Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1892 — Valuable Pearls. [ARTICLE]

Valuable Pearls.

One of the most famous pearls on record is that which, three centuries ago, the French traveler Tavernier sent to the Shah of Persia for $700,000. It is still in the possession of the sovereigns of Persia. Another Eastern potentate owns a pearl of twelve and one-half carats which ie quite transparent. It is to be had for a million dollars. Two hundred thousand pounds is the price of the five chains of pearls forming the collar of the Baroness Gustav de Rothschild, and that of the Baroness Adolphe de Rothschild is almost as valuable. Both these ladies are enthusiastic collectors of pearls, and their jewelers have instructions to buy for them any pearl of unusual size or beauty which they may happen to come across. The sister of Madam Thieis, Madamoiselle Bosne. iS also the owner of a very valuable chain of pearls, which she has collected during the last thirty years o! her life. Of so-called black pearls the Empress of Austria possesses the most valuable collection. A story is told of the actress Mademoiselle Maria Magnier and her pearls. Ons day, as she was about to appear oi> the scene, somebody made the remark that her pearls were really of enormous size. “It is true,-” she replied. “The lady whom I represent on t,hs stage no doubt wore smaller pearls in real life. But what can I do? I have no small pearls.” The Swiss Government proposes to buy up all the match-works in the country, and make matches a government monopoly, similar to that of salt and tobacco in most countries of Europe.