FACTS AND FANCIES
In ancient days there was a belief in the east that at the full of the moon the pearl-oyster rose to the surface of the sea and opened its shell to receive the falling dew-drops. These congealing, hardened into pearls. Similarly, the natives of India believed that Buddha in certain months showered upon the earth, dew-drops from heaven, which the oyster, floating on the waters to breathe, received and held until they hardened and became pearls. These poetical imaginations of the Orientals were carried west with the pearls. Poets embodied them in verse. Prose writers, losing the poetry of the fable, trimmed them to the bare statements of impossible facts. An English writer early in the eighteenth century speaking of the mussels in the streams of northern England said that "gaping eagerly and sucking in their dewy streams they did conceive and bring forth a great plenty of pearls."
Later writers also attributed the origin of pearls to the reception of raindrops from heaven by the oyster, and one gravely asserted that the fishermen always found more pearls after a season of heavy rains. He did not state that the oysters rose to the surface of the sea to receive the raindrops, neither did he explain how these drops from heaven passed through the brine to the oyster inviolate. Pliny was more definite; he stated that the quality of the pearls varied with that of the dew from which they were formed and were clear or turbid as it was. The pearl would be pale-colored if the weather was cloudy when the dew fell into the shell, and large if the dew was plentiful. Thunder during the reception of the drop resulted in a hollow pearl and if lightning caused the shell to close suddenly the pearl would be small.
The people of Java and Borneo had a belief which should have been yet more difficult to acquire. They asserted that the pearls themselves breed and increase in number if placed in cotton. Clusters of twinned pearls were said to be produced thus, and it is related that some had the audacity to sell breeding pearls claiming to distinguish the male from the female. This fable also travelled west and was received by the credulous. M. S. Lovell in his "Edible Mollusks" says, "A Spanish lady informed a friend of mine that if seed-pearls were shut up in cotton-wool they would increase either in size or in number."
To this day the ancient superstition, or belief, is believed not only by sea-board Malays, but by Europeans, and there are those who claim to own breeding pearls and to have bred from them. The pearls are placed in a box with a layer of cotton-seed and a few grains of rice, under and over them. The box is then closed and in a year, if one account given is a fair statement of average results, one may look for a four-fold increase, though the children will not be as large as the parents. Some of them may be as large as a pin head. The rice will look crumbly and worm-eaten.
Another breeder of pearls says that the breeding pearls themselves grow in size and if the box has been kept undisturbed, there will be found with them at the end of the year others of various sizes, some almost microscopic. A year later these would be larger. It is also said that when a pearl is about to breed, a small black speck makes its appearance on the surface, and that during the period of breeding the pearl changes its shape from a sphere to an irregular ovoid, and develops layers of scales on the surface visible to the naked eye.
After a time, the breeding pearls change their orient to a dirty white, the scales having peeled off. In all cases the rice looks as though some beetle had taken a circular bite out of the end of each kernel. Somehow a perusal of the accounts of the remarkable results, leaves the reader with a conglomerate impression of transformed rice and imagination.
Nevertheless, the breeding of pearls in cotton-wool or cotton-seed with rice, is asserted and believed, and the methods by which the wonder is accomplished may be had with great circumstance and some variations from those who have experimented. No greater evidence exists of the child-like faith of people in the old times than the incredible stories about precious stones which were current in those days.
It is equally wonderful that although it took centuries to disprove them, they received credence for more centuries after they were shown to be impossible and one hears those same delightful fairy stories about angel's tears, drops of dew from heaven, raindrops, etc., seriously quoted in this matter-of-fact land to-day, often by people who after a moment's thought would become conscious of their fallacy.
But romance abhors reason, and though oysters cannot rise to the surface of the sea, nor raindrops pass immaculate through the ocean to the gaping mollusks, nor the downpour of one season increase the yield at once of things which are the growth of years, there will long remain some who will refuse the dictum of the biologist, that unless the dews of heaven and the tears of angels carry much lime in solution, the calcareous surroundings of the oyster's bed must have more to do with the genesis of the pearl than anything dropped into the ocean by the clouds above it, and will still cling to fancy in the face of fact. Meantime the priests of Buddha exact charity oysters from the fishers of their faith, that the god thus propitiated may cause the oysters to yield more pearls.
A question often raised, and which by its periodical revival seems to be a favorite with newspapers and magazines, as well as, to the general public, is, "Do pearls live and die?" It originated probably in observations of certain changes that occasionally take place in pearls which could be readily construed by a speculative or imaginative mind to mean death. Sometimes with pearls the brilliancy of youth fades and passes and the clear skin of early days takes on the hue of age.
