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Sedate, sober and classy

The taste of the community in jewelry remains impeccable
Berjis Desai

The ships, owned by the Parsi merchant princes, laden with opium and spices, sailed to China. They returned with silk and bamboos and South Sea pearls. The world’s most valuable natural pearls were near round or baroque. Silky silver or champagne in color, sometimes with deep golden tones. They soon adorned aristocratic necks from the first families — Petits, Jejeebhoys, Wadias and Camas. In family portraits, these pearls enhanced the effect of the purple Chinese gara, with its thick flowery hems. The penniless refugees from Persia had at last come into their own, and heirlooms were slowly being built. Soon Burmese......



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