The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-01
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
washington D. @
MAKING PEARLS CHEAP.

1 true pearl, formed by the WIZ oyster
\ is having a hard time competing win
less aristecratie pearls.
| First the japanese produced a Gull
tured pearl that differs from a true
! pearl only in one respect. In the WHO
musse1. the pearl is the result of an
7 irritation, generally bit OF sand or
a parasitic worm, which accidentally
gets inside the shell. In the cultured
pearl. the irritating substance is i'm
planted.
After years of experiment a Japan
! csc succeeded in so introducing this
| irritant that the patient oyster would
| build as perfect a pearl round it as if
the irritant had accidentally slipped
! in.
| This has raised the question: is a
cultured pearl of this sort entitled to
| the same distinction as the wild pearl
| Are pearls grown on farm like so
many berries and harvested when ripe
to be compared with the pearl for
which the diver risks his life in shark
infested waters? Gem dealers. gath
| cred recently in London, shouted no.
Because the ingenuity of a Japan
csc scientist led him to produce pearls
by putting oysters to work on a farm,
/ he was none-the-less manufacturer
they claimed. It was agreed that the
true pearl is the work of nature IN
assisted and that pearling should re-
main "A business of hazard and not a
truck-farm process.
The meeting decided that while Gull
tured pearls might look just like true
pearls-which not all the experts
would admit-still, they were not to
be officially regarded as true pearls,
French dealers went home and issued
a warning in a French paper that mer-
chants selling cultured pearls under
the title of fine pearls" would be liza
BILE to prosecution for fraud. That was
supposed to make the world safe for
the wild pearl.
Glass Pearls.
But now word comes from Germany
that a jewel expert of Thuringia has
attained a new standard in manufac-
ture of synthetic pearls from blown
glass 1t is claimed that experts are
put to it to distinguish these imita-
lions from true pearls.
There is no fine distinction to be
settled regarding the status of this
German pearl. 1t is an imitation ano
claims to be nothing else. But, if it
is so good that all but experts are de-
ceived, and if it can be sold for one
fifth the price of other imitation
there not be a demand for, this cheap
article to the detriment of trade in
other pearls, both real ana imitation?
Dealers fear that there may. So the
pearl business is still disturbed.
The German pearl maker, Herr
Heinz, is known as an expert in imita-
ton gems. He used to claim that he
could produce a beautiful imitation of
any gem except the pearl. That, he
admitted was the most difficult to
initiate, but still he Experimental
with formulas, until at last he has
hit upon a satisfactory one. His
formula is reported as a mixture of
fish lime wax, and silver nitrate in
molten glass.
Blown glass pearls are far from
A q
scales of the bleak fish has long been
used to coat the inside surface of
glass to make pearl beads. This fish
skin substance contains brilliant col
ors and gives to the glass the creamy,
opaleseent tints of the pearl.
~ Wax is generally used to fill the
hollow inside the glass bead to make |
it resemble the solid structure of
pearl. But the surface has a CLASSY |
shine, and the bead is slightly lighter
in weight than a real pearl. Glass
beads have, therefore, always been
readily distinguishable from real
pearls to any practiced eye.
Apparently Herr Heinz has i'm |
nounced that the blowing of his new |
glass pearl is a difficult art. Heinz |
says that he can copy the pearls in |
any collar or ornament so closely that |
the owner can wear the imitation and |
still attract admiration for her beau |
safe in a vault. The result of this |
challenge to the pearl business and |
the dog collar dowagers has not yet |
been announced.
Whether the much discussed Jap |
anese pearl will stay where the deal !
ers want it, plainly classified as a cul- |
ture pearl, also remains to be seen. |
Mr.. KOkicnf Mikimoto, the owner of |
the pearl farm, says he has always |
sold his goods as cultured pearls. In |
raf1 1fe toll ~ Il
process by which he induces the |
oyster on his farm to make pearls.
But he says that he cannot be re- |
sponsible if in later transactions the |
origin of the pearl is lest AS the |
only sure way to prove that a Mkt /
motto pearl is not a wild pearl is to !
cut it in half to show the nucleus, |
the identity of a culture pearl is apt |
to be lost, he points out.
Pearl Farming.
The system under whiEh Mr.. |
Mtkimoto operates his pearl farm
seems so simple-tho he says it re-
quires extreme care-that it would be |
much copied if he had not projected
by patents. His process is
patented not only in Japan, but in a
of other countries as we'll He
received his patent from the United |
states patent office in 1911, when he
had just begun to get successful re-
suits with round pearls.
His unique pearl farm consists of a.
great stretch of leased water and an
island in the Bay of Ago. A good deal
of fishing for wild pearls has always
been done in this locality. Ms
Mikimoto chose the place, figuring
that conditions should be favorable to
oyster culture.
Young oysters live in the beds here
for three years. They are then taken
out aHd~an irrtant, the nucleus for a
pearl, is introduced into tho oyster |
The nucleus is generally a round Bit |
OF mother Of pearl inserted in the liver
of the oyster.
The oysters are then rarl.os in |