
native oriental market, yet the increased valuation gives profitable
livelihood to hundreds of thousands of persons. These embrace the
dealers who sell the original pearls in lots, those who clean and treat
them, others who drill and string them, and others again who handle
them in setting jewelry of all kinds, and also the large number of dealers throughout the entire world who sell either the jewelry or the unmounted pearls. Directly connected
1 John and Andrew van Rymsdyk, "Museum Brittanicum," London, 1778, p. 8, note.
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