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TREATMENT AND CARE OF PEARLS 399
too
long boiled in the opening of the shell, or where they have been
swallowed and have passed through the body of some ruminant, such as a
hog, etc.
Probably
about no necklace has more been printed than about the famous necklace
of Madame Thiers, now in the Louvre Museum of Paris. Article after
article has gone over the face of the earth, stating that the pearls
in this necklace were dying, and that a record was being kept of the
slow death that was overtaking them. Through the courtesy of the
director of the museum, M. Gaston Mogeaud, we are permitted to
reproduce the following statement from a letter, showing very clearly
that there is absolutely no truth in the assertion, and that this
necklace has in no way suffered, or is likely to suffer, for many years
to come.
"The
necklace of Madame Thiers has caused much ink to flow, to such an
extent that, a few months ago, the minister ordered an examination to
be made by three expert jewelers, who have found that the pearls are in
perfect condition, and have never been in better health."
For
assuring the safety of jewels there are the primitive methods such as
are used in the East Indies, of hiding pearls in out-of-the-way places,
where they often escape detection; or else they may be protected by
means of an armored room, like the gem-room that contained the
wonderful collection of the Duke of Brunswick when he resided in Paris.
Decoy necklaces have even been made to represent the original, and so
placed that they were taken away by the highwayman or stolen by the
burglar under the belief that he was stealing the jewels ; while in
other cases the pearls have been carried in receptacles that would not
be taken for jewel-caskets, a device resorted to by some travelers.
A
word in regard to the former system of strong boxes or small safes for
the home. These protect from fire and from the ordinary thief, but they
have sometimes not proved so invulnerable to the expert cracksman.
Quite recently a jewel chest has been devised which can be placed in a
trunk and carried from city to city by the owner. It is provided with
an exceedingly sensitive electrical apparatus, by means of which a loud
burglar alarm is set off should the chest be lifted even one
thirty-second of an inch or jarred ever so slightly. This alarm is set
automatically when the owner turns the key, and if once started, it
will ring for a couple of hours, stopping only when the box is
unlocked, thus preventing the carrying away of what is otherwise a
portable box.
Lastly,
there are the more advanced methods, in use during the past two
centuries, such as taking the jewels to a banker and allowing him to
place them in his vault, where they are guarded as well as are his
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