Artificial Pearls

1895

MADE OF ANY DESIRED COLOR WITH NATURE'S ASSISTANCE.

The Cultivation of Pearl Oysters and the Manufacture of Gems — The Method Employed by the Chinese — The Clever Art of Peeling Pearls.

Mr. George F. Kunz, the well known gem expert, is the author of a monograph on the subject of pearls. He describes the cultivation of the pearl oyster, which is being carried on with success in the bay of Ago, on the Pacific coast of central Japan. This small sheet of water, three miles long and two miles broad, is always calm and is admirably adapted for the culture of the mollusk. Pearl oysters were originally native there and were found in great quantities. Fishing for them has been carried on for three or four centuries. Owing to overfishing the yield between 1880 and 1885 was greatly diminished.

Fearing that the oysters would become extinct, experiments were made with a view of propagating them artificially. This plan was suggested by the late Admiral Yanagi, president of the Japan Fisheries society. During the breeding season the taking of the shellfish was forbidden, and spat was collected on tiles, stones, logs and ropes, the methods adopted being the same as have been tried successfully with the edible oysters of America and Europe. In this way the yield of pearls has been restored, and the Japanese government contemplates an extension of the industry in other waters.

Before this methods had been found for the production of real pearls by nature's aid. A Frenchman named Bouchon-Brandely has been making interesting experiments in this direction recently. He bored holes in the shells of pearl oysters with a gimlet, introduced through the perforations little balls of glass and stopped the openings with corks. At the end of four weeks the balls were found to be covered with a thin layer of pearl. In six months the layer was sufficiently thick to be permanent. The size of the gem thus manufactured is in proportion to the time that has elapsed. Of course it has a limit, inasmuch as the mollusk will not deposit nacre indefinitely, the only purpose of the nacre being to protect the oyster from irritation by the intruding object.

Pearls can be made of various colors by a very simple process. Each mollusk deposits its own sort of nacre. The nacre of the pearl bearing, fresh water mussel called the unio is pink. Pearl oysters produce black pearls, gray pearls or pearls of pure white, according to the part of the animal where the nucleus makes its lodgment.

At the Smithsonian institution in Washington is exhibited an artificial pearl as big as a pigeon's egg and of an exquisite pink color. It is formed about a pellet of beeswax, which was placed for the purpose in the shell of a living unio. Recent experiments made by the fish commission show that marine mollusks can be kept admirably in aquariums. Thus there seems to be no reason why every one should not maintain his own pearl fishery on a small scale, collecting the crop at suitable intervals.

The Chinese have been most successful in producing artificial pearls. The business constitutes an important industry. It is confined to two villages in the northern part of the province of Chih-Kiang. In the months of May and June large quantities of mussels are brought in baskets from a lake 30 miles distant, and the biggest of them are selected for the operation that is to be performed. Into the shell of each mollusk are introduced small objects which it is intended the bivalve shall coat with the pearly substance it secretes. Sometimes little balls of earth are used. Such pellets are made of mud from the bottom of water courses, dried and powdered with the juice of the seeds of the camphor tree.

To place these nuclei inside of the mussels is a process of no little difficulty. The shell is opened with a small instrument of mother of pearl, the mantle of the animal is gently lifted, and the pellets are laid beneath the mantle. The shell is then permitted to close. Finally the mollusks are deposited in canals or pools. They are placed five to six inches apart at depths of from two to five feet in lots of 5,000 to 50,000. In November they are lifted and opened. The animals are removed from the shells and the pellets detached with a sharp knife. By this time they are fastened tightly to the inner surface of the shells and have become covered with a coating of nacre. Next a little hole is cut in each pearl at the point where it has been attached to the shell of the mussel. Through this opening the earth which composed the nucleus is removed. The hollow pearl is then filled with melted yellow rosin, and the orifice is artfully covered with a piece of mother of pearl.

The pearls thus formed are flat on the bottom and in shape are somewhat more than hemispheres. They have much of the luster and beauty of the real gems and are sold so cheaply as to be procurable by all who care to possess them. They are employed to a considerable extent by jewelers, who set them in tiaras and various ornaments for women.

Parisian jewelers are very clever in the art of "peeling" pearls. They will take a pearl that is not pretty at all and remove its outer coat, revealing a beautiful gem within. A pearl is composed of alternate layers of nacre and animal tissue, and the process of peeling is very difficult. The tools employed are a sharp knife, various sorts of files, pearl powder and a piece of leather. The pearly coats are extremely hard and must be cut off piece by piece, the operator relying more on the sense of touch conveyed by the blade of the knife than on the sense of sight.

Pearls found imbedded in the mother of pearl of the oyster shell are made marketable by skillful treatment with acids. Experts know how to make pearls of any color black in a bath of nitrate of silver, and by other chemical means they can turn them to rose color, lilac or gray. Pearls of these unusual tints bring fancy prices.

A few years ago a pearlshop purchased an old gold brooch in a small German town for $20. In the center of it was what looked like a spherical piece of hematite, which is an ore of iron. On examination it proved to be a superb black pearl weighing 77 grains. The outer coat had become faded by sunlight, but when it was removed one of the most beautiful gems of this kind known in modern times was exposed to view. It was a lustrous black and was said to be worth $10,000. Perfectly round pearls over 25 grains in weight are scarce and fetch huge prices, being sought after to form the centers of necklaces.


Brazilian Cuisine

The flesh of the boa constrictor is eaten by the aborigines of Brazil.