A jewelry item that today's working women might take for granted, a 16-inch strand of perhaps 50 pearls, often costs between $500 and $5,000. At the height of the Roman Empire, when pearl fever ...

She had bet her beau that she could spend 10 million sesterces (silver coins of ancient Rome) on one meal. "She took one earring off, and dropped the pearl in the vinegar, and when it was wasted ...