296 Pearls. 



in 1878, Messrs. Hunt and Roskell purchased both 

 Pearls, — the one from Prince Dhuleep Singh, and 

 the other from the merchant, — and shortly after- 

 wards sold them back as a pair to the above- 

 mentioned merchant for ;£'4,8oo, which was even 

 then much below their value, and to-day they would 

 be worth ;£" 10,000. They were almost immediately 

 re=sold to Messrs. Bapst, jewellers, of Paris, and 

 by them exhibited suspended on wires in their case 

 in the great Paris exhibition, 1878. There they 

 attracted universal attention and were pronounced 

 by connoisseurs to be the most extraordinary pair 

 of Pearls ever seen in Europe. They were sold 

 from the Exhibition to a private individual for 

 a very large sum. 



Other Famous Pearls. 



Among the list of monies received by the 

 Earl of Craven as executor to Prince Rupert, we 

 find mention of Mrs. Ellen Gwynne, ;£"4,520 for 

 the great Pearl necklace. 



In a curious and characteristic letter of Lady 

 Compton to her husband, apparently written at the 

 end of the sixteenth century, we find among other 

 items which she terms "reasonable," the following 



