It would be extremely interesting if we could find at this early date (sixth century A.D.) an indication of the use of the system of computing the value of pearls by the square of their weight as expressed in some weight unit, and it is singular that the three valuations given for the weight in guñjas are graduated in accordance with this system. A pearl weighing 2½ guñjas and valued at 35 kârṣapâṇas would have a base value of 5.6 kârṣâpaṇas. Estimated at this ratio we would have the following figures:
| 3 guñjas | 50.4 kârṣâpaṇas |
| 4 guñjas | 89.6 kârṣâpaṇas |
Now, the values actually given are 50 and 90 kârṣâpaṇas, respectively, and these figures are easily obtained by rejecting the fraction that is less than one half and counting the fraction that is in excess of one half as a unit. After this, however, the progression becomes irregular. A pearl weighing 1 mâṣaka (5 guñjas) is valued at 135 kârṣâpaṇas, while the equivalent according to the system would be 140. However, it is possible that the writer may have changed this figure intentionally so as to add exactly one half to the preceding valuation (90 + 45 = 135). The succeeding values bear no relation to the system and appear to be entirely arbitrary. Still, it can scarcely be due to hazard that the first three figures are practically in exact accord with the system and the fourth in close approximation. As the change seems to come when the weight is expressed in mâṣakas instead of guñjas, we are tempted to think that the system may have been used for single pearls weighing less than twelve grains (1 mâṣaka = 11¼ grains), while the value of those over that weight was estimated in a different way.
In a much later Hindu treatise, by Buddhabhatta, after certain values have been given for pearls of the best quality, a pearl of this class is described as follows:
White, round, heavy, smooth, luminous, spotless, the pearl gifted with these qualities is called qualified (guṇavat). If it be yellow, it is worth half this price; if it be not round, a third; if flat or triangular, a sixth.[[386]]
One of the earliest records we have of a system of prices for pearls is the treatise on precious stones written in the year 1265, by Ahmed ibn Yusuf al Teifashi, who was probably a native jeweler of Egypt. In his time pearls were sold in Bagdad in bunches of ten strings, each string comprising thirty-six pearls. If one of these strings weighed one sixth of a miskal (four carats or sixteen grains), the ten strings were valued at four dinars (about ten dollars). The values increased progressively as follows:[[387]]
| Average weight of each pearl | 10 strings of 36 pearls, weight of each string | Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grains | Carats | Grains | Dinars | U. S. money |
| ½ | 4 | 16 | 4 | $10.00 |
| ⅔ | 6 | 24 | 5 | 12.50 |
| 1⅓ | 12 | 48 | 6 | 15.00 |
| 2 | 18 | 72 | 10 | 25.00 |
| 3⅓ | 30 | 120 | 15 | 37.50 |
| 4 | 36 | 144 | 20 | 50.00 |
| 4⅓ | 42 | 168 | 25 | 62.50 |
| 5⅓ | 48 | 192 | 35 | 87.50 |
| 6 | 54 | 216 | 40 | 100.00 |
| 7⅓ | 66 | 264 | 70 | 175.00 |
| 8 | 72 | 288 | 80 | 200.00 |
| 9⅓ | 84 | 336 | 110 | 275.00 |
| 10 | 90 | 360 | 150 | 375.00 |
| 10⅔ | 96 | 384 | 200 | 500.00 |
| 12 | 108 | 432 | 400 | 1000.00 |
| 12⅔ | 114 | 456 | 550 | 1375.00 |
| 13⅓ | 120 | 480 | 650 | 1625.00 |
| 14 | 126 | 504 | 750 | 1875.00 |
| 14⅔ | 132 | 528 | 800 | 2000.00 |
| 16 | 144 | 576 | 1000 | 2500.00 |
| 18⅔ | 168 | 672 | 1500 | 3750.00 |
Al Teifashi then proceeds to describe a pearl of the first quality; it must be “perfectly round in all its parts, colorless and gifted with a fine water. When a pearl possesses these requisites and weighs one miskal [24 carats or 96 grains] it is worth 300 dinars [$750]. If, however, a match is found for this pearl and each one weighs one miskal and has the same form, the two pearls together cost 700 dinars [$1750].” This writer also mentions that in the shops of the Arab jewelers, the pearl which exceeded the weight of a drachma (12 carats or 48 grains) even by one grain, was called dorra, while the name johar was used for that which did not reach the above weight.
In 1838, Feuchtwanger gave the price of a one-carat pearl as five dollars, and used this amount as the multiplier of the square of the weight; therefore, a four-carat pearl would cost four times four multiplied by five dollars, the value of the first carat; that is to say, a sixteen-grain (four-carat) pearl would have been worth eighty dollars in 1838, according to this computation.
