Jewelry Pearls

Pearls have been extremely popular in the fashion world forever. Even the Egyptian beauty queen Cleopatra is said to be fond of her pearl necklace and the great Moguls cherished it as an object of immense value. During the earlier days, pearls were only available naturally in oysters. Pearl cultivation in a commercial way began much later.

Although at first, professional divers went down to the bottom of the sea to manipulate oysters in the hope of inducing them to produce pearl, the practice did not yield much. Thereafter a new way of pearl cultivation was developed. Farmers would insert sand or gravel inside the oyster to make it close down and cover the object with the material that produces pearls. But this method proved futile too, since steps were hardly taken to take care of the oyster or monitor the water in which the oyster or mussels lived. It was only during the late 19th and the early 20th century that Japanese researchers, notably K.Mikimoto perfected this method of pearl cultivation, and as a result, pearl cultivation really took off. These pearls are referred to as cultured pearls.

Pearl cultivation may be divided into two basic groups - Saltwater pearl cultivation and Freshwater pearl cultivation.

For pearl cultivation, four things are necessary. They are:

• A cultivation site (water clarity, warmth etc.),
• Mussels,
• Instruments to help the farmer, and
• The nuclei.

Pearl cultivation site can be a lake, river, irrigation canal or a restricted water body or even a pool. As for the mussels, the species vary according to locations, like in India and neighboring Bangladesh, the pearl mussels are the Lamellidens and the Perreysia. Again, of the above two species, Lamellidens marginalis is preferred as its overall size (7 to 10 cm) creates no problem for minor operations required in the process.

The instruments that are needed in pearl cultivation include a shell opener, graft cutter, nucleus carrier/lifter, graft carrier/lifter, spatula with a hook, mussel holder, pinchers, graft cutting board and a wooden peg. To obtain the pearl quickly, farmers use a nuclei or irritants, as they give faster results. The best material for the nuclei is made of shell as it has the same composition as that of the pearl. Sand is also be used as an alternative.

In pearl cultivation, the technique basically lies in the proper use of graft tissue and the nucleus. Graft tissue is nothing but a piece of the mantle and when this is grafted inside the body of the mussel, it will survive by attaching itself to the wall of the organ where it is introduced. Receiving nutrition there, it will function as part of the mantle, secreting shell substance or calcite, putting layers of the substance on the inserted nucleus. And in due time, the pearl can be scooped out of the mussel, washed, dried and made ready for the sale.

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