Chapter XVIII: Act III: , sc. 5 (3)

Half-pearls is the name given to such pearls as are round and spherically domed, and are either somewhat flat or almost the shape of one half of a whole pearl of the same diameter. They are usually made by cutting off the best part of a hemispherical bright spot from a large irregular pearl; frequently two to four cuttings are made from the bright spots of a single pearl, each of the cuttings having the appearance of half a pearl.

The so-called Indian pearls have a faint rosy tint with much orient. These are generally pearls from the Ceylonese fisheries that are sold from the Bombay side. The term “Madras white” describes the whiter varieties, there being a preference for these in Madras, while the rosy, yellow, and darker shades are favored in Bombay.

Australian pearls are generally a pure waxy white and lustrous, often with a silver-white sheen, extremely brilliant and beautiful.

Nearly all the Venezuela and Panama pearls have a faint golden-yellow tint, very often extremely lustrous, and are especially desired by the darker skinned people and brunettes.

The preference at various times has varied with different peoples: in China and India, golden-yellow and satin-yellow pearls are preferred; from Panama we have the very white; in Bombay the yellow pearls from the Persian Gulf are highly appreciated.

Yellow pearls from other shells than the pearl-oyster are frequently offered for sale in the East, where they are greatly appreciated, although they find little favor in England. Some of these pearls are attributed to the pearly nautilus (_Nautilus pompilius_). This may be the case with those that have a pearly luster, but those that have the appearance of porcelain, and are as bright as polished china, are certainly not from this shell, but evidently from the large Melo or other shells of that character. Some may come from the large conch (_Cassis madagascarensis_). A yellow pearl, very perfect in form and color, and weighing more than one hundred grains, was shown at the Paris Exposition of 1889 and was valued at 50,000 francs.

Wonderful golden-yellow pearls with a saffron tint are unusually lustrous and beautiful. One of the most remarkable pearls of this character is of a brilliant golden-yellow color which belongs to an American lady, and weighs 30½ grains. These pearls are from Shark’s Bay, West Australia, and only a limited number of them are found annually.

Black pearls do not seem to have been regarded with any favor by the ancients, and we find no mention of them by medieval writers. Only fifty years ago a perfectly round, black pearl, weighing 8 grains, was sold for £4 ($20); to-day this pearl would easily bring £100 ($500). Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, may be said to have brought them into favor; she owned a splendid necklace of black pearls which was sold at Christie’s, after the fall of Napoleon, for the sum of £4000 ($20,000). Some time later, the Marquis of Bath bought, at Christie’s, the pearl which formed the clasp of the necklace, paying £1000 ($5000) for it; he destined it for the center of a bracelet.

Greenish-black pearls are perhaps valued higher than any other colored pearls, if they have the proper orient; this is probably partly owing to their rarity. A bluish-black pearl possessing a fine orient commands almost the same price as a pure black pearl. Those which are found in the _Placuna placenta_ are often of a dull gray hue, while those produced by the _Pinna squamosa_ are generally brown in color.

Baroque pearls were formerly much worn and appreciated in Spain and Poland. Their price varies greatly, according to their size, their beauty, and also to their scarcity in any particular place. The pieces of pearl detached from the shells—often half-pearl and half mother-of-pearl, and called “de fantaisie”—are always very irregular in form, and sometimes offer a certain resemblance to a part of the human or animal form.[405]

How is it that such quantities of jewels are continually brought from the East, and such a wealth of them continues to exist there, when there are now no very extensive mines that maintain a constant supply? The reason is that from time immemorial, precious stones have been the form in which wealth, in those lands, has been hoarded and preserved. Until very recently, in the Orient, interest-bearing securities have been unknown; and hence jewels have been sought and kept as an investment, and sold only when money was needed for special purposes, as in times of war, famine, or other emergency.

Their small bulk made them easy to conceal and to transport, and hence they were well adapted for such use. How long this condition will last, is perhaps dependent only upon the introduction of interest-paying investments, and of the new forms of Western civilization that involve greater expenses and require means of income in excess of the older and simpler conditions.

The wealth of jewels possessed by Oriental monarchs, notables, and dealers, has been the theme of story and tradition, time out of mind. We of the West have been disposed to regard these tales as largely exaggerated, and to some extent they may be; yet any one who has witnessed an important social function or state occasion where East Indian rajahs and nabobs are present, knows that the profusion of jewels which they wear is simply astounding to our Western eyes. These objects represent, moreover, the gatherings of generations and centuries; they are heirlooms and ancestral treasures, priceless to their owners as the pride of their houses; handed down from fathers to sons in long succession; and they have also the investment feature already noted, in that whenever necessity arises they can be turned into available funds.

