Famous Pearls. 295 



and rarity to the marvellous pair, weighing 227 

 grains, exhibited in the French Exhibition of 1878. 



One of these Pearls, weighing in its then con- 

 dition 116 grains, was purchased by the author in 

 1877, of a private customer, and sold to one of our 

 leading London merchants who, with great skill re- 

 moved a blister that then disfigured it on one side, and 

 made of it a perfect Pearl of 1 13I grains. This gentle- 

 man held It for some time without being able to sell 

 it. In the beginning of 1878, it occurred to him, the 

 merchant, to suggest to Messrs. Hunt and Roskell 

 that it would probably match a famous Pearl of 

 115J grains, sold by them to Prince Dhuleep Singh 

 some fifteen years previously, and that the prince 

 might consequently like to purchase it. It was sub- 

 mitted by Messrs. Hunt and Roskell to the prince, 

 and on_ being compared with his Pearl, was found 

 to match it exactly, and to form with it a pair pro- 

 bably unique in the history of such jewels. The one 

 weighs ii3j grains, the other 113I grains: both are 

 absolutely round, like a marble, perfect in whiteness 

 and skin, and very lustrous (oriente). The one 

 originally bought, having been mounted in a brooch, 

 and in the usual manner fastened on a peg, has a 

 small hole drilled on one side, but this, of course, 

 in no way detracts from its beauty or value ; the 

 other, not having been mounted, was intact. Early 



