Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1895-09-04
FAMOUS SINGLE PEARLS.
The Shah of Persia Has One Delicate Gem
- Worth Over Half a Million.

The Shah of Persia Has One Delicate Gem
--.- Worth Over Half Million.
1t is not generally appreciated thai
! there are enormous fortunes in single
| pearls, and that a few individuals an6
great potentates have jewels of this
sort which are literally worth kings
ransom. In all the world there is nc
more famous pearl than the Tavernier,
now in the possession of the shah Oh
Persia. This remarka BILE gem came to
this eastern king by descent, and is a
genuinely remarkable curiosity. II
derives it's name from having been
sold by the traveller, sTavernier, two
hundred years ago to the then ruler
of Persia. The price then was five
hundred thousand dollars. 1t is now
worth more than six hundred and fifty
thousand dollars.
Another, eastern king. the imam of
Muscat, has in his collection pearl
worth $165,OO0, weighing stwelve and
one-half carats Through it the day
light can be seen. Princess Yousou-
poff.'s finest gem is wonderfully beau
tiful. Valued at $1SO,O0O, it was first
heard of in 1920, when Georgibus of
Calais sold it to Philip ". of Spain
Eighty thousand dollars is the figure
that it is approximated the popes
pearl would bring. One of Leo's pre-
decessors became possessed of it in
manner which has not been told, and
it has descended in regular course to
the present incumbent of st. Peters
throne.
This, so far as is known, exhausts
the list of truly celebrated pearls.
There are many remarkable pearl neck
laces whose value is extraordinary.
These necklaces are made up gradual
ly, pearl after pearl being added to the
set, and leading jewellers are constant
ly on the lookout to procure gems of
like rarity to extend the chain. On the
whole, pink pearls are not especially
valuable, black ones bringing far high
er prices, and pearls that are white
being sought next after them. Queen
Victoria of England has necklace of
pink pearls that is worth $50, 900, and
the dowager empress of Germany one
made of thirty-two pearls which would
bring easily $685.
The Rothschild women have, how
ever, gems of this sort that far exceed
in value those of royalty. Baroness
Gustave de Rothschild possesses ons
made up of five rows of pearls, tho
whole chain being valued at $500, OO0
Baroness Adolphe de Rothschild owns
a circlet that in all probability would
fetch even at a forced sale $25O,OOO.
Even more brilliant. because it has
seven rows, is the necklace of the
dowager empress of Russia. The
gems, however, are not quite as fine
as those in the Rothschild collection.
The caslzet of this royal lady is the |
most famous in the world from gem
point of view. Hardly second to it is
that of the empress of Austria, whose
black pearls are noted throughout Eu-
rope for their extreme beauty and |
rarity. Il fa# ,f,.. -,r
What has become of the white pearls
Of the Empress Eugene, sold at the
close of the Franco-Prussiap war, has
never been made known. The value
IF these was some sixty thousand
dollars, and they were gathered to-
yether in a very beautiful necklace
hat frequently graced the neck of
that unfortunate queen.-N. Y World.