The manner of keeping and of selling such objects is also different from ours. If it be a question of buying gems from an Eastern owner, the best are never shown first, but on the contrary, the most inferior. The purchaser must either be content with these, or else must prove clearly that he is a substantial buyer or evince a knowledge and appreciation that mark him as a judge of such objects. The order in which they are produced is, first the poorest, then successively, poor, medium, fair, good, fine, and at last the rare and wonderful prizes.

In visiting an Oriental dignitary, his jewel-treasures are not all shown at once, as at an American reception or an Indian durbar, or even as a collector or connoisseur among us exhibits his cabinet, arranged for choice display. The method is far different. The visitor may be shown a few objects in the first day or hour; perhaps a few more later in the day; some on the next day or the one following, and so on; and he may remain a guest for weeks, and never see all, or the finest of the jewels belonging to his host. When they are produced, moreover, they are not in iron caskets or in gold or silver jewel-cases, covered or lined with fine leather or with silk or satin. On the contrary, they are often in old ginger jars, shabby boxes, tin cans, and all sorts of unsightly or unpromising receptacles, which, when placed between the owner and his guest, may well cause the latter to wonder. Nor is his surprise lessened as the wrappings are unfolded, one after another, perhaps a dozen old cloths, until the piece of jewelry or the splendid pearl is at last brought to view, after having been hidden from sight in its manifold wrappings for months or perhaps for years.

But this method of keeping such treasures is not in reality so strange as it appears. There are none of the provisions that we have for the responsible safe-guarding of investments or valuable objects,—no fire-proof safes, no banks, no deposit-vaults. Security is best attained by concealment in unattractive and improbable receptacles, and by dividing and distributing the treasured objects. The owner, too, must learn to know his visitor quite well before he exhibits to him all, or the best, that he possesses. Hence the oriental method, though so peculiar to us, has been the best adapted to the conditions among those peoples.

Seed-pearls and gold; Chinese ornaments of the nineteenth century
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Complete set of seed-pearl jewelry in original case

New York, 1860
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As an illustration of the interest taken by Oriental potentates in the collection of jewels, we quote an instance from Marco Polo, who, centuries ago, wrote the following:[406] “Several times every year the King of Maabar sends his proclamation through the realm that if any one who possesses a pearl or stone of great value will bring it to him, he will pay for it twice as much as it cost. Everybody is glad to do this, and thus the King gets all into his own hands, giving every man his price.”

Great quantities of pearls, the result of centuries of accumulation, and exceeding in splendor the collections of the present day, must have been garnered up in many cities of the Orient during the period of their prosperity. But these cities have disappeared, wrecked and ruined by fire and sword, and no vestige of their former wealth remains with them. Their treasures have been looted, hoarded, buried, or scattered to the four ends of the Orient, frequently finding their way in former times to Europe, but now more often to America, where fine gems always find a generous buyer.

In Syria, and some of the Oriental countries, until recently, and perhaps at the present time, it has been the custom, when a native wished to embark in the pearl business, for him to allow himself to drift gradually into a state of vagrancy, becoming a veritable tramp for fully a year. Then, with the money that he had himself or that which was supplied by his backer, he would visit the pearl fisheries and shrewdly acquire the gems to the best advantage, returning again as a vagrant; for if it were known at any point along the route that he carried with him sums of money his life would be in jeopardy, and he would probably never reach the fisheries; or, if he did, the chances are that he would never return. This may remind us of Marco Polo’s old coat, in which he had concealed some valuable gems, the gift of the Grand Khan. His wife heedlessly gave the coat to a beggar and it was only regained by a clever stratagem.

The product of the pearl fisheries, either that of entire fisheries where they are managed by a company, or the gatherings of merchants, or even the single gems which may be acquired by the smaller merchants, all these usually find their way to the great markets, although occasionally they change hands at once. In the East they are sent either to Bombay, Calcutta, Madras or Colombo; frequently they are intended for a higher market. Many of them remain in the East, for in the East to-day a fine pearl is as much prized as ever, and there are those who love pearls as much as did the King of Maabar in the time of Marco Polo. However, the world over, there is a feeling that if things are sent to the greatest market there will be an opportunity for disposing of them at the greatest price. Therefore, the larger number of parcels of exceptionally fine pearls are sent to the London market, a few of them going to Paris, the cable, often within a few days after their arrival, informing the sender of the acceptance or rejection of a parcel, or of a new offer which is often accepted. In this market they are acquired by the dealers, who frequently exhibit many times before the lot is purchased.

