A WONDERFUL PEARL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7002, 26 April 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

A WONDERFUL PEARL.

As tbe cose of a wonderful pearl will be brought speoially under the notice of the Cardiff public, the pearl being placed in the Art Exhibition, some facts concerning it, obtained from the finder, will be of interest. The lucky owner is Mr. Rawlins, a resident of Thomastown, who, like many others in that neighbourhood, owns a small garden on Thomastown Tips. Two years ago, it appears, a large quantity of oysters oame to Merthyr from Grimsby, consigned to a local fishmonger, but for these tbe sale was not rapid enough to clear them off while they were fresh, and in consequence several barrels remained on hand in a condition which unfitted them for the table. The fishmonger saw Mr. Rawlins, and, knowing that he was an amateur gardener, aaked him to buy a barrel for manure. • This he consented to do, and had the barrel taken up to his qarden. In the winter the oysters were thrown up, and Mr.' Rawlins noticed something peculiar in the one in question, and, thinking that the weather might act upon it, placed it under a currant bush, where it remained for months ; and then seeing that the seeming pearl was as white and firm as ever, brought it into town and exhibited it to some of the principal inhabitants. If its value should really be what ia now estimated, viz., £20,000, what will the Grimsby merchant and the local fishmonger say ?