If now a ready pen waited on fancy to state the facts it would establish an imaginative theory for centuries, for like gossip, a thing once printed in a book will long pass on unquestioned and be quoted or re-stated many times. There are pearls which for certain qualities invite as a descriptive term the word live. There are others which by comparison appear, and are described, as dead. Then there are others that lose by untoward circumstances the live qualities they once possessed and without dying become dead pearls. The calcite carbonate crystals of which they are formed dissolve in acids and are affected to a certain extent by the acidity of the excretions of the human skin, sufficiently in some cases to destroy, or at any rate dim, their luster.
Gases in the atmosphere, sudden changes in temperature, heat, and various other influences operate more or less in the same direction. The chemical changes thus produced might with poetic license be called the death of the pearl and in a sense the term would be true were the whole pearl involved, but as a rule these misfortunes affect the outer skin of the pearl only, so if that dies death is but skin deep, a live pearl remaining beneath it.
As life and death means the segregation of particles into a compact individuality and their final dissolution, pearls like all other things in the restless economy of nature live and die, but the loss of some of its native charms by the gem is not more a sign of death than the rougher cuticle of a weather beaten sailor with which exposure has replaced the smooth skin of the boy.
Nevertheless the idea of death coming to the pearl fascinates and enterprising writers succeed in frequently placing very interesting and readable articles before the public which incite the wonderment of the reader and perpetuate the impression that this beloved gem is some sort of a living creature subject to human vicissitudes. Lately a story appeared in current publications which told how the pearls of a lady's necklace sickened and lost their beauty. Much distressed she carried them to the expert dealer of whom she bought them who gravely advised her to let her maid wear them whereupon, they recovered from the illness and their lustrous beauty was restored.
Twentieth century versions of fables older than this era are common; shrewd traders and writers use them, nor are they always careful to attach the fable to the particular gem to which, by right of ancient usage, it belongs. The magical loss of color in the presence of impending danger to its wearer is the ruby's prerogative, but, though pearls may lose their charms by exposure to heat, gas and rough usage, the wily orientals of remote or later ages provided no traditional recovery more wonderful than the prosaic method of feeding them to fowls and cutting them out of the gizzard an hour or two later.
The pearl is generally considered to be the emblem of innocence and purity. A pretty fashion in vogue among parents who can afford it, is of giving a pearl to each of their daughters on their birthdays. These are carefully matched and strung so that the string grows to a necklace for maturer years.
Along with the emblematic idea and the fanciful notion of their origin, there comes to us from the old days a superstition concerning pearls which probably grew out of the statement that they were the congealed tears of heaven. It was supposed that they brought tears to their possessors. The idea originated probably about a thousand years ago in western Europe. It did not exist in Rome during the time of the Cæsars for the pearl was then the sign of power and affluence and was coveted by men and women alike and it remains a most popular gem in Italy to-day.
This absurdity has been kept alive by stories of prominent persons in whose experience occurrences seemed to confirm the claim. The Queen of Henry IV. of France dreamt that her diamonds were turned to pearls the night previous to her husband's assassination by Ravaillac. The consort of James IV. of Scotland dreamt of pearls three nights in succession before the disastrous battle of Flodden Field in which he lost his life. These and similar stories which appeal to a love of the mysterious and wonderful have been perpetuated by writers of books, so that even to-day there are women who coveting pearls still fear to own them.
But to be out of the fashion is more dreadful to women than tears, so it has come to pass that with the increasing vogue of the pearl, less is heard of the superstition and it is dying, not of age or the contempt of knowledge, but by the potency of fashion.
A story already referred to in these pages, that has been current for over two thousand years during which time it has been mentioned by almost every writer about pearls, deserves, for its antiquity and absurdity, consideration here. It is of Cleopatra and the pearl worth upwards of three hundred thousand dollars she is said to have dissolved in wine to drink in costly fashion to her lover. This was, of course, impossible. She may, with the help of the wine have swallowed it like a pill or, as Sir Thomas Gresham did later, have ground it to powder and mixed it with the wine she drank, but to dissolve a pearl of great size as one of this value would be, was a conjurer's feat.
The lime of which a pearl is chiefly composed will dissolve in acid, but the gem although softened, would remain a pulpy mass held by the organic matter interwoven throughout the strata of calcium carbonate. Whatever she really did, or in what form she swallowed the pearl, if she did so, Cleopatra and her pearl are better known to-day to the general public than either of her Roman lovers, and they will probably be handed down through many generations yet to come.
