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388 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
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giving the impression that one or more pearls are missing. A newly strung necklace is taut.
Where
a collar is from thirteen to fourteen inches in length, there are
frequently twenty-three rows of pearls, kept straight by four jeweled
bars, and sometimes from ten to twenty-five pearls in a section between
a bar. This would mean that there are more than two thousand pearls in
a collar of small pearls. When one considers that at each bar and at
the catch and clasp of the collar it is necessary to make a knotting,
it is not surprising that it requires from three to four days' time of
a very expert pearl stringer to string or re-string such a pearl
collar. A splendid example of such a twenty-three-row collar is that
belonging to Sefiora Diaz, wife of the President of the Republic of
Mexico.1
Frequent
stringing may sometimes serve as a protection for pearls, as, if wax is
used, the drill hole is likely to become coated with wax from the
thread, and this prevents the absorption by the pearl of perspiration
or moisture of any kind through the thread. Indeed, the thread itself,
when waxed, does not readily absorb moisture, and as the interior of
the pearl also becomes waxed, this serves to protect it from the
absorption of humidity of any kind.
In
making pearl necklets or muff-chains, a piece of gold wire of the
proper strength and pliability is taken. This wire is passed through
the hole of the pearl and then cleverly bent into a loop on each side
and firmly soldered. It is important that the wire should be very
slightly smaller than the dimension of the hole in the pearl so that it
may fit closely. Sometimes, instead of this method, a ring is soldered
to one end of the wire before this is passed through the pearl, the
other end being then secured in the manner described above. Still
another method is occasionally employed ; in this a piece of the wire
is bent into a ring, but not quite closed, the aperture being just
large enough to admit the wire that has traversed the pearl; in this
way the wire can be introduced into the opening in the ring, which
grips it tightly, and is then soldered to it. In many cases two small
rings are strung on the wire on each side of the pearl before the loops
are made, so that they interpose between the latter and the pearl
itself. This serves to protect the sides of the pearl, as there is
otherwise some danger that the hole may become chipped or ragged; the
same result can be obtained if small caps, closely fitting the pearl,
are used instead of the rings. This is, however, only possible when the
pearl is quite round, and in this case the effect produced is often
very attractive.
Many
of the pearls set as rings and studs are no longer set in points, but
are set upon a peg, or are "pegged," as it is termed. Setting a
1 See portrait facing page 442.
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