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478
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THE BOOK OF THE PEARL
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pass
into the possession of strangers. In the matter of jewels, it has been
frequently noticed that dealers are in the majority of cases the
ultimate buyers, and it has also been inferred that when an outsider
participates in the bidding, the prices are advanced to such an extent
that it does not often appear profitable for him to buy in the face of
such competition. All manner of people have had their estates disposed
of in this way, and the list of these sales during the past twenty
years is a striking one : royalty, nobility, merchants, and people in
many other conditions of life find a place in it.
It
is not an infrequent custom in London for solicitors to advance money
on jewels, and when the payments are not forthcoming these jewels are
sold. Hence, many sales appear at the larger auction rooms in which no
name is given, the owners frequently being people of high degree.
On
July 19, 1892, a necklace containing eighty-five graduated pearls of
unusual size and quality, the property of the late H. W. F. Bolchow,
M.P., was sold in London for the sum of £2500 ($12,500). Another
necklace of 146 fine graduated pearls disposed in two rows, brought
£2400 ($12,000) ; a single-row necklace of eighty-five pearls realized
£1600 ($8000), and one of 118' pearls in two rows £1660 ($8300).
/
An
exceptionally fine pearl necklace which belonged to her Grace theJate
Caroline, Duchess of Montrose, mother of the present Duke of Montrose,
was sold at Christie's on April 30, 1895. The necklace comprised 362
graduated pearls, arranged in seven rows of forty-four, forty-seven,
forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty-two, fifty-eight, and sixty-four pearls,
respectively. The amount realized for this ornament was £11,500
($57,500).
On
July 9, 1901, a pearl necklace, advertised as the property of "a French
lady of rank," and several other valuable pearl ornaments, were offered
at Christie's. It is supposed by many that these jewels belonged to
Madame Humbert. The necklace was composed of six rows of graduated
pearls consisting of fifty-five, sixty-one, sixty-seven,
seventy-three, seventy-nine, and eighty-nine pearls, respectively, a
total of 424, all of good color and luster. A London dealer considers
that they owed their value mainly to skilful matching and fineness of
color; they are perhaps a century old. As may be supposed, there were
many bidders who competed eagerly for possession of this fine ornament,
and it was at last adjudged for the sum of £20,000 ($100,000). While
this was, up to that date, a record price in an auction room, it was by
no means an exceptional figure for private sales; indeed, at about the
time this necklace was sold, a London dealer disposed of another for
£34,000 ($170,000).
A
necklace, the property of the late Lady Matheson of the Lews, was sold
at Christie's, March 5, 1902. Well-matched and graduated round pearls,
to the number of 233, were disposed in four rows, and strung with
seed-pearls between. This necklace, which had been presented to Lady
Matheson at the
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