Read Ebook: The Pearl its story its charm and its value by Cattelle Wallis Richard

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Pearl oysters are varieties of the Avicula Margaritifera, of which the Meleagrina Margaritifera is the most prolific of mother-of-pearl and pearls combined, and, the Indian excepted, yields the finest pearls. All pearl oysters do not produce sufficient mother-of-pearl to make their shells valuable, nor do they all contain pearls. The name therefore applies to all oysters whose secretions are productive, in some degree, of mother-of-pearl and therefore under favorable conditions of pearls also.

"Fresh-water" or "sweet-water" pearls are, as the name signifies, those found in the mollusks of inland waters. This mollusk is a mussel. The name "mussel" in Anglo-Saxon signifies something which retires on being touched. It is known as "Unio" of which there are many pearl-bearing varieties.

In both the sea oyster and the fresh-water mussel, other nacreous formations occur of irregular shape called "baroque" pearls. The orientals approach more nearly to the globular and hemispherical form of true pearls, having frequently the lumpy rotundity of a snowball and sometimes sections which are smooth and round. The fresh-water baroques are usually very irregular, often fantastically so. Many resemble the incisor teeth of man or distorted grains of corn. Slender pieces similar to the wing of a bird and therefore called "wing" pearls, or "hinge" pearls because they are found near the hinge of the shell, are common. Some are shaped like a flat spike nail. Unlike oriental baroques, the surface of a large proportion of the fresh-waters is grooved or indented and some show a beautiful iridescence. Large button baroques of fine luster and iridescent, especially when they have a decided tinge of pink, have come to be known of late as "rose" pearls. Another variety of pink baroques having a fairly regular shape with a lustrous and finely irregular pimply surface are known as "strawberry" pearls. These terms are applied indiscriminately to the two varieties however.

Another nacreous formation found in the mother-of-pearl oyster shells is the "blister." It is produced by the raising of the nacreous deposits above the level of the shell to cover some intruder of considerable size. This results in a growth similar in shape to a blister on the flesh, hence the name. It is cut out of the shell and used in various ways as a set for jewelry, or to imitate the bodies of insects or small animals. Others with a slightly higher dome and rounded oval shape, regular in form, are called "turtlebacks."

Some of these hollow shells of pearl have been found to cover small fish, lizards, etc. The writer saw one which appeared to be a large button-pearl. On lifting, it proved to be a shell of several thicknesses of nacre covering a small shell-fish about a half-inch in diameter. The imprisoned mollusk was shrunken and crumbling so that the nacreous covering could be lifted from over it, a hollow dome of pearl. Mud blisters are common in some waters and depreciate the quality of the shell and are otherwise useless. A typical mud-blister appears in the shell illustrated herewith.

The Abalone pearl occurs usually as a baroque or blister but occasionally it is found solid and spherical. Although it is not classed among true pearls, a few globular pieces found are entitled to a place among them because they are sometimes identical in construction and have a similar pearly luster, it is however very liable to crack and break and can seldom be pierced with safety.

The shell-fish from which it takes the name is the Haliotis, called here the Abalone. It is known under many names--ear-shell, Venus's ear, etc. In the English Channel Islands it is the ormer, and on the adjacent coast of France where it is very abundant the name for it is similar--"ormier." The Aelonians called it the "Ear of Venus." The shell is ear-shaped, flattened, slightly spiral and has a series of round holes near the edge curving with the last whorl toward the boss. As it grows, the oldest of these are successively filled up and the last remaining open, serves as the anal channel. The exterior is very rough and unsightly, but the mother-of-pearl interior is one of the most exquisite pieces of color work painted by the hand of nature and to this is added an enlivening iridescence most fascinating. Like it, the pearl formations are deeply tinted. Brownish reds, peacock greens, and dark grays are the prevailing colors. They are seldom of even color or luster, many of them having but one lustrous point where a pearly glaze seems to have been incorporated with the earthenware like surface.

Usually the pearls when round and lustrous are not constructed as compactly as those of the bivalves. The texture of the skins vary in quality and the frequent presence of intermediary strata of black conchiolin which shrink, makes them liable to crack and break. The blisters run very even in these two qualities of color and luster and though seldom quite as brilliant as the nacre of the shell, are very beautiful and often curiously formed. These blister-baroques are like two blisters joined at the edges, and are liable to separate there. The interior consists chiefly of black conchiolin, rough and somewhat shiny.

