The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-07-27
MOTHER OF PEARL.

Perhaps it is called mother Of pearl"
because in its tightly-locked bosom lies
the jewel snow drop that graces the
delicate throat of queen 1t is a plain
sea she'll The outside is rough-ribbed
gray-the color Of a November twl-
light; the interior a marvellous prism
that has stored the hues Of the rain
bow
The manufacture of mother Of pearl
is an industry OF no little magnitude In
New York and hereabouts, says the
New York Commercial This city and
Newark are its centers Thousands OF
persons make a livelihood converting
the shells into numerous useful and
pretty articles Of commerce If we were
asked what is mother Of pearl used for
the reply would probably be buttons
Thousands and thousands Of buttons, Of
all sizes, are manufactured in New
York annually, and the process is ex-
ceedingly interesting But buttons are
not all. Knife handles, umbrella han
dies, revolver handles, pen holders, jew
elry and score of additional pretty
and useful articles are made from moth
er Of pearl.
The finest shells come from the Aus
tralian archipelago. They are white
and extremely pretty A dark-tinted
shell is found off the coast of Japan;
these are from the worlds great pearl
fisheries. California produces some and
the interior rivers Of the United States
have their pearl producing shells. The
pearl divers bring the shells to the
surface, where a first search for pearls
is made. The shells are then shipped to
London, the worlds great clearing
house for mother Of pearl, where they
are again submitted to careful scrutiny
for Jewels. The American manufac-
turer gets his supply largely from Lon
don. In the factory as the shells are
cut, another search for pearls is made
and not infrequently it Is rewarded. !
Not all the pearls are fotfnd loosely
slowed in the closed apartment where
the soft mollusk reposes. Sometimes
they are secreted in the hard casing Of
a shell and are only brought to view
by the cutting saw In a Canal street |
factory the other day workman sliced |
a $500 pearl into two beautiful sections |
and rendered it worthless before he re-
allied what the saw was doing.
The manufacture Of mother Of pearl |
has steadily increased in the 25 years
since it was begun in this country. The |
genius of the inventor has found no sub
stitute for the product of nature and the
shells are not so numerous as they were. /
They cost the manufacturer an average I
Of IS cents a pound The finished prod
uct, therefore. is expensive and is like
ly to be more so, as the demand is con- |
tinuany growing for mother Of PEARL
articles
The shells are about eight inches
wide and weigh less than half pound |
They are shipped from London in BOO I
pound boxes. Workmen Of skill in the
mother Of pearl factories are mostly for
cign born, though American boys are
being trained in the craft The men are
English, French and Bohemians, who
learned their trade abroad In the fac
tory the shell first goes to a skillful
operator, who saws off the rough edges, y
or the bark It is then cut into
strips. if it is a thick one, and certain
parts are selected for the heavier arti-
cles. The thin, fiat shells 90 to the but
ton machine. where the discs are bored .
from it very rapidly. These round seq
ments are engraved on another ma
chine: on another Loles are bored or the
brass eye for the thread is pressed in.
then a boy polishes the outer surface
Of each one by momentary touch on
a carborundum wheel, making 2, 400 rev.
oluuons a minute Arising from the
sans and cutting and polish machines
is a fine white dust. that settles over
the interior like flour in a mill, but the
workmen are apparently robust and
make no complaint of evil effects nf
breathing it. While there is consider
able waste material in each shell no
portion of the white mother of pearl is
permitted to go to waste. Very small
buttons. rosary beads. etc, are made
from the rejected fragments The
larger and better parts Of the she'll are
carefully selected for ornamentatiOn Of
the articles heretofore mentioned. A
very pretty watch fob for men Is made
of a piece of delicasely tinted mother OF
pearl artistically arranged In a filigree
gold setting
From the Mississippi river along the
borders Of Iowa the greatest quantity
Of fresh water shells is obtained, and II
has become a profitable business. Use
less portions are sawed Of there. and the
entire product is shipped to eastern
manufacturers.