Tavernier mentions one which an Arab had found in the Parages de Catifa, which the king of Persia purchased in 1633 for £54,000. A pearl from Panama, called Peregrina, bought by Philip ii. of Spain, weighed 134 carats. It was pear-shaped, of the size of a pigeon's egg ; it was valued at 50,000 ducats. Another, sold by Gorackes? de Calais to Philip iv. of Spain, weighed 126 carats. When the crown jewels of France were examined in 1789, the.value of the pearls was estimated at £40,000. Amongst them were, one of 27A- carats, valued at £8000 ; two of 574 carats, valued at £12,000 ; two of carats, estimated at £2580. France has a magnificent pearl, brought from Berlin by Napoleon. Mr. Hope's pearl, said to be the largest known, measures 2 inches long, 4 inches round, and weighs 1800 grains. One taken from India in 1660, and now in the possession of Princess Youssopoff, weighs 126 carats, and is valued at £16,000.
When the Princess Royal married the king of Prussia's son, she had, amongst other articles, a necklace of 32 pearls. They are said not to have been all of the first kind, nevertheless its cost was estimated at £20,000.
The priets of the smaller - sized pearls, like those of the smaller-sized diamonds, are rapidly increasing. A pearl of 3 grains will cost about £1 ; a pearl of 30 grains, £110. The Imam of Muscat has one worth £32,000. A few years ago, a pearl was sold in London for £2600, which weighed 116 grains; and in 1878 another of 114 grains was sold. These two were purchased by Baroness Alphonse Rotli sch dd.—Faulkner; Pliny's Nat. Mist. lib. xxxii. ch. 31 ; Tennant's Ceylon, p. 371 ; Walton's Discourse, p. 70; Forrest's New Guinea, p. 43 ; Bumph. tab. 47 ; Da Costa, Con vii. p. 4; Chemnitz, vii. ix. p. 495 ; Gmelin ; Linn, Syst. p. 3300 ; Bonan, i. pp. 83, 84 ; Argenvill, p. 23 ; Dampier's Voyage to .New Britain, in Harris, i. p. 124; quoted in St. John's Indian Archipelago, i. p. 137 ; lVoodward's Fossil Shells; E. Gray in Annals of Philosophy, Nov. 1825 ; Jameson's Ed. Joan. 1826, p. 199 ; Rebeyro's Ceylon; Moresby, p. 31; Intellectual Observer; 1Voodward.