Many thousands of years ago, long before written history, human
beings probably discovered the first pearl while searching the seashore
for food. Throughout history, the pearl, with its warm inner glow and
shimmering iridescence, has been one of the most highly prized and
sought-after gems. Countless references to the pearl can be found in the
religions and mythology of cultures from the earliest times. The
ancient Egyptians prized pearl so much they were buried with them.
Cleopatra reportedly dissolved a single pearl in a glass of wine and
drank it, simply to win a wager with Mark Antony that she could consume
the wealth of an entire nation in just one meal.
In ancient Rome,
pearls were considered the ultimate symbol of wealth and social
standing. The Greeks held the pearl in high esteem for both its
unrivalled beauty and its association with love and marriage. During the
Dark Ages, while fair maidens of nobility cherished delicate pearl
necklaces, gallant knights often wore pearls into battle. They believed
the magic of these lustrous gems would protect them from harm. The
Renaissance saw the royal courts of Europe awash in pearls. Because
pearls were so highly regarded, a number of European countries actually
passed laws forbidding anyone but the nobility to wear them
The
birth of a pearl is truly a miraculous event. Unlike gemstones or
precious metals that must be mined from the earth, pearls are grown by
live oysters far below the surface of the sea. Gemstones must be cut and
polished to bring out their beauty. But pearls need no such treatment
to reveal their loveliness. They are born from oysters complete -- with a
shimmering iridescence, lustre and soft inner glow unlike any other gem
on earth.
A natural pearl begins its life as a foreign object,
such as a parasite or piece of shell that accidentally lodges itself in
an oyster's soft inner body where it cannot be expelled. To ease this
irritant, the oyster's body takes defensive action. The oyster begins to
secrete a smooth, hard crystalline substance around the irritant in
order to protect itself. This substance is called "nacre." As long as
the irritant remains within its body, the oyster will continue to
secrete nacre around it, layer upon layer. Over time, the irritant will
be completely encased by the silky crystalline coatings. And the result,
ultimately, is the lovely and lustrous gem called a pearl.
How
something so wondrous emerges from an oyster's way of protecting itself
is one of nature's loveliest surprises. For the nacre is not just a
soothing substance. It is composed of microscopic crystals of calcium
carbonate, aligned perfectly with one another, so that light passing
along the axis of one crystal is reflected and refracted by another to
produce a rainbow of light and colour.
Cultured pearls share the
same properties as natural pearls. Oysters form cultured pearls in an
almost identical fashion. The only difference is a person carefully
implants the irritant in the oyster, rather than leaving it to chance.
We then step aside and let nature create its miracle. How pearls are
cultivated and harvested Early on, pearl cultivation depended entirely
on wild oysters. Later you'll learn that, in some cases, the same
applies today. But modern pearl cultivation has become more selective.
In
Japanese pearl cultivation, scientists have isolated strains of oysters
that possess superior pearl-producing qualities. These selectively-bred
oysters produce pearls of exceptional lustre and colour clarity. In a
process referred to as "nucleation," also called "grafting" or
"seeding," highly skilled technicians carefully open live pearl oysters,
and with surgical precision make an incision in the oyster's body.
Then, they place a tiny piece of "mantle tissue" from another oyster
into a relatively safe location. Then, they place a small round piece of
shell, or "nucleus," beside the inserted mantle tissue. The nucleus is a
mother-of-pearl bead made from an American freshwater mussel. The cells
from the mantle tissue develop around the nucleus forming a sac, which
closes and starts to secrete nacre, the crystalline substance that forms
the pearl. The nucleated oysters are then returned to the sea where, in
sheltered bays rich in nutrients, they feed and grow, depositing layer
after layer of lustrous nacre around the nuclei implanted within them.
The oysters are given the utmost care during this time, while suspended
in the water, from the rafts above. Technicians check water temperatures
and feeding conditions daily at various depths, moving the oysters up
or down as appropriate.
Periodically, the oysters are lifted from
the sea for cleaning and health treatments. Seaweed, barnacles and other
seaborne organisms that might interfere with their feeding are removed
from the oysters' shells. The shells are also treated with medicinal
compounds to discourage parasites. Over time, after many months of
growth and care, the oysters are ready for harvest. Those that have
survived the many perils of the sea are brought ashore and opened. And
then, when everything has gone well, a beauty is revealed -- the result
is a lovely, lustrous and very valuable cultured pearl.
