PEARLS AND PEARL SHELLS. 441 



Scotia; seven of the pearls from the original find made in 1856 at Notch Brook, near 

 Paterson, N. J. (these were from the collection of Prof. D. S. Martin, of New York, 

 where they had been since a short time after the discovery) ; a small quantity of pearls 

 taken from the altar of the Turner group of mounds, Little Miami Valley, Ohio (these 

 were from the original find of Prof. P. W. Putnam, who obtained several bushels of 

 them, resembling strikingly those found by Warren K. Moorehead at points to be noted 

 further on) ; a round white pearl, measuring four-fifths of an inch in diameter, from the 

 giant oyster, Ostrea sinc/aporica; about thirty pearls varying from white to pink, brown, 

 purple, and almost a deep black, from the common clam, Venus mercenaria, from Long 

 Island Sound and Chesapeake Bay; eight pearls from the common oyster, Ostrea vir- 

 (/iitiea, from Long Island Sound and the Connecticut coast, one of them over half an inch 

 in diameter and remarkable for its resemblance to the human eye; also the shell and 

 pearls of Venus fluetifraga, San Diego, Cal., and Pachyderma crassatelloides, and shells 

 and pearls of Trigonia pectinata, from Australia. 



The most remarkable exhibit of pearl jewelry that was ever seen in this country 

 is that in the four necklaces displayed by Messrs. Tiffany & Co., which for their purity 

 of color, fine orient, even form, and careful selection are unsurpassed — notably a neck- 

 lace of 3 strands consisting of 159 pearls, weighing 2,038 grains, and a single strand 

 of 41 pearls, weighing 910| grains; these strands represent $100,000 each. Possibly 

 more remarkable still for their great size were the strand of 38 pearls, weighing 1,0G4 

 grains, valued at $200,000, and the one of 52 pearls, weighing 1,145£ grains, valued 

 at $80,000. 



A remarkable illustration of the delicate manner in which pearls can be set is a 

 watch case so thickly incrusted with Tennessee pearls that scarcely any mounting is 

 visible. 



Two great French jewelers had very interesting displays; the first, Vever, had sev- 

 eral fine necklaces of pearls, notably one 5-strand necklace, valued at about $100,000, 

 and some very large single pearls and various others; the second, Boucheron, had two 

 magnificent black-pearl earrings, weighing about 80 grains each, and several strands 

 of fine white pearls of very large size. 



In the French section were also some very fine exhibits of imitation pearls, notably 

 that of Rutan, who had many strings, etc., of them. Constant Vales, of Paris, imi- 

 tated the necklace of black and white j>earls that belonged to the Empress Josephine 

 and the 5-strand necklace of the Princess of Wales. Passeau-Feil, of Paris, had many 

 imitations of both black and white pearls, notably a new kind produced by coating- 

 beads made of true mother-of-pearl shell with silver, giving them almost the same 

 specific gravity and the silver simulating the luster of the gray pearl. 



Schurman, of Frankfort, in the German section, exhibited a fairly good drop pearl of 

 105 grains; a remarkable Nautilus shell, mounted in a silver goblet; an ivory figure 

 holding a mother-of-pearl shell; some pearl earrings, of from 25 to 40 grains each, and 

 a quaint brooch, containing a pink, a yellow, a gray, a dark-gray, and a black pearl. 

 Messrs. C. Heitel and Sohn, Hanau, showed a marvelous display of large oriental 

 pearls of great size and fanciful forms. These were baroque pearls, artistically mounted, 

 forming the principal features of figures, paperweights, brooches, pins, coupes, vases, 

 cups, etc., as described hereafter (see Plato, 19). Among these was a group of histor- 

 ical and other figures of fine artistic finish and original design, made in the style of 

 those of Dinglinger in the Green Vaults at Dresden. The mounting of the figures is 



