Gleaming Pearls From Mysterious Orient Add Luster to Your Yuletide

If the world is my oyster, I'll take mine with pearls, lots of pearls, on the half-shell. Pearls are, without doubt, one of the most lovely of all gems - one of nature's little miracles. A simple pearl necklace - a single strand of pearls - is the traditional gift, in many cultures, of a groom to his new bride.

The pearl is the oldest of all gems, linked to the moon, and feminine wisdom, symbol of purity and romantic love. Though not a mineral like most gemstones, the naturally occurring pearl is still a costly bauble. A well-made, hand-knotted necklace of perfectly matched cultured pearls can be a high-ticket item. Less costly but equally beautiful, freshwater pearls come in a variety of hues and are much more affordable.

In their natural state, pearl-bearing oysters live in colonies on reefs in the crystal coastal waters of Japan and Hawaii. The lustrous pearls we covet are actually the oyster's natural reaction to an intruding foreign body.

A piece of grit makes its way into the oyster's shell, and becomes lodged in the mantle. To protect itself, the oyster secretes a solution called conchiolin , a brownish soothing substance, and nacre, which gradually forms layers over the grit. Eventually, this entombed foreign body is becomes what we know as a single lustrous pearl.

Traditionally, the pearl industry depended on women who worked in teams, diving down to the oyster beds to harvest the oysters and claim their precious cargo. Quality natural pearls take time and the right conditions to grow properly and fully. As the demand for pearls grew, though, pressure to harvest more pearls in a shorter time led to smaller pearls and a severe depletion of the oyster beds.

This, in turn gave rise to the growth of pearl cultivation , rather than waiting for the vagaries of nature to perform her miracle.

In 1916, Kokichi Mikimoto patented his technique for producing round pearls, by which a round mother-of-pearl bead is introduced into the oyster's mantle. The nucleated, or implanted oysters are then returned to the sea to grow.

These oysters are farmed in large grids, or rafts, lowered into the sea, where pearl technicians check the water temperature, and raise or lower the rafts to optimize feeding so the oysters receive sufficient nutrients to grow into large healthy oysters, capable of producing superior pealrs. After a time, the pearls are harvested, graded, and sent to be polished, drilled, strung, and/or set.

The depth of layers of nacre deposited by the oyster determines the luster and value of the finished pearl. Cultured pearls of high quality have many layers, while pearls of lesser quality have only a few millimeters of nacre coating the mother-of-pearl beads.

It was once believed that pearls, when dissolved in wine, created an aphrodisiac drink. Real pearls will dissolve in vinegar, as well as in wine, though, so don't drop your pearls in the salad dressing.

Pearls were long associated with purity and innocence. During the Victorian Era, it become popular to give a pearl bracelet as a christening gift. The Victorians also considered pearls, particularly seed pearls , to be a suitable gem for giving to young girls. Though jet was very popular, beautiful and valuable pieces of jewelry from the Victorian era are often set with seed pearls in addition to garnets, peridot, and citrine.

Ancient Greeks associated pearls with love and marriage. The Ancient Hebrews believed that God decorated the Garden of Eden with pearls. Roman ladies once believed that pearls were caused by a drop of dew from the heavens, and would bring luck and attract great wealth.

In ancient China, pearls were the mystical symbols of the incomparable beauty of the legendary pearl maiden, XiShi (She-see ). Pearls were used for over five thousand years to decorate the crowns of emperors, the robes of noblewomen, and sacred statues of the Buddha.

Many little girls of more modern times in North America were started out with their first piece of "grown-up" jewelry - an add-a-pearl necklace. They would then receive a matching pearl each year at Christmas or their birthday from a loving auntie, or grandparent until the necklace was complete.

The Greeks and Romans thought pearls were born in oysters as a result of a drop of rain or dew having penetrated between the layers. The Persians believed that pearls are born from where a rainbow meets the earth.

Pearls have been reputed to be the tears of angels, mermaids or mythical nymphs. One legend from Ceylon tells of how, when they were evicted from Paradise, the tears of Adam and Eve created a lake that gave birth to pearls.

According to Polynesian legend, Oro, the Polynesian god of peace and fertility, came down to earth on a rainbow, offering the first pearl from to the beautiful princess of Bora Bora as a sign of his love.

Perhaps the most romantic legend, one story tells how the moon descended to the ocean every night to bathe, Its light attracted oysters to the surface where the moon impregnated them them with heavenly dew.

Polished over time, in the heart of the oyster, this drop of dew holds the moon's radiance within its heart and clothes itself in the blue, green, pink and gold, shining and blending in harmony, becoming a perfect reflection of heavenly moonlight.

Freshwater pearls, more properly called freshwater cultured pearls come from freshwater mussels. They are produced in Japan and the United States on a very limited scale, but now almost all commercial production of cultured freshwater pearls takes place in China, which produces in excess of fifteen thousand tons of freshwater cultured pearls annually.

The pearls are cultured using the triangle shell mollusk, in a process similar to that of regular cultured pearls. There are two major differences between the two processes. First, the material around which the freshwater pearl is cultured, or grown, is a minute piece of twisted tissue which is inserted into the valve, not a mother-of-pearl bead. Second, the mollusk will produce from twelve to fifteen irregularly shaped cultured pearls, as opposed to the single, round pearl produced by its sea-dwelling cousin.

Freshwater cultured pearls are usually sold in the shell, and then shipped to another plant for polishing and treating. Because pearls accept dye readily, many vibrant and lasting colors can be achieved, making the reasonably priced freshwater cultured pearl a natural for beaded jewelry and embellishments.

1. Genuine pearls will dissolve in vinegar, so this is not a good test to check for faux pearls.
2. The best test to determine if your pearls are genuine is to rub them gently against your front teeth. If the pearls feel slightly gritty, they are genuine.
3. Black light will reveal calcium deposits in crustaceans. True! While working at the local fish cannery during crab season, I learned that the ultraviolet light (black light) in the screening booth, was used to reveal the presence of white and sharp shell fragments that were invisible to the naked eye against the white of the body meat. The UV rays also revealed the presence of "Crab pearls", tiny calcifications that  formed inside the crab, much the same way as pearls are formed in oysters. Though of no cash value, the luminous white beads really do look like tiny pearls.
4. You are unlikely to ever find a pearl in your oyster at a restaurant, because the edible oyster is NOT the type of oyster that forms pearls.
   

© 2010, Text by Elle Fredine, All rights reserved