Types of Pearls-
Australian Pearls
The Australian South Sea Pearl is unquestionably the rarest and finest
cultured pearl in the world. No other pearl can equal its natural beauty
and size. These high grade Australian Pearls are of such quality they
do not require bleaching, tinting, dying or skinning. Their beauty will
never fade because they are pure and untreated, ensuring a treasure that
can be passed down from generation to generation.
Australian
pearls range in size from 8mm up to 18mm, and come in many varied shapes
and colours. The highly prized 'round' and 'drop' pearls are only two
of the many natural shapes available. Baroque, circled, button and keshi
pearls may be unique shapes, but all possess a beauty and style of
their own. Like their 'round' and 'drop' counterparts, these pearls are
naturally coloured silver, white, pink, golden or blue. Australian
Pearls are highly prized and generally the most expensive.
South Sea Pearls
There are two basic groups of South Sea cultured pearls: white and black.
Pearls
from the white group are primarily cultured in the northern waters of
Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Their rarity and exceptional
sizes, from 8 to 20mm, make them highly prized. Their colours range from
white and silvery blue to pale gold - the golden or light-yellowish
varieties abound in Philippine and Indonesian waters while white or
silvery hues occur mainly in Australian waters.
Pearls from the
black group, among which is the legendary black pearl of the South
Pacific, are most frequently found over a wide area stretching from the
Cook Islands, eastward through Tahiti to the Tuamotu Archipelago and the
Gambier Islands in French Polynesia.
Tahitian Pearls
The cultured pearl of Tahiti is synonymous with magic and perfection.
Most come from the atolls and lagoons of the South Pacific. They tend
more toward drop shapes than round and vary in size from 7 to 15mm. They
can be black, silver, dark or light grey. The rarest colour is "peacock
green" - the greenish black colour of a peacock feather.
Akoya Pearls
Considered the classic amongst cultured pearls, Akoya Pearls are
primarily round or oval in shape and measure 2 to 10mm. They are
cultured in southwestern Japan and China. Their colours range from
pinkish white to creamy shades and silvery blue
Keshi Pearls
Possessing a whimsical charm entirely different to the perfectly round,
large pearls, seedless keshi pearls arise spontaneously in the culture
of Akoya, and South Sea pearls. These small freeform pearls make
fascinating necklaces in colours ranging from silvery white to silvery
grey.
Mabé Pearls
Mabé Pearls are attractive
half pearls with beautiful, rainbow-coloured iridescence. The pearl was
named after the mabé pearl oyster which is found mainly in the tropical
seas of Southeast Asia and in the Japanese islands around Okinawa. Since
the beginning of the century, many attempts had been made to cultivate
round pearls from the mabé oyster but all had failed. However, in the
1950s hemispherical pearls (or 'half pearls' as they are more commonly
known) were successfully cultivated. Today, most of these cultured half
pearls do not come from the mabé oyster, but rather from the South Sea's
silver-lipped oyster. Mabé pearls are also available in oval, cushion,
drop and heart shapes.
Chinese Freshwater Pearls
Chinese Freshwater Pearls are grown in an amazing variety of delicate
shapes ranging from round and oval to button, drop and baroque. Their
colours vary from pure white to orange and rosy violet.
Kasumiga Pearls
The Kasumiga is a new type of pearl that comes from a lake northeast of
Tokyo. The mussels are a crossbreed between Japanese and Chinese
freshwater mussels, and are implanted with round or flat seeds. Kasumiga
Pearls glow in rosy hues of light to dark pink.
Pearl Quality
Determining the quality of a pearl might seem difficult to the naked
eye, but knowing the fundamental categories that determine a pearls’
value will behoove the consumer who wishes to purchase pearl jewellery.
The quality and worth of pearls are generally judged in the following
categories: thickness of the nacre, luster, size, shape, and colour.
You will notice that these factors interconnect in their relationship to
determining a pearl’s value.
Nacre
The
thickness of a pearl’s nacre is one of two elements that determine pearl
size. The second factor is the size of the nucleus that was implanted
within the mollusk. Nacre thickness also determines a pearl’s
durability and resistant to discolouration. Cultured pearls with a
thin-nacre despite its size will be more vulnerable to blemishes and
cracking.
