pearls
except as a special royal privilege. The earl's coronet has eight balls
raised on points, with gold strawberry leaves between the points. The
marquis wears one with four gold strawberry leaves and four silver
balls alternating, the latter raised above the rim.1
A
pearl and gold ring, formerly belonging to Washington, is now in the
possession of Vice-Chancellor E. B. Learning, of Camden, N. J. It bears
in the center a lock of Washington's hair under a conical glass, around
which is a setting of blue and white enamel with a square of red at
each corner. The whole is surrounded by a circle of thirteen pearls.
This ring was presented by Washington to Lieutenant Richard Somers
prior to the latter's departure on the expedition against the Algerine
pirates in Tripoli, in the course of which he lost his life. Before
his departure he left the ring with his sister, Sarah Keen.
Vice-Chancellor Learning's paternal grandmother inherited it as heir to
Somers's estate, and from her it descended successively to her son and
grandson. The lock of Washington's hair is admitted to be one of only
three now existing, of the other two, one is at Washington's
headquarters at Newburg and the other in the museum at Boston. The
ring was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in 1876.
And
what a wealth of pearls was seen at the marriage of the late Emperor
Frederick III of Germany with Princess Victoria, in 1858! The wedding
gift of the bridegroom consisted of a necklace of thirty-six enormous
pearls, three superb ones in the middle, and graduated in size toward
the ends. From her mother, Queen Victoria, the bride received a diamond
necklace and three massive brooches set with unusually large pearls;
and from Prince Albert, a magnificent hair-net of pearls, diamonds, and
emeralds. The king and queen of Prussia presented a diadem of
brilliants surrounded with a splendid circlet of pearls. On the day of
her entry into Berlin, the queen bestowed on the bride a costly brooch
of pearls and diamonds, representing a bouquet, the leaves of which
consisted of diamonds, while the flowers themselves were of
pear-shaped pearls of large size, one weighing 160 grains, and fourteen
of them weighing 600 grains together.
One
of the most splendid and best known collection of pearls, and one worn
with as much grace as any in Europe, consists of those owned by the
dowager Queen Margherita of Italy, whose name signifies pearl, and who
has always been fond of the ocean jewel. Her husband, King Humbert,
made her many presents of this regal gem. A photograph, signed by the
queen and sent to us for this volume by her gracious courtesy, shows
her wearing her magnificent twelve strings of pearls, a pearl bracelet,
and a pearl tiara with pear-shaped pearl tips.
At the coronation of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, beside her
1 Debrett, "Dictionary of the Coronation," p. 127.
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