MY LADY'S PEARLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19801, 28 May 1926, Page 14

MY LADY'S PEARLS.

S’ l found the** pearl-stringers (writes E Sre d SeifmoVe than 20 of them g • V wilv -ncaged m stringing the Inchest class of artificial pearls that are to® be found on the market. The firm which employs these girls happens to be the only one in this country with its own the oniy n , where every known £ a Sured COl At the LoSnlh ffiSsnnafi -as W Every pearl-stringers had before hM a wooden tray made with several rows of horizontal grooves to keep the pearls from rolling. Near to each girl was also a larger tray containing a number of small cardboard boxes in each of which were thousands o pear s of all shapes and sizes and of the most fascinatingly delicate tints. As I watched each girl pick up fr m her tray, by means of a small pair ot tweezers, a single pearl at a time and carefully thread it into position on the necklace she was making, ' wondered what training might be required for this sort my thoughts into a question to one of the firm’s partners who was with amount ol training required for proficiency in pearl-stringing, he replied, “depends on the class of work to be performed. For the ordinary pearl necklaces, such as are widely advertised, six months training is sufficient. But the girls you see here now are all experts in the highest class of pearl-stringing in existence, they have had to spend from three to fare years to acquire a thorough knowledge ot their art, which consists of ‘knotting while stringing. “For example, if an ordinary pearl necklace were to break, every pearl on it is liable to drop off. But in the high-class stringing being done here every pearl, you will observe, is made secure by a knot on either side, so that if the rope were to snap at any time only one pearl would be lost instead of the lot.” “Are there good prospects for women as pearl-stringers?" I inquired. “Yes, if they can get into the more highly-skilled class. The ordinary pearlstringers, of whom there are a fairly large number in this country, earn from 35s to 50s a week. But the women engaged in really high-class pearl-stringing earn as much as £7 a week, and I do not think there are roughly more than 100 of them in the whole of England.” I further learnt the reason why these high-class a tificial pearl necklaces are made. Apart from their sale by jewellers and goldsmiths, those who possess real pearls of great value like to have true replicas of them, so that the latter can be worn on .-dinary occasions or when abroad. So very closely, moreover, do these artificial pearls match the real ones that only the most skilled examination, I was told, could reveal any difference between the two.

The pearl-stringers I was watching are required every day to match genuine pearl necklaces ranging in value from £2O up to £IOO,OOO. Those are submitted u. the owners themselves, who desire exact duplicates of what arc often family heirlooms. This work of matching real pearls calls, obviously enough, for exceptional skill and good .'ye judgment. For in a rope of genuine pearls, where numbers of them are not of the same size, the slightest degree of difference even in regard to lustre would :oveal the defect to the connoisseur.