Luster
A pearls’
luster
is enigmatic, and its iridescence can mesmerize the onlooker through
its sheer sublime simplicity. Luster is determined by the thickness of
the nacre as well. A pearl bearing a smooth and blemish free surface
possesses a high degree of luster. You can judge the luster of a pearl
by attempting to see your reflection on the surface of the pearl. If
the pearl projects a blurry reflection, the pearl is deemed as having a
low quality. If you see a fairly clear reflection of yourself, you
possess within your hand a high quality pearl with a thick-nacre.
Size
Size is another important factor in determining the quality of pearls.
Large pearls are usually produced by older or more mature oysters. The
larger the pearl is, the older the mollusc or oyster. Isn’t it
wonderful that in a world where youth is celebrated, pearls can remind
us that age and maturity equals a higher worth. Pearls are measured in
millimetres. The following is a size breakdown of pearl sizes: Small 3
to 4.5 mm; Medium 5-6 mm; Large 7-8 mm; and Very Large 8 mm and
beyond. A fun fact to note is that one of the largest pearls on record
is the Hope Pearl (displayed at the British Museum of Natural History)
which measures approximately 2” long with a circumference of
approximately between 3 ¼” to 4 ½.” However, its size cannot compare
to the size of the largest pearl recorded on the Guinness Book of
Records, the Pearl of Allah. This enormous pearl, boasting a length of
9.4 inches and weighs approximately 14 pounds, was retrieved in 1934
near the coast of Palawan Island, Philippines. The name was given by
the Muslim diver who found the pearl.
Shape
Most pearls are round in shape
,
but very few pearls are perfectly spherical. Perfectly round pearls
are the most valuable. You can usually test the spherical perfection of
a pearl by rolling it on a flat surface. The smoother it rolls, the
rounder it is. Pearls come in numerous shapes: round, tear drop,
ringed, off-round and baroque. Round pearls are the most valuable and
the least valuable being baroque pearls which are usually irregular in
shape. The intensity of the irregularity varies in degrees, and in some
instances, baroque can seem perfectly round to the naked eye.
Colour
Pearls are usually classified in the following colours: white, cream,
pink, silver, black, and gold. Quality pearls will have an even colour
with no blemishes. The overtone of a pearl is determined by the
combination of colours projected when a pearl is rotated and they
usually have a rose, green, or blue hue. What makes pearls so
mesmerizing is their colour projection. A good quality pearl will
emanate its colour from within. The depth of a pearl’s colour
projection adds greatly to its value.
The value of pearl jewellery
is also judged by the harmonious similarity of the pearls’ size,
colour, and luster especially when they are strung as necklaces. There
is the overall value of the pearls as a single gem, and the overall
value of a piece of pearl jewellery. Pearls that are set or strung
poorly can lose its market value because an incompetent jeweler has
decided to execute the jewellery’s composition poorly. Nevertheless,
having a fundamental knowledge of pearls will make you a more informed
buyer, and it just might increase your passion for pearls and pearl
jewellery.
Quality of Cultured Pearls
Cultured pearls are graded in the following categories: AAA (Extra Fine), AA (Fine), A (Good), and BB (Commercial).
AAA
grade pearls are spherical in shape, even in colour and luster,
flawless, and they have a highlevel of luster and iridescence.
AA+
grade pearls have a high luster and iridescence and is 95% flawless.
Most AA+ pearls are frequently used in necklaces and bracelets.
AA
grade pearls generally have a lesser degree of luster and iridescence;
they also lack colour uniformity with slight blemishes. Most AA grade
pearls are drilled on the blemish to hide the flaw.
A grade pearls
have less luster and iridescence than AA pearls. The naked eye might
be able to detect flaws and the shape will be slightly irregular.
BB
grade pearls will tend to look chalky white and they will have less
luster and, iridescence. They will also tend to have blemishes.
AAA
and AA+ ,AA pearls are usually used in pearl necklaces because
jewellers are able to match size, colour, and luster of the pearls
fairly easily.
Pearl Jewellery comes in-
Bangles-
Necklace-
Pendent-
Earrings
