Many sentimental recitals have appeared in the press during the last ten years in regard to the dying of pearls. In connection with this there is a beautiful though mythical story to the effect that Carlotta, wife of the ill-fated Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, was the possessor of a large collection of pearls which had died, and that these pearls had been placed in a casket and sunk in the depths of the Adriatic, opposite the beautiful but unhappy palace home, Miramar, in the hope that the salt water would revive and restore their original luster. When, however, the time came to bring up the pearls from the sea, it was found that the casket had, in some way, broken loose from the chains, and all trace of it was lost. It is needless to state that there was absolutely no foundation for this romantic tale; indeed, these very pearls were afterward sold. Furthermore, pearls have never lived, and hence they can never die. They do, however, decay, if exposed to influences which destroy either the calcareous or the animal layer of the pearl itself. This is due to many causes: first, overheating, sometimes through the inexperience of a pearl driller; secondly, undue exposure to heat in the washing of a pearl necklace; thirdly, exposure to acids or acid fumes. Apparently there seems to be some foundation for the belief that if they are confined in safe-deposit boxes, probably in contact with wool or with the colored velvets of jewel-cases, the skin of the pearl may be more or less affected. There is no question that in the oriental fisheries so-called dead pearls have been found in the shell itself, probably owing to some disease of the pearl-oyster; and they have also appeared in the fresh-water pearl fisheries of the United States, where the pearls have been too long boiled in the opening of the shell, or where they have been swallowed and have passed through the body of some ruminant, such as a hog, etc.
Facsimile letter of M. Gaston Mogeaud, Director of the Louvre, Paris, stating that the Madame Thiers’ pearls are in perfect condition, and have never been in better health.
MADAME THIERS’S PEARL NECKLACE, BEQUEATHED TO THE LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS
Probably about no necklace has more been printed than about the famous necklace of Madame Thiers, now in the Louvre Museum of Paris. Article after article has gone over the face of the earth, stating that the pearls in this necklace were dying, and that a record was being kept of the slow death that was overtaking them. Through the courtesy of the director of the museum, M. Gaston Mogeaud, we are permitted to reproduce the following statement from a letter, showing very clearly that there is absolutely no truth in the assertion, and that this necklace has in no way suffered, or is likely to suffer, for many years to come.
“The necklace of Madame Thiers has caused much ink to flow, to such an extent that, a few months ago, the minister ordered an examination to be made by three expert jewelers, who have found that the pearls are in perfect condition, and have never been in better health.”
For assuring the safety of jewels there are the primitive methods such as are used in the East Indies, of hiding pearls in out-of-the-way places, where they often escape detection; or else they may be protected by means of an armored room, like the gem-room that contained the wonderful collection of the Duke of Brunswick when he resided in Paris. Decoy necklaces have even been made to represent the original, and so placed that they were taken away by the highwayman or stolen by the burglar under the belief that he was stealing the jewels; while in other cases the pearls have been carried in receptacles that would not be taken for jewel-caskets, a device resorted to by some travelers.
A word in regard to the former system of strong boxes or small safes for the home. These protect from fire and from the ordinary thief, but they have sometimes not proved so invulnerable to the expert cracksman. Quite recently a jewel chest has been devised which can be placed in a trunk and carried from city to city by the owner. It is provided with an exceedingly sensitive electrical apparatus, by means of which a loud burglar alarm is set off should the chest be lifted even one thirty-second of an inch or jarred ever so slightly. This alarm is set automatically when the owner turns the key, and if once started, it will ring for a couple of hours, stopping only when the box is unlocked, thus preventing the carrying away of what is otherwise a portable box.
Lastly, there are the more advanced methods, in use during the past two centuries, such as taking the jewels to a banker and allowing him to place them in his vault, where they are guarded as well as are his own belongings, but not always with the security of the modern safe-deposit vaults, where the gems are absolutely under the control of the owner, and can frequently be obtained at any hour of the day; or as safely kept as they are when deposited in the safe deposit of the jeweler, in whose establishment they can be cleaned, repaired, added to, or changed without risking their removal to another building.