Pearls from a fishery are in many cases of mixed quality; that is to say, they are of different sizes and varying grades of perfection as regards skin, color, and orient. These parcels are often sold directly on offers to dealers, but generally they are sold by brokers who show the various parcels to the dealers, each of the latter in turn making his offer on that portion of the parcel which is of most value to him. Thus a single dealer may want one pearl, a dozen, or even twenty or more, to complete a great necklace, or else to add to, or improve the necklace, by better graduation or by increasing the evenness of the color. When the broker receives enough offers to give him the desired price for the entire parcel, the sale is consummated, and each one who has made an offer and who has sealed his particular parcel until his offer is accepted or rejected, receives his portion. Pearls do not grow in the form of necklaces, although they are frequently seen in this form only, and to create a large necklace means not only the use of the pearls of one fishery alone, but it often requires a selection from pearls of various sizes, the product of many fisheries.

It is needless to say that even the shrewdest dealers do not always succeed in their purchases of lots which are to be broken up when the proper number of bids are obtained.

When the pearl revival came in 1898 there was a sudden and rapid upward tendency in the prices, because at that time, in England, money could be borrowed upon a very low rate of interest—as low as 3 per cent.,—and it was a temptation to a number of young men to enter as dealers into the pearl trade. The result was that a number of new stocks were created, not for a regular, but for a speculative demand, and this tended to advance the price spasmodically, rather than gradually, as it would have risen by regular consumption. However, when the foreign market became higher, the demand for pearls was not as great as had been anticipated, and there was a sudden adjustment of prices and a readjustment of the pearl stocks, resulting in the elimination of a certain number of speculative dealers; and, notwithstanding the state of the fisheries, pearls have not advanced so rapidly in the past two years as they did from 1898 to 1905.

More than go per cent. of the pearls of commerce, whether they are round, perfect, half- or seed-pearls, are of oriental origin; that is, pearls from the true pearl-oyster. About 8 per cent. are probably from the fresh-water mussels, three fourths of which are from the United States.

American fresh-water pearls have had many prejudices to overcome, often because of the natural indifference in regard to anything that is found at home or is easily obtainable. It has been said that, in comparison with foreign pearls, they had less specific gravity; that they were not so hard, and that their luster was not as good. It is certain, however, that the skin is generally smooth, and although they may not have so peculiar an orient, their brilliancy equals that of any known pearls. Sometimes they are translucent and either pink or of a faintly bluish tint, like molten silver. More frequently their hue is white, rose, pale yellow, or pale copper, deepening to copper red until they resemble the most intense and highly polished copper button.

According to the estimates of the value of European fresh-water pearls given by seventeenth and eighteenth century writers, their worth was considered to be one half that of oriental pearls of approximately the same quality. Few European pearls, we feel sure, were ever found that possessed the wonderful beauty and brilliancy of the pearls found either in the Miami or the Mississippi and its many tributaries.

So great a quantity of the poorer quality of pearls have been found, principally in the Mississippi Valley, that a foreign dealer has bought 30,000 ounces of baroque pearls at $1 an ounce, and of the slightly better grades fully 100,000 dollars’ worth were obtained in the year 1906. The exportation was strictly limited to the poorer qualities. When pearls are worth from $1 to $6 a grain and upward, they are rarely sent abroad, as the regular pearls of this quality are much appreciated by Americans, and find a ready sale in the United States. The poor pearls above mentioned were principally sent to New York, either from the local fishermen, or else through the dealers in sweet-water shells, in lots of a fraction of an ounce, or in bags weighing a number of pounds. Thirty thousand ounces would equal 18,180,000 grains.

After all the fine pearls have been selected—buttons, baroques, turtle-backs, haystacks, wings, petals and other pearls that can be used in any way as a jewel on this side of the water—the balance of the material is sold by the ounce, varying in price from $1 to $5. These are shipped to Germany, France, and Austria, where they are again selected for cheaper forms of jewelry than are made in the United States. Of these pearls the baroques and slugs go mainly to Germany, while the somewhat finer ones are sent to France, where they are used in artistic but inexpensive work, such as flowers and other imitative forms, and in _art nouveau_ jewelry. Some, again, are shipped to Algiers, Morocco, and Egypt, for the decoration of saddles, garments, etc., and quantities go to India to be used for medicinal purposes. In this way all the material is utilized and even the poorest is not wasted. No better proof can be required of the wide-spread appreciation of the pearl among all the races of mankind.

