insignia of rank among the highly civilised," writes W. K. Cattelle in his standard book The Pearl. First
lavishly used by the princes of the East for the adornment of their
royal persons, as the course of empire trended westward the pearl
followed the flag of the conquerors, and thus, in time, as Rome's power
and affluence grew into wrorld-control, her treasure of
pearls grew to vast proportions and became identified with the social
eminence and arrogance of the Caesars and patrician Rome. To-day the
market for the best in pearls of recent finding, as for all new
products of precious stones, or for famous jewels, whose owners'
changing fortunes bring them to the parting, is within the new regime
of Croesus represented by the multimillionaires of the United States.
The world's best buyers of jewels are not always as willing to have
their princely expenditures known as is generally believed, and the
names of some of America's heaviest purchasers of gems have not been
revealed by the dealers. It is authoritatively stated that the finest
single strand of large pearls in existence was recently acquired by a
Western millionaire of the United States. The strand is composed of
thirty-seven pearls ranging from eighteen to fifty-two and three-
