| Pearls have been known since ancient times as the | | | | Kingdom and in rivers in the U.S. |
| Queen of gems, this may seem strange to us now | | | | Today many of these natural pearl fisheries have |
| since they are much softer and far less durable than | | | | been exhausted or the dangerous and arduous work |
| most other true gems such as diamond, sapphire and | | | | of pearl fishing is no longer attractive to the local |
| ruby. however it is the only gem which does not have | | | | population. |
| to be cut or polished to reveal it's inner beauty. Nature | | | | Cultured pearls |
| presents us with the finished article, an organic gem of | | | | The supply of natural pearls was becoming scarce in |
| great beauty. | | | | the 1920`s when cultivated pearls started to appear on |
| Natural Pearls. | | | | the market. In 1921 after many years of |
| Everyone knows pearls are found in oysters but it is | | | | experimentation Mikimoto a Japanese scientist and |
| not the oyster we order in a fine restaurant, there are | | | | business man started to distribute his pearls. This was |
| many other species of oyster. These molluscs can be | | | | the first time spherical cultured pearls had appeared. |
| divided into:- | | | | Mikimoto was not the inventor of the process, many |
| 1. Saltwater oysters which live in the seas and oceans. | | | | hundreds of years earlier the Chinese had found that |
| 2. Freshwater mussels and oysters which live in lakes | | | | objects placed in oyster shells would become covered |
| and rivers. | | | | in pearl nacre. They placed tiny metal statues of the |
| The body of an oyster is soft and vulnerable, hence | | | | Buddha in oysters and the oyster then obligingly |
| it`s strong shell. Inside the shell the oyster secretes a | | | | covered them in mother of pearl to produce beautiful |
| layer of mother of pearl which provides a smooth | | | | little ornaments. |
| surface for the oyster. Sometimes a piece of grit or a | | | | The Japanese developed this technique taking many |
| parasitic worm may get into the oyster and cause it | | | | years to perfect it to produce spherical pearls. A part |
| irritation. The natural response is to cover this intrusion | | | | of the oyster called the mantle contains cells which |
| with a layer of pearl nacre, the same substance that | | | | secrete crystalline calcium carbonate, this is what |
| forms the smooth mother of pearl layer in the oyster | | | | pearls are made from. A small sac of mantle is cut |
| shell. | | | | from a live oyster and a mother of pearl bead inserted |
| Layer upon layer of nacre is secreted onto the pearl | | | | into it. This is then placed in the mantle of a mature |
| and over the years it increases in size, not always to | | | | three year old oyster by means of an incision with a |
| form a spherical bead but usually to produce an | | | | scalpel. The incision is closed by a ligature, the process |
| unusual shape or what is known as a baroque pearl. | | | | is antiseptically treated before the oyster is returned to |
| The oysters live in oyster beds at the bottom of the | | | | the sea. The oysters are kept in cages for several |
| sea and have to be brought to the surface by divers, | | | | years before being retrieved. |
| only a small proportion of the oysters contain pearls. | | | | When the oysters are fished up the mother of pearl |
| Traditionally they were found in the Red Sea, the | | | | bead is found to be coated with layers of pearl nacre |
| Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mannar off the north | | | | just like a natural pearl. |
| west coast of Sri Lanka. Other pearl fisheries are; | | | | This was the original technique, today other more |
| north-west coast of Australia, of the coast of southern | | | | efficient methods are used. Essentially it means that |
| Myanmar, the Sulu Sea, of the coast of New Guinea | | | | cultured pearls have a mother of pearl bead inside |
| and Borneo, the Gulf of Mexico, and Gulf of California, | | | | them with a varying thickness of layers pearl nacre |
| of the coast of Venezuela and Tahiti. | | | | surrounding it. While natural pearls are composed |
| Freshwater pearls are found in the rivers of the United | | | | entirely of concentric layers of pearl nacre. |