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450 THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
Peroz Pearl. The historian Procopius,1
of the sixth century, tells of a magnificent pearl which belonged to
Peroz, or Firuz (459-484), one of the Sassanian kings of Persia. In the
course of his disastrous battle with the White Huns, in which both he
and his sons perished, Peroz, having a presentiment of the misfortune
about to befall him, took the pearl from his right ear and cast it
away, lest any one should wear it after him. This pearl is described as
being "such as no king had ever worn up to that time." Procopius,
however, thinks it more probable that the ear of Peroz was cut off in
the combat, and he states that the emperor (Zeno, 426-491) was very
anxious to buy the gem from the Huns, but that all search for it was in
vain. Nevertheless, a rumor was current that it was recovered later,
but that another pearl was substituted for it and sold to Kobad, a
successor of Peroz. A different version is given by Panciroli,2
who quotes Zonaras, a Byzantine historian of the twelfth century, as
his authority. According to this version Justinian the Great, who
succeeded to the throne forty-three years after the death of Peroz,
offered one hundred pounds of gold (about $25,000) for the pearl, but
the barbarians refused to part with it, preferring to keep it as a
memorial of Persian folly. On the coins of Peroz he is represented
wearing an earring with three pendants, one of which may have been this
wonderful pearl.
Charles the Bold. One
of the greatest jewels of the fifteenth century was that belonging to
Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (1433-1477). According to notes and
drawings3 made in 1555 by J. J. Fugger of Nuremberg, who was
the banker jeweler of his generation, this consisted of a large pyramid
diamond five eighths of an inch square at the base, with the apex cut
as a four-rayed star in relief ; surrounding this were three
rectangular pyramid-shaped rubies and three magnificent pear-shaped
pearls, and a large ovate pearl was suspended from the lowest ruby. The
pear pearls are described as measuring half an inch in diameter and
must have weighed about sixty grains each. This magnificent jewel was
probably the most celebrated in Europe during the fifteenth century.
According to Comines, on the defeat of the Grand Duke and the
plundering of his baggage by the Swiss at Granson in 1476, the ornament
was found by a careless soldier who tossed it away, but retained the
gold box containing it. On second thought, he searched for and
recovered the jewel and sold it to a priest for one florin, and the
ecclesiastic sold it to a Bernese govern-
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1"Historia," Lib. I, c. 4, ed. Niebuhr, Bonnae, 1833.
'
Panciroli, "Rerum Memorabilium, libri duo," Frankfort, 1660, Pt. I, p.
44. We have been unable to find this statement in the An-
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nals of Zonaras; it was possibly derived from some gloss or annotation.
* Published by Lambeccius in "Bibliotheca Caesarea," Vol. II, p. 516.
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