IX] PEARLS IN JEWELLERY, ETC. 121 



made by Cleopatra with Mark Antony and its sequel. 

 The story is both antique and we regret to say absurd. 

 Cleopatra is supposed to have dissoh^ed one of the 

 pearls suspended from her ears (a pearl, the value 

 of which has been estimated at £60,000 !) in wine, 

 and to have drunk the solution. Chemically, this is 

 quite impossible, for the organic matter would cer- 

 tainly not dissolve, and very little if any of the 

 inorganic would have been affected even by vinegar 

 in the time. She might of course have swallowed 

 it as a pill ! The other pearl, its fellow, is supposed 

 to have been cut in halves and placed in the temple 

 of the Pantheon. 



Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy 1433 — 1477, 

 is said to have possessed a very large and valuable 

 pearl. The pearls of Mary Stuart are also to be 

 reckoned amongst the most famous of the time. They 

 were said to be the most beautiful in Europe. 



Of course many of the most precious pearls have 

 not been brought to the publicity of the auction room 

 and may still exist in the East. Reference may be 

 made here to the wonderful Peacock Throne built by 

 the same oriental king who raised the Taj IMahal. 

 Very many pearls were used, amongst which was 

 a choice gem weighing 200 gi-ains. The total value 

 of the jewels was estimated at £12,000,000, but the 

 present value is much less, probably somewhere near 

 £2,000,000. Perhaps the most costly oi'uament in 