The "Conch" pearl, found in the Conch of the West Indies, also is not a true pearl. The shell is used largely for ornamental purposes, especially for the cutting of cameos, and also in porcelain works. It is a large shell, sometimes weighing four or five pounds. Formerly great quantities were exported to England from the Bahamas; in one year as many as three hundred thousand. Conch pearls are devoid of nacreous luster, the surface having an appearance like china. They are slightly transparent and show under the surface a series of delicate wavy markings.

The silky sheen of these lines causes them to appear lighter than the body color of the pearl, and they seem to branch toward the surface, changing kaleidoscopically as the pearl is turned. Almost without exception the shape is ovoid, or a flattened ovoid, though some are distorted. In color they range from very pale to deep pink and coral red, the ends being usually much lighter than the body and often white. In the deeper tints they are more uniform in color, and as they are apt to be less lustrous and transparent as the shade deepens to red they show less plainly the distinguishing wavy lines, and may be easily mistaken for pieces of coral cut to the shape and polished. They are very delicate and therefore easily fractured or cracked. As the natives usually obtain the pearls by cooking the fish, for which they have a great liking, a large proportion of the few which come into the market are cracked. It is claimed also that the color fades with time. They are sometimes called "Nassau" pearls.

Pearls similar in appearance to the Conch, except that the wavy lines are absent and the skin rarely as brilliant, are taken with true pearls from the small varieties of the Avicula, especially about the coast of Venezuela. Some are white as chalk, many are tinted in various shades of gray, yellow and brownish reds. They have the shining appearance of china in different degrees, but no nacreous luster. The skins of many of these are peculiarly constructed, they show modified characteristics of various parts of the shell. The surface wave lines are present to some extent, together with curious malformations of prisms and conchiolin.

The hexagonal faces look as though they had been doubled up upon themselves together with a layer of conchiolin, the latter appearing as thick black V or U shaped marks in the faces of the distorted hexagons. Heretofore these have been considered valueless, but it is possible that with the increasing vogue of pearls and the growing desire for oddities, they will be utilized in the cheaper forms of jewelry.

Creations similar in construction to pearls are found occasionally in the common oyster and clam. Though entirely devoid of the pearly texture and luster, some of them are very perfect in shape and smoothness of skin. Whether taken from the oyster or clam they are usually called "clam pearls." The color of the oyster pearl is generally a light drab. The clam pearls are mostly purplish red or blue, often dark enough to appear black. Those taken from the oyster are generally round; those from the clam are more frequently ovoid. Occasionally one or both ends of the oval are lighter in color, as the Conch pearl is, changing there to a dark red or purple. When the color is very dark and the skin uncommonly good, they have been sold for black pearls by unscrupulous dealers. They are accounted of little value, though exceptionally large pieces will sometimes sell for as much as one hundred to a hundred and fifty dollars. Similar to these, pearly formations characterized by a glazed, or glassy, or shiny surface, are found in many molluscan varieties, bivalves and univalves, but none of these are true pearls.

Pearls similar to the pink Conch are found in the shank or chank of Ceylon . This is the sacred shell of the Hindus and the national emblem of Travancore in the Madras presidency, India. Vishnu carries a chank called "Devadatta" in his hand. It is said his first incarnation was for the purpose of destroying Shankh?sura , and thereby regaining the Vedas, which had been stolen and taken to ocean deeps.

COLOR

The ideal color for a pearl is white. Although all fine white pearls show by comparison a tint of some color, a fine white must be free from an appearance which can only be described as "dark." It is not color always but a certain density which makes the gem appear dead by comparison with the soft, warm, life-like white of the perfect pearl. The layers or skins of some pearls are more transparent than others and this imparts a liveliness which is absent in the more dense.

Upon looking at a string of pearls held between the eye and the light, some will appear much lighter than others and show a translucent band about one-fifth the diameter of the pearl, extending from the edge of the circumference inward. Such pearls upon examination will be found much finer in color and texture than those which have the appearance beside them of dark opaque spots when held against the light.

There is also a white which is not dark and is yet dead. To some extent it is characteristic of all fresh-water pearls. It is a chalky, milky white that even when lustrous, carries a reminder of chalk in the texture and lacks the essential life of the ideal pearl. Color in the highest perfection is found in the pearls of the Ceylon and Australian waters, the former being also very lustrous, and such are sometimes termed by the trade "Madras," after the city where the Indian pearls have been marketed for ages. It must not be inferred however that pearls equally good are not found in other localities, but that the color averages better, and the number of gems of ideal color and luster is greater from the Ceylon fisheries than elsewhere. The color and texture, and therefore luster, of fine Indian pearls is seldom equalled, never surpassed.

