3-011-351 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The pearl mussel of Scotland, 1864. 'The pearl, one of the most beautiful of our gems, is found in a species of shell fish, which is a variety of the mussel, not an oyster, as is commonly supposed...[Recently,] the old industry of pearl-seeking has been very successfully revived in Scotland...Mr. Moritz Unger, a dealer in gems residing in Edinburgh..., having in the way of his trade occasionally fallen in with pearls said to be obtained in Scottish rivers, was so struck with their great beauty that he determined to set about their collection in a more systematic way... Mr. Unger...travelled over the whole country, and announced his intention of buying, at a fixed scale of prices, all the pearls he could obtain, taking possession, in the mean time, of all he could get from the peasantry at a liberal price. The consequence is that now, instead of there being but one professed pearl-seeker in Scotland, there are hundreds who stick to pearl-fishing as their sole occupation, and...can make a good living by it...It was left for Mr. Unger to discern the capabilities of the beautiful Scottish pearl as an ornamental gem of great value...the beautiful pink-hued pearls of our Scottish streams are admired even beyond the Oriental pearls of Ceylon'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.