A variety of expensive jewelry is made up, necklaces, rings, brooches, plaques, earrings, and some selected pieces are carved. The pale pink color, if uniform, is the most expensive, ox-blood reds following in popular demand, outside Italy. In that country, coral is always wdm and it is never out of fashion. Finely carved pieces are expensive, as well as large single pieces and large beads, all of these being sold by the gram. Rosaries, bead necklaces, crosses, and religious ornaments are in constant demand throughout Central Europe, particularly in Spain and Italy.
Coral is also extensively worn in Egypt, India, Morocco, Arabia, and China. Large, fine pieces are sought after in the East, where they are worn in turbans and hats. In Central Africa, natives wear coral as an amulet, while gypsies universally seem to prize it highly, particularly the large, red variety. As a personal ornament, coral has, of course, been worn for ages, both in Europe and the East. Its possession has always been supposed to be of some bene ficial influence to the owner, and it is attended by various superstitions, such as the prevention of evil influences. In the Thirteenth Century, Marco Polo wrote that, in Tibet, “cinnamon and coral occur, which last is very dear, because they place it  round the necks of their women and their idols, and hold it as a precious jewel.” This traveler also wrote that coral was used as money by the people of Tibet, while Tavernier remarked upon its almost universal use as an ornament throughout Asia.