PRECIOUS CORAL 127 



and Europe. Rose pink coral is popular in earrings 

 and in the form of cameos, which are worn as 

 brooches or set in rings. Cameos are also hung as 

 pendants for necklaces and watch-fobs and even for 

 earrings. The Chinese formerly used the finest of 

 coral beads for buttons on the official caps of the 

 mandarins. The use of coral in the making of nursery 

 rattles and bells is a custom which has survived from 

 medieval times, when coral was generally believed to 

 protect children from harm. 



Selected pieces of coral of the color in vogue some- 

 times command as much as five hundred dollars an 

 ounce. The average-sized pieces of common red coral 

 usually sell at about ten dollars an ounce, while the 

 small fragments, called collets, often used for the 

 making of children's necklaces, are worth only a 

 dollar an ounce. 