To exaggerate is a common tendency. Dealers usually place inordinately high figures on exceptional gems which they do for several reasons: the great price excites wonder and interest; it makes a large profit possible; it permits considerable reduction to a shrewd buyer; and it pleases the person who finally purchases it, for if the sale is made public the first asking price is usually given as the value of the jewel, and sometimes even that is exceeded. The buyer prefers to have it so because it increases the importance of his possession in the public mind and paves the way for a good price if he too at any time should wish to sell.
One reads constantly in the daily papers of sales where the prices given are enormously beyond the sums actually paid, for the public like big figures. Reporters know this and do not fail to supply the demand. For instance: in an eastern city of the United States, a man while at a lunch counter found a pearl in the oyster he was eating. He took it at once to a jeweller of his acquaintance who handed it to a New York pearl-dealer present and asked him to value it.
The pearl was large and round but, like all such formations in the edible oyster, quite devoid of the nacre which constitutes a true pearl. The dealer so informed them, adding casually, "If it were a true pearl it would be worth several thousand dollars." An evening paper that day had a half column story about it with, "A pearl worth five thousand dollars found in an oyster at a lunch-counter," in black head-lines, and the morning papers of the following day enlarged the story by adding fanciful details.
Undoubtedly in the old days of license when immense fortunes were made not only in trade but by piratical wars, large prices were paid by fortune's favorites for pearls but it is extremely probable that report, bruited from mouth to mouth, exaggerated even more than the printed fables of our times do. It is doubtful if the pearls of ancient chronicles were as fine, judged by the standards of to-day, as we imagine or that all of them were as large as reported. The public were more ignorant about them than now and also more credulous and these invite exaggeration.
Very large pearls which for perfection of shape, luster and freedom from flaws are beyond criticism, are the most rare of all gems. The conditions under which a pearl grows, makes large size, without the development of irregularities in the form and imperfections in the skin, almost impossible; and as they all grow in the same way, by the same process, out of the same sources of supply and subject to the same limitations, we find big and little, fine and ordinary, in about the same proportions as they occurred thousands of years ago; the fish that made them then makes them now, in the same kind of a narrow workshop and within the bounds of a life whose duration has not changed.
Of very ancient historic pearls, the only one of which we have reliable and expert knowledge, is that of the Shah of Persia seen by Tavernier. This and La Peregrina are supposed to be still in existence. Of the very large pearls generally mentioned by writers, three undoubtedly exist, viz., La Pellegrina, the Beresford Hope and one of medium quality in the Austrian Crown weighing about twelve hundred grains.
It is probable that very many pearls have been found, which if generally known would have become celebrated, but of those chronicled, most have passed out of public knowledge. It is probable that some of those about which much has been written were not as beautiful as others which have escaped notoriety. The writer's habit of drawing upon the past to illustrate a subject, has narrowed the literature of pearls to reiterated records of a few great pearls which one by one have been brought to public notice during the past centuries.
Exact and reliable statements about gems are a modern innovation. In the old times unverified report was the only evidence the general public had of them. Crown jewellers, not always quite reliable, would make public some statements in general terms about the jewels of a reigning house. Occasionally, as in the case of France, the state had the crown jewels inventoried so that some fairly definite knowledge could be had of them. Infrequently a traveller published his observations, made under more or less favorable circumstances, of the jewels of some oriental prince. Chief of these was Tavernier, the French jeweller. He not only had expert knowledge of gems but was able by recommendations of the French court, to gain such access to the jewels of eastern princes and dealers that he could make critical examinations of them.
For various reasons it is extremely difficult also in these days to obtain accurate knowledge of extraordinary gems. Dealers for business reasons are chary of information, nor will they make such pieces common by allowing many to see and handle them. The buyer is equally averse to publicity, so that exact knowledge does not pass far beyond the dealer and his customer as a rule.
The finest pearl known is that in the Museum of Zosima, in Moscow, called La Pellegrina. It is perfectly round and so lustrous that it appears to be transparent. It weighs about 112 grains and was bought of the captain of an East India ship at Leghorn.
The largest known pearl to-day is in the Beresford Hope collection shown at the South Kensington Museum, London. It is two inches long and its circumference is four and a half inches. It weighs three ounces (1818 grains).