To those who are without experience, and see for the first time a large quantity of pearls apparently alike in color, it would seem an easy matter to match any required number; but in attempting to gather sufficient for a single strand necklace, one would learn that a parcel or series of pearls, seemingly all white, contains a surprisingly great variety of shades or tones of color; that which appears at first sight quite easy becomes in the attempt extremely difficult. Probably nothing requires a sharper eye, a more delicate sense of color and greater patience, than the assembling of a finely matched string of pearls. Bearing in mind that size, shape, color, and perfection, must all correspond, it is not surprising that few strings exist which are above criticism.

Those who buy them seldom realize what enormous quantities of pearls, and skilful and painstaking effort is necessary, to match perfectly, thirty or more, especially of large size. Pearls which, separated by a few inches seem alike, when brought close together reveal differences of texture and tone of color sufficiently pronounced to arrest the eye and destroy that ideal perfection of purity which permits no spot to mar the symmetry of an assemblage of these emblematic gems. It was said in old times that to match a pearl perfectly was to double the value of both; one may imagine therefore the difficulty which confronts the modern jeweller when he undertakes in this critical age to match thirty or forty.

The color most common in pearls of all seas is yellow, but it is not so with fresh-water ones. Other colors are seldom found except as tints in white pearls, but distinctly yellow oriental pearls are abundant. The tones of color in the white are, yellow, blue, pink and green. They are so slight that it is difficult to recognize them except by comparison. The blue and pink are considered best, the champions of each being about equal. The green come next in favor and the yellow last. This order applies fully however to the Occident only. Some Oriental peoples do not draw such fine distinctions, and the Chinese prefer the creamy yellow to any other.

The "blue" pearls, or "Panama" pearls as they are sometimes called in the trade, must not be confounded with the blue white pearls just mentioned. "Blue" pearls are of a dingy, slaty blue tint. They have a dark appearance and the luster is seldom good. As many of this character are found in the Panama waters such pearls are often sold as "Panama" pearls. They are even less desirable than those which are decidedly yellow, though persons of a little knowledge will often buy them in preference to others which are better, because they are not yellow and are cheap.

"Fancies" include all decided colors, or those having a rare and beautiful tint. Yellow pearls as generally found are not classed among them because the color is not fine, but dark,--"brackish" one might term it. A clean buttercup yellow, or an orange yellow, would be "fancy" however. On the other hand a deep pink is seldom fine as the color is then almost invariably muddy, whereas the clean delicate light pink pearls are rare and highly esteemed. A clear grass green is never seen but the color occurs in very beautiful bronze and peacock shadings. Various shades of blue, rose, copper, and red with bronze effects, and black are included in this classification.

Black pearls are much prized, and the term covers a wide range of dark shades of gray, slate, brown and red. The ideal color however is sufficiently deep to be, as the name indicates, black, though it has not the metallic appearance of hematite, nor the polished shine of the black clam pearl. Black pearls having a bronze effect are open to suspicion, especially if they are pierced, as many of them are artificially colored and are liable to fade. Such pearls have a somewhat metallic appearance, are seldom very lustrous, and if there is a rough chalky place in the skin it will be blacker there than elsewhere.

It is difficult to give rules by which to judge color, but there is a quality which can only be described as "clean." It is free from muddiness and is desirable in pearls as in all other gems.

The proportion of fancy colors is greater in fresh-water pearls than in the orientals. In the United States the fisheries which have yielded the finest "fancies" are those of Wisconsin, Kentucky and Tennessee. Of sea pearls, most of the fine black ones come from the coasts of Mexico. Beautiful colored pearls are found in fisheries of the Oceanic Islands, for instance at the Isles of New Caledonia and Gambier, and in China and Japan.

To make close comparisons of color in pearls, place them on white cotton under or opposite a strong natural light. To judge shape and luster, roll them on black cloth. These are the most trying conditions and it should be remembered by those who test them thus, that no position as jewels when worn can be so unfavorable or trying.

IMPERFECTIONS

Few pearls are perfect. The great majority of small pearls even, fail in one or more of the ideal qualities, and as the size increases perfection becomes more rare. A perfect pearl is not necessarily of the finest luster, but it must be lustrous and of even luster all over. If round, it must be spherically round; if pear or ovoid, symmetrically so, and the skin must be free from blemishes.

Baroque and button pearls are naturally imperfect pearls, the former being fantastically irregular in shape and the latter partially deformed. Imperfections of shape in what are termed round pearls are more numerous than those unaccustomed to handling them would suppose.

