In the early days of pearl hunting in American streams, the fishermen had little idea of their value, and sold choice gems for insignificant sums. In 1887, a fisherman on Rock River, Illinois, found a 40–grain pearl which he carried in his pocket for several months. Showing it one day in Davenport, he was offered $20 for it. He quickly accepted the offer, and on his return home told his friends about “the sucker who gave $20 for the shell slug.” At present this “shell slug” is worth more than one hundred times that amount. Numerous instances of a similar nature occurred until the average fisherman lost all confidence in his judgment as to the values, and extravagant ideas prevailed regarding even almost worthless nacreous concretions. Thus, when a choice pearl is found, an exorbitant price is set upon it and the seller feels for the market value by repeated dickerings with several buyers. And unless one is an expert, he is quite likely to pay two or three times as much for a pearl at the river bank as in a metropolitan market. Some of the fishermen collect everything in the shape of nacreous concretions, and very often pearl buyers in New York and elsewhere receive packages which are not worth the postage; in many other packages nine tenths of the lot is worthless; and the practical joker and the swindler have solicited bids on bright marbles, rounded pieces of pearl shell, and even sugar-coated pills. While many pearls of fine luster and beautiful and regular form have been derived from these fisheries, it occasionally happens, in the case of pearls consigned to the city pearl dealer, that cracks, breaks or marks, which might detract from their value, are closed or removed, either by means of water or oil, the pearls having been kept in one or the other until a few moments before they were shown to the merchant. Pearls worth hundreds of dollars have sometimes shown breaks, and in one instance a pearl valued at $7000 showed these cracks even a very short time after the sale. [Illustration: THE EVOLUTION OF BUTTONS, MADE FROM MISSISSIPPI SHELLS ] In many of the pearling regions of the Mississippi Valley, inquiry of almost any fisherman will result in his bringing forth from an inside pocket a small box padded with raw cotton and containing an assortment of pearls and slugs. Most of the slugs he will sell at prices ranging from fifty cents to $5 per ounce, for several of the small pearls he will likely ask from $2 to $20 each, and one or two of the largest he may value at $50 or more. At very rare intervals, a choice pearl will be found, for which he may expect anywhere from $200 to $5000.