Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1902-08-01
MAKING IMITATION PEARL,
REALISTIC ARTIFICIAL GEMS
FORMED FROM FISH SCALES.

nlSneu tne GFedteF supply nc
Brighter the Scales the More De-
sirable.
The making of artificial pearls is
shown by statutes regulating the in
dustry to have originated at least six
hundred years ago. Vienna was a
principal place of manufacture: The
early limitations were made of pearl
shell and of alabaster shaped like
pearls and covered with cement com
posed largely of powdered mother-of-
pearl, says Charles II. Stevenson, In
the New York Times.
Glass beads lined with pearl like
material were produced about 1928.
Imitation pearls are still made in this
manner in Venice. They are very
cheap, but the imitation is a poor
one.
The greatest improvement in max
ing artificial pearls was the use of an
extract from fish scales, said to have
been invented in Paris about 1850.
This process. greatly improved, is in
use at the present time, and so excel
lent is it's result that some of the
choicest limitations are scarcely distin-
guishable from the genuine.
The scales of the bleak are most
commonly used, but most of the her
ring family are available, as we'll as
many other varieties having small
scales with a silvery sheen. The
brighter the scales the more desirable
they are for this purpose.
As soon as practicable after the fish
are caught the lower surface of each
is scaled, care being taken not to in
clude the dark scales of the back and
upper portion of the fish. If the
scales are collected at a great distance
from the factory they are freed from
all organic matter and slime and
packed with a small quantity of salt
in zinc cans. Lyons, in France, is
the principal buyer of these scales,
and according to recent letter from
the United States Consul at that pert
$4,000 pounds are purchased annu-
ally, at a cost ranging from the equiv
alent of so cents to s1.25 per pound,
according to quality. AS the business
is increasing. 1t is probable that twice
that quantity may be used in a few
years.
The method of manipulating the
scales varies somewhat in the differ
ent factories, but the general princi-
pie is much the same. First they are
thoroughly washed to remove the
blood and other foreign matter. Fresh,
clean water is then added, and they
are soaked and pressed to remove the
pearly essence which sinks to the bot
tom of the vessel in the form OF
blue-white oily mass. When the
water Is drawn off this is collected
and preserved from decomposition by
the addition of ammonia or some other
volatile alkali
The quantity of the essence obtain
ed is so very small that about 1000
fish are required to produce one ounce
of the material
From fine glass, possessing a blush
tint, hollow beads are blown in the
sizes and shapes required for the
pearls. For cheap limitations, this is
accomplished very rapidly, several
thousand being made by a single work
man in one day. For choice products,
however. more care is exercised and
the shapes and forms of some pearls
are closely initiated even to the de-
fects. When the hollow glass bead
is completed sufficient of the essence
of the scales combined with meIted
isingass is blown into it until the
inner surface is completely covered.
The beads are STEPPED in alcohol and
dried, filled with cement and wax to
give them weight and consistence,
carefully drilled and lined with slen-
der tubes of tinted paper to guard the
interior from coming in contact with
the thread on which they are to be
strung.
Some manufacturers improve the
appearance of the finished pearls by
exposing them to the action of the
fumes of bismuth. combined with some
mercurlal preparation. the exact ma
ture of which Is not revealed. In
some factories each pearl is washed
in a fluid obtained by repeated dis
tillation of a mercurial compound.
Most of these limitations are manu-
featured in France, and Lyons is the
headquarters of the industry.