The Origin of Pearls
This week on the Hatton Jewels blog we’re deep diving
(excuse the pun!), into the magical world of our favourite gems; pearls! You’ll
learn how they’re formed and sourced, why they remain so popular, cherished and
sought-after even after being coveted for centuries, and the important
difference between Natural Pearls and Cultured Pearls.
The History of Pearls
Pearls were discovered before written history began, so it
is hard to attribute their discovery to one particular time or place. We know
that they have been worn as a form of jewellery for millennia thanks to a
fragment of pearl jewellery found in the sarcophagus of a Persian princess that
dates back to 420 BC, which is now on display at the Louvre museum in Paris.
Pearls were presented as gifts to Chinese royalty as early
as 2300 BC, while in ancient Rome, pearl jewellery was considered the ultimate
status symbol. So precious were the spherical gems that in the 1st century BC,
Julius Caesar passed a law limiting the wearing of pearls only to the ruling
classes.
With such an illustrious history, it is easy to see why pearls are still so revered.
A spectacular Boucheron Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl necklace.
How Pearls are formed...
Such are the beauty of pearls so adorned, their creation is
as particularly unusual. A pearl is formed when an irritant, such as a parasite
or piece of shell, becomes accidentally lodged in an oyster's soft inner body,
causing it to secrete a crystalline substance called nacre as a defense
mechanism, which builds up around the irritant in layers until a pearl is
formed. This natural phenomenon is what creates what we now we refer to as
Natural Pearls.
The difference between Natural Pearls and Cultured Pearls
A Cultured Pearl is formed in the same process as a natural pearl. The only difference is that it begins by human intervention. We insert a shell bead nucleus inside the oyster and irritate the oyster to produce the layers of nacre. The outer layers of a cultured pearl is composed of concentric layers of an organic substance and of calcium carbonate. So human intervention starts the secretion of a cultured pearl, whereas natural pearl secretion starts without any human intervention.
Some stunning Diamond and Pearl earrings.
Natural Pearls today...
It may take over 100,000 oysters to get enough pearls to
make a pearl necklace, and matching natural pearls to make a pearl strand is
extremely difficult since they are never found round or uniform in size and
colour. A well- matched natural pearl strand can be extremely pricey.
Where are Pearls found?
In geographic range, the source of pearls is widely
distributed, and different types of pearls are found in different locations.
South Sea white pearls are the top grade pearl on the
market. They are harvested from a silver or golden-lipped oyster, on the
shorelines of Indonesia, Philippines, and Australia. Whereas Akoya Pearls come
exclusively from Japan’s saltwater, harvested from Pinctada Fucata oyster, also
known as the Akoya pearl oyster. To the untrained eye, they appear similar to
freshwater pearls, but tend to be rounder and smoother.
Freshwater pearls are found in the lakes and rivers of
China, and to a lesser degree Japan and the USA. They are harvested from
freshwater mussels, and tend to be white and pink in appearance.
Stunning black pearls are found exclusively in Tahiti and
other French Polynesian islands, and despite the name, are found in hues of
peacock green, silver green, charcoal, blue and eggplant, among others. They
are harvested from the Pinctada Margaritifera oyster.
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