A lot of pearls which to the casual glance seem to be all quite round, will be found often on close examination to contain many, if not a majority, that are not. Upon rolling them separately, irregularities will appear which the luster and contiguity of others concealed. It will be discovered that the domes of some are slightly flattened at one part of the sphere; in others at two opposite points so as to form a double domed disk. Very many have slight protuberances above the contour of the sphere, or places in the spherical line, which though not flat, are depressed. While these minor imperfections of shape do not materially hurt the beauty of the pearl, they do decrease the value somewhat, and as they are quite common even among fine selected pearls they accentuate the rarity of the perfectly spherical.

The adventures of a pearl from the moment when the mollusk begins to cover its nucleus with nacre, until the fisher squeezes it from the folds of the creature's mantle, are many and varied. A few only escape untoward happenings. The fortunate, born where the mollusk gathers and spreads its choice secretions of mother-of-pearl, with room to grow on every side, are nursed in the lap of good fortune and uncheckered, round out layer by layer to perfection.

But some are not so fortunate. In some way cramped, they are held against the unyielding shell and grow flat on one side. These are the button pearls. Others either from an irregular rolling, or unequal action of the mollusk's mantle, become imperfectly round. Sometimes foreign particles attach themselves to a growing pearl and becoming enveloped with it in future layers, make an uneven surface.

Not infrequently two round pearls grow side by side until they touch, and together are enveloped by succeeding deposits; a twinned pearl is the result. For some reason, drop and pear-shaped pearls are seldom imperfect in shape. They may not be ideal but the form is usually good and the contour even and regular. This would imply that the simple rolling motion by the fish is more regular than the more complicated movements necessary to form a sphere.

Imperfections in the texture and luster of the skin are said to be due to the movement of the growing pearl among the zones of the mollusk's mantle supplying the varied material for the epidermis, middle shell, and lining. The difficulties confronting this theory are explained in the chapter on the "Genesis of Pearls." These imperfections consist generally of dead white chalky spots and streaks, distributed over the surface of the pearl, oftentimes so small as to escape notice except under the loup. Sometimes these imperfections take the form of rings or bands which encircle the pearl. Pearls so marked are rarely if ever round, but ovoid, capsule, or cartridge shaped, and these chalky lines always encircle the cylinder; they never cross the dome. Rings around the dome occur, but the surface over them is of equal luster. Frequently the entire outer skin is without luster. Whether this arises from lack of some element in the exudations of the mollusk from which the pearl is created, or from an imperfect crystallization of the calcium carbonate, is not known. Such skins have the usual nacreous surface wave lines and are often lustrous immediately under the outer plates of the skin.

It is possible that these chalky skins may result from the extraction of the pearl from the mollusk during a transitional stage, and that the presence of spots and streaks of that character, scattered over an otherwise lustrous surface, indicates that the secretions of the creature's mantle did not hold some essential ingredient in sufficient quantity to secure perfect crystallization and thereby cover the entire surface with transparent plates of calcium carbonate. It may be also that a lack of essential elements in the creature's exudations, causes a cessation of the mantle's action which by all signs appears necessary for the production of transparent plates of nacre.

"Peelers" are pearls of imperfect skins having indications of a better one underneath. Speculators buy these pearls at a low price and skin them. Sometimes they are rewarded by a smaller, but much more valuable pearl. Many times the under skins are no better or worse, or if better, the loss in size and weight, together with the cost of the work, make it unprofitable.

Peeling should not be attempted with cylindrical shaped pearls having chalky bands or rings around them, as such imperfections usually penetrate to the interior in pearls of that character. Cylindrical pearls are almost invariably fresh-waters. The imperfections disclosed in the under skins by peeling, are commonly irregularities of shape which have been rounded over to the improvement of the sphericity of the pearl.

It is currently reported among the pearl hunters who fish the western and southern streams, that the finding of soft pearls is not infrequent. Upon opening the mussel, they sometimes see through the mantle of the creature, an apparently fine pearl which upon being taken out proves to be a soft jelly-like substance, the form of which is usually destroyed in squeezing it out. These men do not believe that a pearl is formed in layers, but think that all pearls are originally globules of a similar soft substance, hardening later to a compact solid ball and they call them "mussel eggs."

Many pearls taken from the small thin-shelled varieties of the ocean mollusk, as for instance those of Venezuela, are devoid in part, or wholly, of the nacreous luster and instead have a china-like or waxy luster, or a dead chalky skin. A large proportion of the Abalone pearls and baroques are lustrous only in part, one section having an earthenware appearance. Many appear to be formed of interstratified layers of nacre and conchiolin. This construction is very distinct in a formation peculiar to the Abalone, consisting of two nacreous shells joined perfectly at the edges, the inside walls of both being covered with rough black conchiolin.

