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Pink, white and gray pearl necklace
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ABOUT PEARL LUSTER
The unique luster of pearls depends upon the reflection, refraction, and diffraction of light from the translucent layers. The thinner and more numerous the layers in the pearl, the finer the luster. The iridescence that pearls display is caused by the overlapping of successive layers, which breaks up light falling on the surface. In addition, pearls (especially cultured freshwater pearls) can be dyed yellow, green, blue, brown, pink, purple, or black. The very best pearls have a metallic mirror-like luster.
NOVEMBER PEARL TRIVIA Famous Pearl
The Hope pearl was owned by Henry Hope, the famous nineteenth century banker. The Hope collection contained nearly 150 natural pearls, the best known of which was the Hope Pearl. In the early days of the collection, the pearl surpassed the more famous Hope Diamond in notoriety. (The Hope diamond is now owned by the Smithsonian Institution).
Until recently it was the largest historical pearl known, and, by virtue of its very size, certainly gave one “hope” that all things are possible - even a larger pearl!
The Hope pearl is a freshwater “river” pearl, a massive baroque shaped blister pearl; that is, a pearl that grows against the shell of the mollusk and which, when removed, usually shows a spot without nacre where it was attached and this is usually polished, and hidden by a setting.
It is believed that this pearl grew attached to the shell and was carefully removed and smoothed where it was separated from the shell.
The Hope weighs an impressive 1800 grams – about 450 carats, or 3 ounces – and measures 2 inches long by 4-1.2 inches in circumference at the widest point and 3-3/4 inches at the narrowest point. It is shaped much like the foxglove just before it blossoms and is pure white at the narrow end, becoming greenish-bronze color at the large end.
Hope’s spectacular collection was sold in 1886 and the whereabouts of many of his pearls is no longer known. In 1974, the “Hope” was offered to a private buyer for $200,000.
OCTOBER PEARL TRIVIA – Famous Pearl
The “Imperial Hong Kong Pearl” aka the “Miracle of the Sea” is an enormous silvery white, baroque pearl with an irregular drop-shape and having dimensions of 26 x 39 mm, and a weight of 25.5 grams, equivalent to 127.5 carats or 510.0 grains. It is one of the largest nacreous pearls discovered in the world, believed to have originated in a saltwater oyster species, known as Pinctada maxima, common in the South Seas between Southern China and Northern Australia.
This pearl is believed to have been owned at one time by Empress Dowager Tz’u-Hsi (Cixi), the widow of Emperor Xianfeng, who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty after her husband’s death in 1861, and ruled China for 48 years, until her death in 1908. After Empress Dowager Tz’u-Hsi’s death, an enormous pearl, the size of a robin’s egg, was placed in her mouth, in keeping with Chinese imperial custom, to protect the corpse from decomposition. Her coffin was then filled with pearls, diamonds and other precious jewels, and placed in a tomb, amidst the Eastern Qing Tombs, a lavish grandiose complex of temples, gates and pavilions, covered with gold leaf, and with ornaments made of gold and gilded-bronze, hanging from the beams and eaves. The tomb was constructed by the Empress herself, during her period of rule, in 1895. It is not known whether the “Imperial Hong Kong Pearl” was among the large quantities of precious stones and jewelry placed in her coffin.
However, in July 1928, Empress Dowager Tz’u-Hsi’s tomb was desecrated and all its precious ornaments plundered, including the massive pearl placed in her mouth, by the Kuomintang General Sun Dianying and his army. Most of the plundered jewels eventually found their way to Hong Kong, which became a dependant territory of the United Kingdom in 1842, and subsequently a free port and entrepot of the the British Empire. The jewels, that were purchased by western companies based in Hong Kong, eventually ended up in the Western countries. It is not known exactly how the “Imperial Hong Kong Pearl” reached the British colony of Hong Kong, but it is known for certain that the enormous pearl was purchased in Hong Kong by the renowned United States based company dealing in pearls, “Imperial Pearl Syndicate” in the 1940s. Thus the name “Imperial Hong Kong Pearl” seems to be a reflection of both the name of the company, “Imperial Pearl Syndicate,” as well as the country where the pearl was purchased. Perhaps, the name may also signify the imperial provenance of the renowned pearl, being owned at one time by one of the most powerful empresses in Chinese history, Empress Dowager Tz’u-Hsi.
According to jewelry historians, Empress Dowager Tz’u-Hsi had a special fondness for pearls in life, and wore the small egg-sized “Imperial Hong Kong Pearl” as a good luck amulet, on a slender chain around her neck. Today, the “Imperial Hong Kong Pearl” is set in a platinum and diamond pendant, in which the irregular drop-shaped pearl is encrusted at its upper end with a foliage design made of platinum, the composite design giving the appearance of a fruit and foliage setting, reminiscent of the designs of jewelry of the Renaissance period.
AUGUST PEARL TRIVIA
Our pearls are measured in millimeters (mm) and have a 0.5 mm variance between each size of the pearl and are measured by the widest width. Freshwater pearls exhibit a wide spectrum of colors. The prime natural colors include white, peach, lavender, and pink. Freshwater pearls are also available in many other colors which can be achieved through practiced dyeing techniques.
