PEARLS IN LEVIN

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXII, Issue 222, 8 December 1926, Page 6

PEARLS IN LEVIN

PRODUCTS OF THE MUSSEL. An astonishing discovery, which ma,', lead to an important enterprise, has jusr come to light in the Levin district. This is nothing less than the discovery of pearls 1 of commercial quantity in mussel shells from the Hokio beach, which is only a few miles from the town. The find was made by a boy. who qave some of the gems away and showed others to his school teacher, as a rc.sult of which inquiries were instituted to ascertain their potentialities as a marketable commodity. The* opinion of Air W. G. Wise, a local jeweller who now holds half a dozen ot different grades, is that they are a promising collection. Two of them although small, are of fine colour and shaps, and would not be difficult to match. All are bigger than seed pearls, the average being just under that of BB shot. The colour of the largest pearl has a tendency towards buff, which would make it difficult to match hut if it were a little larger it would have some value for a solitaire effect. At any rate, as Air AVise points out, the quality of the find is promising. It may bo anticipated, therefore, that the mussels inhabiting the local shores arc in for a had time in the near future.