Peculiarities in the quality of the nacre sometimes give an appearance of uneven shape which does not exist in reality. The light falling upon such pearls produces a knobby effect, as though there were protuberances on the surface. The texture of others is such that when looked at squarely from the front they appear pyramidal in form, the rounded apex pointing toward the observer. Such pearls have a soft, waxy appearance generally.

Another common imperfection consists of pits in the surface. These may result from various causes: in many cases from the dislodgement and rolling of a pearl which has been flattened during earlier stages by pressure in one position against the shell. Freed from this hindrance to spherical growth, the later concentric layers would round over the edge of the flat spot and thereby leave a pit, or cavity, in the centre.

In other cases pressure against the pearl, or the partial inclusion of foreign substances, especially of an organic nature which decay before being entirely covered, are possible causes. The reverse of this also occurs; grains of sand or other minute particles adhering to the surface are covered by succeeding layers, thereby producing knobs, more or less observable according to the lapse of time between their inclusion and the taking of the pearl from the oyster.

If undisturbed, the fish will by the deposit of sufficient layers of nacre, fill the intervals and round the surface again. That this is done in time is shown by the occurrence of pearls having an even dome over a nucleus formed by a cluster of small round and irregular pearls enveloped together. In the process of skinning, or the removal of one or more of the layers of nacre, it is sometimes found that a depression has been filled by a thickening of the deposits in the hollow; at other times extra layers fill the space, and these flaking out with the outer skin reveal the hidden irregularity which lay beneath the round surface, thus necessitating the removal of several entire skins before a sphere is reached again. The under skins of some pearls appear to have failed to completely envelop the nucleus. The cavity resulting is then filled to an even surface and is succeeded by fully developed skins. It is, therefore, not certain that a pearl, perfect in form and skin when found, has been so at all stages of its growth. Broken pearls sometimes show not only differences of color but of thickness in the successive layers. The skins of fresh-water pearls especially are often very irregular in thickness.

Many pearls have cracks in them. These generally escape the observation of inexpert persons, as they are usually under the outer layer. The fact that they rarely extend to the surface suggests that the solidification, or drying out of the confined interior layers, may be the cause. These are considered detrimental and dangerous by dealers, so that pearls with cracks in them will not bring as high a price as they would if free from them.

As cracked pearls are liable to break, especially when pierced for stringing, it is well to avoid them, though the percentage of those which do break is small. In reality these cracks are more of an imperfection than a danger. Occasionally they are quite noticeable and are then a bad imperfection, but frequently a sharp eye or the loup only will detect them. Surface cracks however are quite perceptible. They are dangerous and are considered a serious imperfection.

There is a peculiarity of rare occurrence which, as it is a departure from the ideal, may be termed an imperfection, though some regard it of value as unique. It is a similarity under the surface of some pearls to a metal which has been hammered into small flat spots identical in appearance with the jewelry in vogue during the latter part of the 19th century made of "hammered gold." It is scarcely noticeable except under a loup, when the fine lines dividing the confused planes appear. These pearls are usually slightly pink or pinkish yellow. Sometimes these planes resemble the facets on a cut diamond, generally lozenge shape, and often grouped similar to those on the under side of a diamond.

Small holes and blisters on the surface are quite common, but ordinarily they are scarcely perceptible to the naked eye.

Many faults can be concealed by the jeweller when the pearl is mounted. Slightly buttoned pearls are set on a peg in the centre of a small shallow cup; they then appear quite round. A spot, blister, or cavity, in a round pearl can be obliterated by pegging, or hidden in the setting. Great irregularities in the sphericity are lost to the eye when the gem is set in the prongs of a ring or other piece of jewelry. Pearls shaped like a double convex lens may be made to look round, or very nearly so, by piercing them so that the flattened domes are brought in contact on the cord holding them together as a necklace.

The irregularities of baroques cannot properly be called imperfections; nevertheless a baroque is more valuable as it is free from indentations and approaches the round in appearance, or has sides which will give it a round face when mounted. The curious forms into which nature moulds many of them are very attractive, and as they lend themselves to the imaginative skill of the jeweller, are valuable. The faults common to them are rough places uncovered by nacre and colored streaks or spots, usually yellow tending to brown. These discolorations are confined generally to the point where the baroque was attached to the shell, but not infrequently they extend far enough to leave no front which would be quite clean to the eye, when mounted.

Oriental baroques as a rule are more lustrous, more even in shape and seldom discolored. Many of them are sufficiently regular to string for necklaces, and some can be used in jewelry so that on the face they appear like round, drop, or pear-shaped pearls.

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