So extensive has become the finding of American pearls that great quantities have been gathered together of all varieties. At the time of this writing there are many large single lots of these pearls, slightly irregular, and not of fine quality, but yet of sufficient regularity of size to be termed baroques. At one time such quantities were gotten together that single papers of pearls, weighing one fourth, one half, one, two or three grains each, contained more than 10,000 grains, and quantities of the wing and dog-tooth varieties weighing as much as 20,000 grains were inclosed in a single paper.

So prolific has been the yield of these common American pearls that the markets of Europe and Asia have almost been flooded with them. In 1906, a single shipment of 3500 ounces, troy (equaling over 2,100,000 grains), were sent abroad, at prices varying from $1 to $15 per ounce, according to the quality. This alone would represent a worth of $30,000 at one time.

The turtleback is a form quite prevalent among American pearls, and they are often matched in pairs slightly resembling each other and weighing from 10 to 100 or more grains for each pair. Some of them are lustrous and many are of very good color and regular in form. Although differing but little in shape, they naturally are much less expensive than a finer formed pearl, and many of them have been sold for link buttons, and more especially for earscrews. Although they formerly sold for 50 cents a grain, they are now held at from $1 to $8 per grain.

In regard to the prices of some of the finer American pearls, one of 15 grains, of wonderful brilliancy, luster, and perfection, was sold for more than $2500–$166 a grain, or a base value of over $11 a grain. Two extraordinarily well-matched button pearls, weighing a trifle over 30 grains, were held at about $3500, or $115 a grain, a base value of about $8 a grain.

At the time of this writing there are for sale in the United States a pair of button earrings, almost round, not of absolutely perfect color, weighing about 140 grains, the price being $6000; a round, slightly ovate pearl, not of the finest color, weighing 85 grains, held at $3500; and a wonderful pearl with a rich, faintly pink luster, round, but slightly button on each side, weighing about 44 grains, and beautiful as are American pearls, is held at a fanciful valuation of over $6000.

The cupidity of many of the American pearl finders and pearl dealers cannot be exceeded even by that of the foreign pearl finder in any other land, and this is shown by the variety of materials that from time to time are sold to the unsuspecting public, or that are sent to pearl dealers in the large cities. This is surprising and suggests either that the sender believes the pearl dealers are not familiar with these deceptions, or else that he himself has been imposed upon, and is innocent in his commercial deceit. Among the notable examples are, first, spheres made out of the various shells, either from a good part of the material or from hinge-material, or else from the spot where the mussel is attached, these pieces of the shell being rounded and polished; such spheres vary in color from white to pink or yellow, just as the shell itself may have been colored. Second, the pupils of fish-eyes. Third, imitation pearls. Fourth, yellow or brown translucent or transparent masses of hinge-binding material having no greater hardness than horn, and about the same appearance. The most interesting, however, are the absolutely beautiful, smooth spheres of anthracite coal, which admits of a rich polish and has a peculiar luster; these they attempt to pass off as black pearls.

It is interesting to note that in Arkansas a negro sold a very valuable pearl for a few dollars, under the persuasion of a white man, who, it is said, resold the pearl for nearly a hundred times more than what he paid for it. The local authorities investigated the matter; the case was brought to court, and the negro received a large advance on the price that had originally been paid him.

If a list were kept of the thousand and one different methods of wrapping American pearls for shipment to the larger cities, it would show how much ingenuity is displayed in environments that frequently differ very much from each other. A box that has contained the pills that relieved him of fever, ague, and other ills due to swamps and damp climates, serves a secondary purpose for the fortunate finder of a pearl in forming a receptacle in which he can ship it to the greater market. Sometimes they are sewed in leather cut from gloves and shoes, or in strips of cloth, generally of the humbler varieties, such as calico or blue jean; in other cases they are wrapped in tissue-paper and newspaper; and occasionally they are packed in boxes made by hollowing out a bit of wood, a cover being nailed over the opening. In almost every instance they have been treated with a certain degree of care.

The majority of conch pearls which are carried by individuals to New York, London, or Paris, are generally brought in small papers or bits of cloth, each pearl being wrapped separately. Usually, there are a few white ones, a few yellow, a few pale pink, occasionally a few of a very beautiful rich pink, and once in a great while a fine, large pearl appears. Many of these pearls, commonly the inferior ones, are sold in the West Indies directly to the tourists who wish to purchase something in the country through which they are traveling, with the result that better prices are generally obtained than would have been secured if the pearls had been sent to the great markets.

