From ancient civilizations to modern times, the highest quality natural pearls have been valued and revered for their beauty, rarity, and lasting worth. These magnificent, spherical treasures of the sea, called the “queen of gems,” are still a symbol of luxury and prestige today, a metaphor for something noble, admirable, and valuable, and their rich history is as fascinating as the gems themselves.
The oldest jewel in the world
There is no agreement on exactly where and when pearls were discovered, nevertheless they have been considered one of the most valuable natural materials in the world for centuries: ancient cultures from all over the world – including the Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, Greeks, and Europeans – attributed great value to pearls, which were given as gifts as early as 2300 BCE (freshwater pearls from the Chinese Huai River were the preferred gift for the Chinese royal family). Thanks to the discovery of the sarcophagus of a Persian princess, now on display in the Louvre in Paris, which contains a fragment of a pearl necklace, we know that pearls were worn as jewelry as early as around 420 BCE.
Pearl jewelry was also an important status symbol in ancient Rome, to the extent that Julius Caesar enacted a law that restricted the wearing of pearls only to the ruling classes. Legend has it that the Roman general Vitellius sold one of his mother’s pearl earrings and was able to use the money obtained in the transaction to finance an entire military campaign, so great was their value.The Greeks also loved pearl jewelry, which was particularly worn during weddings – in New York, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one can see the Greek “Pearl and Gold Necklace with an Eros Pendant,” dating from 330-300 BC.
What are pearls?
Unlike diamonds, sapphires, and other gemstones, pearls are not formed as a result of immense pressure and temperatures deep within the Earth’s mantle, but in marine living creatures – oysters and mollusks. A pearl forms when an irritant, such as a grain of sand or a piece of shell, gets into the soft interior of the mollusk’s shell, causing the secretion of a crystalline substance called nacre, which forms around an irritant in concentric layers, until a spherical shape emerges, which we call a pearl. Like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl chemically consists of calcium carbonate; mainly aragonite or a mixture of aragonite and calcite. A pearl of perfect quality is perfectly round, smooth, and shiny. Unlike the shatter-resistant diamond, the formation of natural pearls depends on clean seas and stable temperatures, which have been disrupted by pollution and global warming.
Where do they occur?
Pearls can be found or cultivated in fresh or salt water, and there are several different types of pearls depending on which mollusk they come from. Cultured freshwater pearls are mainly produced in China and, due to their abundance, are more affordable than their saltwater cousins. Saltwater pearls include Japanese Akoya waters, as well as Tahitian pearls, which come from Tahiti and other islands of French Polynesia. The Tahitian pearl is also known as black pearl, although the spectrum of its colors also includes gray, blue, green, and purple. South Sea pearls come from Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The latter are the largest of all pearl varieties and occur in white, cream, or golden colors, ranging in size from 9mm to 20mm.
Nowadays, natural pearls are among the rarest gemstones, and their almost completely depleted supply makes finding a specimen of excellent quality nearly miraculous.
Cultured pearls
Hundreds of years of exploitation wild oysters in search of exquisite natural pearls in both Americas, French Polynesia, the Gulf of Mannar, and other areas have led to the depletion of many pearl oyster beds.To meet demand and harvest pearls in an ecologically sustainable way, a method for obtaining cultured pearls was developed in Japan at the end of the 19th century – Kokichi Mikimoto, the son of a Japanese noodle maker, created the world’s first cultured pearl in 1893 by manually inserting an irritant into an oyster to stimulate it to produce a pearl. The introduction of cultured pearls at the beginning of the 20th century turned the entire pearl industry upside down and caused a sharp decline in the value of natural pearls.By 1935, there were 350 pearl farms in Japan, producing 10 million cultured pearls annually, although Mikimoto had to constantly defend himself against accusations that his pearls were not “real.” Scientific evidence spoke otherwise: cultured pearls had exactly the same properties as those forming in the depths of the sea, the only difference being that they had a helping hand in starting the natural process. Mikimoto Akoya pearls are still used today by the jewelry house bearing his name and are known for their magnificent luster and rich colors, ranging from white, cream, and pink, to silvery pink.
The most impressive pearls throughout history
- La Peregrina – one of the most famous pearls in the world – discovered in the 16th century in the Gulf of Panama, is the largest pear-shaped pearl ever found. Although the nearly 60-carat pearl had to be cleaned and drilled to be set in jewelry, La Peregrina is still one of the largest, perfectly symmetrical, pear-shaped pearls in existence. It was owned by Spanish, French, and English kings and queens, and in 1969 Richard Burton purchased La Peregrina at an auction for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor. The pearl was auctioned for a record price of over 11 million dollars in 2011.
- The Hope Pearl belongs to the equally famous and distinguished specimens of this gem. It was originally owned by Henry Philip Hope, a 19th-century pearl collector who had over 150 natural specimens in his collection, and from whose name it took its name. The Hope is one of the largest saltwater pearls in the world, measuring 5 cm in length and weighing 90.8 grams (454 carats). It is currently housed in the British Museum of Natural History.
- Discovered off the coast of California in 1990 by a diver, The Big Pink Pearl – weighing 470 carats! – holds the Guinness World Record for “Largest Abalone Pearl” in the world. The lucky diver still owns this pearl, which in 1991 was valued at 4.7 million dollars.
Pearl Jewelry
Custom-made gold jewelry adorned with pearls perfectly emphasizes the importance of emotions through the beautiful symbolism of these sea treasures, and an individual design created at the 79 Diamonds studio will ensure that your ring or earrings are unique. We warmly invite you to contact our designer!