Hi MoC
The 50's were about the time equal size pearls became available, Before that it was graduated cultured pearls only and there was still a strong demand for them. Eva Marie had a cutting edge, top of the line, necklace, in that pic.
Hi Gail
I haven't been able to get the counter to work for years, though the url is still there and you can go to the page. I type in 7mm x16" and click, then it all disappears. The url and linked pages are apparently defunct.