McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1919-02-21
New York Letter.

about. This time will pick on pearls,
and maybe something else, to describe.
wish my readers could go with me
to jewelry store at the corner of
John street and Broadway, only few
hundred feet from my Office here. in
the Department of Justice. Not long |
ago was in there, and had most in
teresting talk with Mr.. Ludwig Mis-
sen, about pearls. It was revelation
to me. always thought these gems
were pretty and rather high-priced,
but was astonished to learn that they
we're several times as expensive as
diamonds, weight for weight. Few
people outside of the big cities have
ever seen the genuine pearl. 1t is
one Of the most beautiful of all the
objects Of nature; dream Of lowell
ness personiied. and ft indeed toadorn
theneck and bosom of any queen. 1t
is purely a product of nature; the
hand Of man has absolutely nothing to
do with shaping it; all he does is to
fish for it in the deep water and take
it away from its mother oyster, clean
it and put it away. Any polishing
would injure 1t, and the real orient
pearls, such as | saw at-Mr. Nissen's.
are so perfectly round that no human
art could add to their symmetry.
Mr.. Nissen brought out his treas
ures for me to look at, and there,
nestled on black velvet backgrounds
in little cases. we're necklaces worth
a quarter of million dollars apiece,
the smallest pearls at the ends fol-
lowed by those little larger till the
center one was seen to be biggest of
all. As the gems were moved around,
the center Of reflection. like moonlight
on water, changed with each move
ment; some had a purple reflection.
others we're Of faint pink, and others
of decided rosy flush, but each pearl
in any particular necklace was the ex
act color Of the others in the set
That Is one reason why they cost so
much; thousands may be examined be-
fore one Is found to match, and some
times years are required in finding the
whole set.
Here" said Mr.. Nissen, opening 9
small brown case not much bigger
than Testament, is one of the fines
strings Of pearls ever saw. | have
succeeded in finding but seven of them
to match. How much do you suppose
is the market value of this string?'
/ supposed they must be worth sever
al thousand dollars apiece. He meas
ured the center pearl with a guage,
and IL was just half an inch in diam
etsr. THAT center pearl alone," be
said. lis worth eighty-fve thousand
dollarf, and the seven are held at two
hundred and seventy-fve thousand dol
lars. These are some Of the largest
Of the fine pearls II have ever seen,
and when the necklace is complete it
may be worth three-quarters Of q mil
lion. But here is the most perfect
gem have ever seen. 1t is one third
Of an inch in diameter. and rosy
pearl; il is thus far matchless, and !
despair Of getting full necklace Of
them. Come into the Third Degree
Room and look at it," followed
him into a little dark cabinet where a
strong electric light was played upon
q velvet background. Mr.. Nissen took
the gem, which had hole through
the MIDDLE with a string in it, held
the string and rolled the beautiful
thing up and down the velvet bed. So
perfect was the roundness Of the pearl
that the rosy-moonlight. purple tints
seemed fixed in one spot as the ball
rolled, and really it seemed to be
sliding and not rolling. Not only that;
it looked as though you could see
down into it, or through it, aud it was
fascinating and even uncanny to look
at il, as though it might have come
from another world than this,
MIR. Nissen said that these precious
gems were from the Indian Ocean, and
had been brought up by divers from q
great depth, considering how hard the
pressure Of the water is as one goes
down into the sea. Many lives are
lost. especially from attacks by sharks
aud other fierce sea monsters. upon
Che divers. They are taught the per.
ilous trade from childhood and can dc
things under the water that would
kill one Of US. Mr.. Nissen said that
II be were to hang these precious