COUNTESS TORBY
Tavernier saw a pearl in 1663 belonging to the Shah of Persia which was valued at 3200 tomans or about $320,000 of our money. It was very perfect, pear-shaped, and nearly three inches long. It is believed to have come from the ancient fishery at Catifa in Arabia. Even this great sum was exceeded by Pliny in his estimate of the pearl Cleopatra is said to have swallowed. He placed the value of that at $375,000. As the Shah's pearl was about three inches long, Cleopatra's must have been large enough to reflect on the story connected with it.
It is said Julius Cæsar presented a pearl valued at an equivalent of nearly $250,000 to Servilla the sister of Cato of Utica and mother of Marcus Junius Brutus. The pearl taken from the ear-drop of Caecilia Metella by Clodius to dissolve and drink in vinegar was valued at $40,000.
A large pear-shaped pearl weighing one thousand grains was found at the island of Margarita off the Colombian coast and given to Philip II. of Spain. Some reports say it was obtained in 1579; others give the date as 1560 and say it was presented to the monarch by Don Diego de Temes. It was valued then at something over $30,000, but Freco, the king's jeweller, said it might be worth twice to twenty times as much for such a gem was priceless. It was later known among the crown jewels as La Peregrina. Prior to this, a companion of Magellan reported having seen two pearls as large as hen's eggs in the possession of the Rajah of Borneo.
The pearl which Sir Thomas Gresham drank in his wine to Elizabeth of England is said to have been worth seventy-five thousand dollars. It was reported some years ago that the Queen of the Gambiers owned a pearl of extraordinary luster, as large as a pigeon's egg. There is a story that in 1779 a pearl weighing 2312 grains which cost in India $22,500, was offered for sale in St. Petersburg. It was called the sleeping lion because of its shape and must have been therefore a baroque.
The republic of Venice presented a pearl to Soliman The Magnificent, Sultan of Turkey, which was valued at $80,000, and Pope Leo X. bought one of a Venetian jeweller for $70,000. These sums make the prices of to-day seem insignificant and it is very probable that many of the pearls which brought such large amounts would not pass criticism now. Perhaps one reason for the scarcity of large pearls among those taken from the fisheries in this age is that many of them are classed as baroques or are not sufficiently fine and perfect to attract attention. They pass therefore among those considered unworthy of notice.
A brown pearl valued at $25,000 was exhibited by Marchisini of Florence at the Maritime International Exhibition at Naples in 1871. Among the Dudley pearls exhibited at the London Exhibition of 1872 was a necklace of exceptionally fine pearls valued at $150,000. The late Czar of Russia spent twenty-five years in collecting sufficient perfect Virgin pearls to form a necklace for his wife. The Countess Henckel owns a necklace of pearls which for value and associations is unrivalled. It is composed of three strands, each at one time being a separate and historical necklace. One was the famous necklace belonging to the Empress Eugénie which has been valued at £20,000; one known as "the necklace of the Virgin of Atokha," formerly owned by a member of the Spanish nobility, the third belonged to the ex-Queen of Naples. For value this is exceeded by a single strand necklace of large pearls lately bought by a western millionaire of the United States. It is composed of thirty-seven pearls ranging from eighteen to fifty-two and three-quarter grains each, the latter being the largest central pearl. The combined weight of the pearls is 979-3/4 grains and the value is given at $400,000.
A very beautiful and nearly perfect pear-shaped pearl was found on the north-east coast of Australia in the seventies. It weighed 159 grains. There is a pearl about the size of a pigeon's egg in the French crown jewels, valued at $8,000. Many fine pearls, especially black or colored, have been found on the Mexican coast during the last twenty-five years, among them a black pearl of 162 grains and another of 108 grains, a white pear-shape weighing 176 grains, an oval of 128 grains, and three weighing 300 grains, 180 grains and 372 grains respectively, the first two being found in the same year.
In the World's Fair in Paris, 1889, seven black pearls from this district, valued at $22,000 were exhibited. These and others are described in "Gems and Precious Stones" by Kunz. No fresh-water pearl has attained an equal notoriety with the Queen pearl found at Notch Brook near Paterson, New Jersey, in 1857. It weighed 93 grains and was sold to the Empress Eugénie.
Another round pearl of 400 grains, ruined by boiling, had it been properly extracted from the mussel, would probably have been the finest and most notable pearl of this age, though another as large as a pigeon's egg, dropped from the mollusk and lost when the shell was opened, might have rivalled it. The finder was wading in a stream in Ohio, feeling for the projecting edges of the mussels with his feet, and opening them as he brought them to the surface, as was custom there. This, however, may have been like the fish that got away.