July Pearl Trivia
Long known as the “Queen of Gems,” pearls possess a history and allure far beyond what today’s wearer may recognize. Throughout much of recorded history, a natural pearl necklace comprised of matched spheres was a treasure of almost incomparable value, in fact the most expensive jewelry in the world. Now we see pearls almost as accessories, relatively inexpensive decorations to accompany more costly gemstones.
Cultured pearls were invented in Japan, but pearl innovator Kokichi Mikimoto discovered that the oysters made better and larger pearls if they were nucleated (implanted) with the shell of an American freshwater mussel!
June Trivia
Pearl is the official birthstone for the month of June.
Pearl is also the birthstone for those born on Monday.
Pearls are the traditional 30th wedding anniversary gift.
May Trivia
The Seven Basic Pearl Shapes
Round: Round pearls are perfectly spherical – the shape most people think of when they think of a pearl. Because of their relative rarity and “classic” nature, they are highly desirable.
Near-round: These pearls are not perfectly round. Instead, they are slightly flattened or elongated, rather than being a perfect sphere.
Oval: These pearls are shaped like an oval – narrower at the ends, than they are in the center.
Button: Button pearls are flattened to some degree, making them resemble a button or perhaps a disk rather than a perfect sphere. These pearls are often used in earrings, where the flattened side can be attached to the setting.
Drop: Drop pearls are pear or teardrop-shaped. The drop can either be “long” or “short,” depending on its proportions. These pearls make attractive earrings or pendants.
Semi-baroque: These pearls are slightly irregular in their shape. For example, a pearl which might otherwise be considered an oval, button, or drop pearl, but which is not symmetrical in nature, would be considered semi-baroque.
Baroque: This is a pearl that is both non-symmetrical and irregular in shape. The baroque pearl can be purely abstract in its shape, or it can resemble a cross, stick, or some other shape.
April Trivia
(from the New York Times Art Review, Oct. 12, 2001)
-Images from a scanning electron microscope reveal the interior structure of pearls at magnifications up to 50,000 times. No two pearls have exactly the same microstructure.
-Light rays bouncing off the surface account for a pearl’s luster, and its penetration to the inner layers creates the illusion that a pearl is glowing from within.
-It may come as a surprise that before Columbus set sail in 1492 his backers, Ferdinand and Isabella, made a list of what they expected him to bring back from his “enterprise of the Indies.” At the top of their list was not gold or spices but pearls.
-”Undoubtedly, pearls are prized as intrinsically beautiful objects because of their luster, color, shape and silky surface. However, it is the historical associations of pearls with purity, refinement, religious virtue, glamour and wealth that prevail in our thinking of pearls as the queen of gems.” A quote from, “Pearls: A Natural History” (Harry N. Abrams).
-Ancient Romans held them to be the frozen tears of oysters or the gods.
-Greeks attributed pearls to lightning strikes at sea.
March Trivia
In the early part of the 20th century, Japanese researchers discovered a method of producing pearls artificially. Essentially, the method involves inserting a foreign substance, or nucleus, into the tissue of the oyster or mollusk, then returning it to the sea, allowing a cultured pearl to develop naturally. This practice was already quite widespread culturing
hemispherical pearls known as mabe pearls. Kokichi Mikimoto is credited with perfecting the technique for artificially stimulating the development of round pearls in akoya mollusks, receiving a patent for this technique in 1916. Although patented in 1916 this technique has since been improved upon and used extensively throughout the pearling world – no longer simply used to cultured akoya pearls, but freshwater, South Sea and
Tahitian pearls as well.
Mikimoto opened the door to a greatly expanded pearl industry in which pearls could be farmed like an agricultural crop. These cultured pearls could now be produced in sufficient quantities to make them available to virtually anyone.
The cultured pearl industry has now far surpassed that of the natural pearl industry. Although a market still exists for pearls gifted to us by nature, these pearls are becoming more and more difficult to find, with rare full strands being auctioned for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Today, purchasing pearls from nearly any store in the world means purchasing a strand of cultured pearls.
February Trivia
Freshwater pearls are best known for their wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors, and their attractive prices. They are produced by the Hyriopsis cumingi, Hyriopsis schlegeli, and Cristaria plicata mussels, which live in lakes and rivers in China and Japan. The mussels are grafted with pieces of mantle tissue, resulting in pearls of solid nacre. About the size of a human hand, these mussels are able to produce up to 32 pearls at a time,
up to 16 on either valve.
January Trivia
In a completely natural state, only a very small percentage of mollusks will ever produce a pearl and only a few of them will develop a desirable size, shape, and color; only a small fraction of those will be harvested by humans. It is commonly assumed that one in ten thousand mollusks naturally produce gem quality pearls.
Obviously, if we relied only on nature, ownership of pearls would still be relegated to the wealthiest and pearl producing mollusks would be on the brink of extinction due to over-harvest. As pearls have been prized for thousands of years, this need has led to the
development of cultured pearls. The cultured pearl industry has now far surpassed that of the natural pearl industry.
Although a market still exists for pearls gifted to us by nature, these pearls are becoming more and more difficult to find, with rare full strands being auctioned for hundreds of
thousands of dollars. Today, purchasing pearls from nearly any store in the world means purchasing a strand of cultured pearls.
