| DOWAGER CZARINA OF RUSSIA | GRAND DUCHESS VLADIMIR | GRAND DUCHESS MARIE PAVLOVNA |
| Years | Clear pearls No. | Half clear pearls No. | Sand pearls No. | Damaged pearls No. | Total No. | Average per year No. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1720–1739 | 1,809 | 727 | 1,201 | 552 | 4,289 | 214 |
| 1740–1759 | 1,412 | 578 | 484 | 281 | 2,755 | 138 |
| 1760–1779 | 1,042 | 272 | 427 | 219 | 1,960 | 98 |
| 1780–1799 | 1,261 | 243 | 357 | 179 | 2,040 | 102 |
| 1800–1819 | 1,603 | 261 | 325 | 203 | 2,392 | 120 |
| 1820–1839 | 1,659 | 340 | 326 | 326 | 2,651 | 133 |
| 1840–1859 | 1,884 | 610 | 387 | 505 | 3,386 | 169 |
| 1860–1879 | 1,618 | 682 | 450 | 514 | 3,264 | 163 |
| 1880–1899 | 471 | 394 | 86 | 373 | 1,324 | 66 |
| 1900–1905 | 79 | 161 | 22 | 86 | 348 | 58 |
| Total in 186 years | 12,838 | 4,268 | 4,065 | 3,238 | 24,409 | |
| Average per year | 69 | 23 | 22 | 17 | 131 | |
In recent years the development of manufacturing industries in Saxony and the resultant pollution of the water has greatly reduced the abundance of the mollusks and consequently the output has been much restricted. The average annual yield in the twenty years ending in 1879 was 163 pearls; in the twenty years ending in 1899 it was 66 pearls, and in the six years ending in 1905 the annual average was 58 pearls. Owing to high water, there was no fishing in 1888; and with a view to permitting the resources to recuperate, the fishery was suspended from 1896 to 1899, inclusive. Omitting these five years, the average yield during each season in the two decades ending 1899 was 88 pearls.
At the end of each season, the pearls secured are turned over to the director of forestry for the district of Auerbach; by him they were formerly sent to the royal cabinet of natural history, or to the royal collection at Dresden, but since 1830 they have been sent to the royal minister of finance, by whom they are sold each year. The total proceeds from these sales now amount to about 55,000 marks.
In former times, according to Dr. Nitsche, it was customary to use these pearls in making royal ornaments. This was the origin of the famous Elster necklace, consisting of 177 pearls, now in the art collection in the Grüne Gewölbe in the palace at Dresden. Another assortment in that collection consists of nine choice, well-matched pearls, weighing 140 grains. For a necklace of Saxon pearls, the property of a duchess of Sachsen-Zeitz, the sum of 40,000 thalers ($28,400) is said to have been refused.
In Prussian Silesia the pearl-mussel is found in the upper tributaries of the Oder, especially in Bober River from Löwenberg to the sources among the foot-hills of the beautiful Riesengebirge, in the Lusatian Neisse to Görlitz, the Queiss above Marklissa, and in the Juppel as far as Weidenau. The Queiss has been famous for its pearls since the sixteenth century, and even yet specimens of great beauty are obtained therefrom. As long ago as 1690, Ledel complained of the diminution of the number of mollusks owing to their wilful destruction by children; and in 1729 the government issued a rescript in Upper Lusatia (Oberlausitz) recommending the care of the young mollusks.[[214]]
Pearls are also found in the White Main a short distance from its source, in the head waters of the Saale, and in numerous other mountain-draining streams of middle Germany. Indeed, references could be made to the discovery of pearls in nearly every stream of Germany at some time during the last three or four centuries.
The records of pearl fisheries in the province of Hanover were traced by Von Hessling as far back as the sixteenth century, when they were prosecuted in the Aller, Ovia or Om, Lua or Low, and in the Seva in the district of Lüneburg. During the reign of Christian Ludwig (1641–65) and in that of George William (1666–1705), pearl fishing was carried on by the state, and old records of the former district of Bodenteich note the customs and practices of that period and of earlier times, and the implements employed. In 1706, for instance, 265 clear and 292 imperfect pearls were taken by three official fishermen from the Gerdauerbach. Gradually, however, owing to indifferent management, the brooks yielded less and less; the government seems to have entirely abandoned supervision of them, so that, according to Taube’s “Communication,”[[215]] slight results were obtained in 1766; indeed, only a few pearls could be shown as curiosities.[[216]]
Regarding the condition of the Hanoverian pearl-brooks, especially of those in the vicinity of Uelzen, Möbius wrote: “Uelzen lies at the confluence of eleven small rivulets, three of which, the Wipperau, the Gerdau and the Barnbeck, contain pearl-mussels. Fishing has been pursued here for centuries, and there exists an old regulation of the sixteenth century in regard to the pearl fisheries in the Ilmenau. Even at the present day, hundreds of pearls are found here which command a good price when they are bright and of good form. These either have a silvery sheen or they are of a reddish color. The season for fishing is during the months of July and August. The pearls are usually found in deformed shells. Their shape varies greatly; most of them are flat on one side. Naturally those which are spherical are the best, but the pear shapes are highly prized.” Möbius frequently failed to find one pearl in a hundred shells, but at other times he came across six or eight in this quantity. Most of the mussels are found in the deepest places, especially near the banks of the streams. One end of the shell usually projects out of the sand. The fisherman is represented as feeling about the bottom with his feet, and when he finds a shell, he seizes it between his toes, picks it out, and then places it in the basket suspended from his neck.[[217]]
