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.

These days pearl farming is becoming more and more common with more people going into it. The profits are obviously attractive, but notwithstanding the profits, pearl farming has its own pitfalls and accompanying hazards including threat to the life of divers. Unlike other forms of farming like cattle farming, hog breeding or horse ranch, all practiced overland, pearl farming involves diving into sea depths of 100 to 130 feet and remaining under water for as long as three to four minutes. Though modern divers use equipment including oxygen tanks, eye gear, paddlers and others, some amount of physical threat always remain in pearl farming.

Looking at the crystal clear waters around the French Polynesian atolls, it may be difficult to imagine the dangers lurking underneath. But those who are into pearl farming knows that here in these waters, one of the best forms of pearls are produced. And that is why many are involved in pearl farming in these atolls, while the grafters’ laboratories are built on piles and located around the edge of the coral reef.

Rows of white buoys indicate the spats and the black buoys further out into the lagoon show the sign of pearl oyster banks where pearl farming takes place.

This is how the pearl farming process works:

• Production cycle begins with the cultivation of spats that provides the best pearl oysters. They need careful tendering, sorting and calibration through their period of growth before they go to the grafting process.
• Young oysters are first placed in saltwater tanks in the laboratory where grafters perform tricky surgical operations. This grafting process can only start two to three years after the pearl farming process has started.
• Grafting is a fragile process that starts by cutting small squares from the mantle of the donor oyster, and inserting a piece along with the mussel shell nucleus, into the oyster’s Gonad. The Gonad has been opened for this specialized operation.
• The oyster is then physically massaged to facilitate the healing process.
• Oysters are then placed in specially fabricated nets, allowing them to be located in various parts of the lagoon.
• Pearl farming also means constant monitoring to ensure that the oysters are doing fine.

Needless to say, pearls that are produced through pearl farming under such meticulous care surpass in quality, shape, size, color and luster as compared to those occurring under natural circumstances. Products from pearl farming fetch handsome prices in the market and carry the goodwill of the farm where they come from. Some experts believe that the best nuclei come from mussels that are grown in the Mississippi river in the US. But there are other rich areas of pearl farming as well.

Birthstone for June, pearls are recognized as the emblem of modesty, chastity and purity. They have also come to symbolize a happy marriage and hence it is no wonder that pearl jewelry is much preferred by girls during their engagement days or by brides as their primary jewelry. Besides, pearls are the only gems created by a living organism having an array of fascinating colors, shapes, sizes and origin and hence have a charm of its own. Pearl jewelry is often found as family heirlooms, passed on from a grandmother to mother and from a mother to the daughter.Being the most magical and feminine of all gems, pearl jewelry has long been considered as one of the most romantic items that can be gifted to a lady. As a matter of fact, a pearl necklace set goes beautifully well with any neckline, whatever the attire could be.

However, natural pearls are rare and their price tags forbid many and so, most of the pearl jewelry sold now is made of cultured pearls though one could hardly tell the difference between a good quality cultured pearl and a natural pearl.

Cultured pearls come in two primary forms - pearls that are grown in saltwater and those that are cultured in freshwater. Since saltwater cultured pearls are much higher in quality as compared to their freshwater cousins, saltwater cultured pearl jewelry is much more expensive. Cultured pearl jewelry is usually available as pearl necklace, pearl earrings, pearl pendants, pearl rings, pearl bracelets and so on. Pearl jewelry forms a perfect wedding present, birthday or Christmas gift. Also, it can work as a classic accessory for the bride in the form of a superb bridal pearl set consisting of pearl earrings and a finely crafted pearl necklace.

Cultured pearls come in a wide array of colors, shapes and sizes and their assortments are equally fascinating. To satisfy the customer craze, jewelers produce such artistic costume jewelry ranging from smallish Akoya pearls to big black Tahitian pearls, Japanese Mikimoto pearls, South Sea pearls and the spherical Mabe pearls – each of these items seem as good as the other, making the buyer spoilt for choices. And that is why purchasing pearl jewelry can be a tricky business if you are not fully familiar with the various available options, quality and the price structure of the various kinds of pearls. So perhaps the best way to secure pearl jewelry is to buy from a source that offers a return warranty if at least the quality is not satisfactory.

Incidentally, there was a time when pearl jewelry was rated as one of the highest priced items but with the advent of widespread pearl farming now, the price of pearl jewelry has become quite affordable to most people.

Wearing jewelry has been a way of life for ages. If you look at the early cave paintings, you will find people wearing jewelry that were crudely fashioned from bones of wild animals hunted down. However, as we learnt the use of metal, metallic ornaments started to rule for a while till precious metals were discovered. And then came precious and semi-precious stones and pearls. Slowly pearls began to appear in ornaments that were worn by ladies and young girls. These pearls became a hot favorite with them. Unlike metallic objects or stones, pearls were neither dug out of earth nor were they part of any substance that was physically obtained or chemically produced by man. Pearls can only be found inside a living creature, an oyster. Technically however, it is incorrect to say that oysters are the only variety of mollusk that can produce pearls since clams and mussels are also capable of turning out pearls. However such occurrences are rare.

The birth of pearls is the consequence of a biological process - the oyster’s way of protecting itself from foreign substances entering into its body. To understand the progression, let us take a look into the oyster’s basic anatomy that consists of two shells that are held together by an elastic ligament. The shells function as valves that can open or close at will. Under normal conditions, the valves are kept open for the oyster’s nourishments. An organ called the Mantle is responsible for the growth of the oyster’s shell that uses minerals from the oyster’s food. The material created by the Mantle is known as Nacre that lines the inside of the shells of the oyster.

The formation of pearls begins as soon as foreign bodies slip into the oyster between the Mantle and the shell that irritates the Mantle. The oyster’s natural reaction is to cover up the irritant and as a result, the Mantle covers the irritant with layers of Nacre that eventually forms pearls. Pearls are therefore nothing but a foreign substance that has been covered with multiple layers of Nacre inside an oyster.

Pearls come in various sizes, shapes and colors - white, black, gray, blue, red and green. Pearls are found all over the world, the black variety though, is indigenous to the South Pacific region.

Pearls can be generalized into two varieties. Natural pearls and cultured pearls. The second variety is created through the same principle but requires a little bit of manipulation by the harvester who opens the live oyster shell and cuts a small slit in the mantle tissue to insert an irritant. The rest is the oyster’s job. In fresh water cultured pearls however, no irritants are required, a mere cut in the mantle is enough to induce Nacre secretion for the pearl to develop.

Though there is not much difference in the quality of natural and cultured pearls, natural pearls are more in demand as these pearls are more difficult to obtain.