Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-02-26
By LEWIS RADCLIFFE,
L, ;. Deputy Commissioner OF E,she7ie

You may have longed for. simple
test 10 determine the freshness o: your
breakfast egg without having 10 delys
! into its innermost secrets. Your long
insS have been slight as compared with
the longis4sS Of those who have invested
large sums in pearls and who wish 10
Anow definitely whether they were nat
ural sometimes called genuine, pearls
or culture pearls or possibly only irni-
tat;on pearls. You will want 10 do a
bit OF investigating before investing. As
there Is very wide difference i'll the
value OF these classes
True pearls derive their origin from
the accidental introduction Of all irri-
tating foreign substance into certain
cell tissues Of the pearl oyster or other
pearl-bearing mollusc This foreign
SuoStance--paraSi,ic worm, water-alite
grain OF sandwich finds It's way by
accident into the tissues Of the oyster
becomes the nucleus Of natural pearl
the most priced and mos. valuable %
the three classes. The cells Of the
oyster proceed at once 10 imprison the
foreign substance, surrounding II with
layer upon layer Of nacrecuS material,
Of the same iridesccnt character as the
inside shell Of the oyster
Since the discovery Of the origin and
growth Of natural pearls man has been
striving 10 produce these results by
artificial meanS-~that is. 70 srcw culture
pearls, Simple rs the process may
kokiehi Mikimoto. III Japan. Developed 3
satisfactory method for inducing the
development Of culture pearls. The
success Of this venture is atteSsed IL BY
the fact that he Was able ~ produce
an annual output valued At $500 900 ~
1921.
Imitation pearls are a synthetic
product manufactured III large QaanA-
ties from pear, cSSrncs~~a pi<<!sct de-
rived from flShScaleS formeriS the
source Of supply Was small EslrnpSAn
m.nncw. the iriaeSccn1 egtcct eSins dis
covered by accident by Joaquin French
rosary maker. about 1880. laGuiN noted
that the water III which the fish had
been washed contained a highly has
trouS substance which, when concrn~
trated and applied III small gloeS'S NJ
alah<aSter. produced remarkably sl~,1
limitations Of pearls During the War
the European source ri supply NJ FISH
scale essence or pearl essence Was cat
or Experiments With the scales NJ
native American fishes resulted III the
development vi an eatircly new industry
IN this country Some two milltoo
pounds VI the scales NJ such fishes As
our north Atlantic sea herring and
river herring are uSed annually The
useS for ftShScale eSSencc asc steadily
increasing and the cost NJ prvSsNen,g
excellent imitation pearls IL Decreasing
Large sheets ot cesSaActd ayr aiSA given
coating Ut imitation nacther-1"peari
and used aS backs tas brushes and
many other toilet ARTICLES
Discussion OF Methods
But to return ~ the question cs the
freshness NJ the ess or rather IL means
for distinguishing between the thee
classes III pearls under dsScl.SSt>M As
pearl essence Is usually applied a.
thin coating little difficulty viii tse eN-
pertenced In aScertainins whether ycur
lsASseSsion II an mutation pearl The
eelhllaid coating can he cut M rssled
OH or dissolved ut With amyl acetate
er aeetons,
As between culture pearls and natu~
tal pearls the rsrhlem ct diftetSntiA-
t,uh Is a must dIttitun esas> NeS, be-