The tariff on pearls at present operative in the United States is so indefinite as to have led to much serious misinterpretation and misunderstanding, as well as to an endless chain of lawsuits, often resulting in serious loss to the dealer or client who imports. As a consequence of the enforced outlay of large sums for unexpected and additional duties, the importer, who was both ready and willing to pay what seemed to him a just duty, often found that, where he had quoted a price to a customer, he was a loser by the transaction; and if, to escape this loss, he endeavors to dispute the payment of the duty, he becomes involved in an expensive and occasionally unsuccessful lawsuit. On the other hand, a private buyer who has paid all that he feels he can afford at the time for a necklace, expecting to pay a duty of 10 per cent. and interpreting the law to mean a duty of 10 per cent., may be called upon to pay a duty of 60 per cent., or have the notoriety of a public lawsuit, because the pearls have been strung, or because it is held that they had recently or at some former time been assembled as a necklace. In other words, if the pearls constituting such a necklace are bought at various times from various people, either here or in Europe, and not as a necklace, the duty is held to be 10 per cent., but if they are sent in one shipment, a duty of 60 per cent. is levied. As it is held that pearls assembled in the form of a necklace have a greater value than before they were so assembled, the purchaser might naturally expect to pay the 10 per cent. duty on this higher value, but instead of this a 60 per cent. duty is demanded on the higher assembled value.

The ambiguity of this clause of the tariff is such that a logical ruling should be made by some superior official such as the Secretary of the Treasury. As the law is now interpreted, a pearl worth $20,000 can be brought in with a duty of 10 per cent.; the addition of a simple gold wire makes it a piece of jewelry, with a duty of 60 per cent. It would seem that an amendment might be made to the tariff by which an importer, whether a private buyer or dealer, could be called upon to pay a 60 per cent. duty on a high valuation of the setting of the ring, brooch, or jewel, such as $20, $25 or $50; while the contents of the ring or ornament, whether a pearl, diamond, emerald, or a collection of stones, should pay a duty of only 10 per cent. This duty would sufficiently protect the jewelry industry, and would at the same time prevent the levying of an unjust and unexpected impost upon a fine pearl or gem of any kind.

It is eminently desirable that those residing in the United States who purchase pearls in foreign countries, should, if possible, consult with the United States consul in the city where they make their purchase, in case they wish to bring the pearls into the United States. In this way a proper declaration can be made, they will be correctly instructed as to the duties upon the pearls, whether unstrung, strung, or set, and they will thus avoid all complications when they reach the United States. Of course, this may not be necessary should the firm with which they are dealing be able to attend to the matter for them.

It must not be forgotten that the duty of 25 per cent. on precious stones, which was imposed during Cleveland’s administration, was enacted for the purpose of obtaining an increased revenue for the government, and there is no doubt but that the time was one of great financial stress. Yet even with the duty two and a half times as high as in the previous years, only a small fraction was added to the income of the Government. But one adequate explanation can be given of this remarkable decrease in the recorded imports, more especially when we consider that legitimate dealers could, at that time, buy precious stones in New York City for less than it cost them to purchase them abroad and pay the duty. It seems, therefore, that a 10 per cent. rate is calculated to produce the best and most satisfactory results in every way.

As examples of the difficulties encountered in the attempt to arrive at a proper classification of pearls we cite the following cases which have been the subjects of recent litigation: In 1901, two very valuable collections of pearls were brought to this country. One of these consisted of 45 drilled pearls weighing in all 672⅛ grains and entered at $60,734; the other, of 39 pearls, having an aggregate weight of 678¾ grains and entered at $63,070. At first a duty of 20 per cent. ad valorem was imposed upon these pearls under Section 6 of the Tariff Act, treating them as “unenumerated articles partly manufactured,” according to the rule that had been followed since the enactment of the present tariff. This was protested, and the case was brought before the Board of Appraisers.[407] Subsequent to the protest, however, the collector reliquidated the entry of the 45 pearls and imposed upon them a duty of 60 per cent. ad valorem, as pearls set or strung. This was done in view of Judge Lacombe’s decision in another notable case which had been taken shortly before to the Circuit Court of Appeals.[408] This decision was to the effect that pearls in any form not especially covered by paragraphs 434 or 436 of the Tariff Act should be referred to one or the other of those paragraphs, by similitude, according to the provisions of