At the sale of the jewels of Lady Henry Gordon-Lennox, held at Christie’s on May 12, 1907, a splendid necklace was offered. It comprised 287 graduated pearls of the finest orient, disposed in five rows, with a large circular pearl. This magnificent ornament was sold for £25,500 ($127,500).
On July 11, 1907, a splendid necklace of forty-nine graduated pearls, of fine luster and carefully matched, was sold at auction by Debenham and Storr of London, for the sum of £5600 ($28,000). At the same sale a single-row necklace of forty-five pearls brought £5300 ($26,500), and a rope of oriental pearls realized £4500 ($22,500).
At the auction sale of the collection of the late Bishop Bubics of Hungary, among other objects, a very handsome saber pouch was offered, of the style worn by the Hungarian hussars. It was of green silk and richly embroidered with hundreds of pearls of varying sizes. After a spirited competition this pouch was sold to Prince Esterhazy for 13,500 crowns ($2700). Some time after the sale a letter from the late bishop was found, containing the statement that he had borrowed the ornament from the jewel-room of the Princess Esterhazy. Naturally, Prince Esterhazy was not called upon to pay the amount of his bid. It is a gratification to know that at least one of the remarkable Magyar jeweled ornaments has escaped the cupidity of enterprising jewelers who have broken up so many of these ornaments for the gems which they contained.
| A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL GREAT PEARLS OF HISTORY | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weight | ||
| Charles the Bold’s Pearls. Three, each about | 60 grains | |
| Gomara Pearl, 31 carats | 124 grains | |
| Oviedo Pearl, 26 carats | ||
| (probably the Morales or Pizarro Pearl) | 104 grains | |
| La Peregrina | 134 grains | |
| Charles II’s Pearl, (nearly equal to La Peregrina) | ||
| Morales and Pizarro Pearl, 26 carats | 104 grains | |
| Rudolph II’s Pearl, 30 carats | 120 grains | |
| Tavernier’s Pearls: | ||
| Shah Sofi’s Pearl (estimated) | 500 grains | |
| Imam of Muscat’s Pearl, 121⁄16 carats | 48¼ grains | |
| Shaista Khan Pearl, 55 carats | 220 grains | |
| Great Mogul’s Pearls: | ||
| Peacock Throne Pearl | 200 grains | |
| Two pear-shaped, one about 70 ratis | 186.2 grains | |
| Olive-shaped pearl (estimated) | 125 grains | |
| One button-shaped, 55–60 ratis | 146.3–159.6 grains | |
| One round pearl, 56 ratis (gift of the Shah Abbas II) | 148.9 grains | |
| Round pearl (estimated)[[526]] | 110 grains | |
| Three yellowish pearls, 25–28 ratis | 66.5–74.5 grains | |
| One perfectly round pearl, 35½ ratis | 94½ grains | |
| Two perfectly shaped and equal, each 25¼ ratis | 67.1 grains | |
| La Reine des Perles | 109¼ grains | |
| Pearls of Maria Theresa’s Necklace (three) | 92–100 grains | |
| La Régente (now owned by Princess Yousoupoff) | 337 grains | |
| La Pellegrina | 111½ grains | |
| The Ynaffit, pear-shaped | 143⅛ grains | |
| Hope Pearl, drop-shaped baroque | 1800 grains | |
| Also in the Hope Collection: | ||
| Conical pearl | 151 grains | |
| Bouton pearl | 124 grains | |
| Oval pearl | 94 grains | |
| Roughly spherical pearl | 89 grains | |
| Acorn-shaped pearl | 85 grains | |
| Oval conch pearl | 82¼ grains | |
| Button-shaped conch pearl | 77½ grains | |
| Drop-shaped pearl | 76½ grains | |
| Pear-shaped Scotch pearl | 34¾ grains | |
| Van Buren Pearls: | ||
| Two, each about | 30 grains | |
| Also necklace 148 pearls | 700 grains | |
| Tiffany Queen Pearl, American | 93 grains | |
| Black bouton earring-pearl | 88 grains | |
| White bouton earring-pearl | 93 grains | |
| Bapst Pearls, two | 113¼ and 113¾ grains | |
| Round pearl of Paris Exposition of 1889 | 70 grains | |
| Mme. Nordica’s Pearl (abalone) | 175 grains | |
| Great Bahama Conch Pearl | 138¼ grains | |
| The Queen Conch Pearl | 90 grains | |
| W. H. Moore’s Pearl (Arkansas pearl, brown) | 122½ grains | |
| Shark’s Bay Pearl, golden yellow | 30½ grains | |
| Rudolph II Crown Pearl, 26 carats | 104 grains | |
| Carlotta’s Pearl, pear-shaped | 84 grains | |
| Marquis of Anglesey’s Pearl, drop-shaped | 105½ grains | |
| Black pear-shaped pearl (Lower California) | 49 grains | |
XVII
THE ABORIGINAL USE OF PEARLS, AND THEIR DISCOVERY IN MOUNDS AND GRAVES
XVII
THE ABORIGINAL USE OF PEARLS, AND THEIR DISCOVERY IN MOUNDS AND GRAVES
The use of pearls by the aborigines of the territory now comprised in the United States is proven by their appearance in the mounds and certain graves of pre-Columbian date. This is of great interest in view of the unique system of burial and the great variety of objects buried with the pearls. It is evident from the quantities discovered in some of the mounds that a very great number of pearls, many of large size, must have been owned by these aborigines, and they were evidently quite expert in the art of drilling them. Pearls must have been freely used for ornamental purposes, and it is clear that many rivers in this region must have produced them in great numbers, when we consider that in all probability the mussels were taken only as they were required for food or for bait in fishing, and had probably reached their full growth.
It is not unlikely that pearls were used on this continent for a long period, and they may have been in use centuries before any employment was made of them in Europe. In the age of the mound-builders there were as many pearls in the possession of a single tribe of Indians as existed in any European court. We have no means of ascertaining the precise date of any of these burials, and there are no historical records relating to this region, such as were kept in Mexico as well as in Europe and Asia. No trace has been found of the employment of pearls, either for decoration or ornament, by the aborigines of Europe or Asia; either they did not use them or else the pearls have entirely passed away in the course of twenty or more centuries. We do know, however, that neither pearls nor Unio shells were used by any of the lake-dwellers of Switzerland or the adjacent countries.
Many eminent archæologists have investigated the finding and history of the pearls of the mound-builders of Ohio and Alabama, especially Squier and Davis, F. W. Putnam, Warren K. Moorehead, C. C. Jones, W. C. Mills, and Clarence B. Moore. The discoveries made up to 1890 were fully treated by one of the writers in several pamphlets (one of them, “Gems and Precious Stones of North America”).