The earliest mantion of conch "pearls," specifically
from the S. gigas mollusk, can be found in the
1839 Catalogue of the Collection of Pearls o)
Precious Stones Formed by Henry Philip Hope,
Esq. and referred to in Stevenson and Kunz (1908,
p. 464). Among the 148 pearls listed are two conch
"pearls": "an oval conch pearl, pink in general color
and somewhat whitish at the ends, . . . and another
conch pearl . . . button shaped, yellowish-white
with a slight shade of pinlz." Streeter (1886) also
mentions this collection and goes on to say that
conch "pearls" were quite popular during the 1850s
and 1860s, to the point that supply could not keep
up with demand.