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Pearl: Queen of Gems
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. The name of the pearls has come from the Latin pernula – a "sea shell". Pearls are known for over 6 thousand years and were praised very high in ancient Egypt. White in color they come in various shades like blue, pink, golden, silver, green black and rainbow. Blue and pink Pearls are the most precious of all Pearls. Before the creation of cultured pearls in the early 1900s, natural pearls were so rare and expensive that they were reserved almost exclusively for the noble and very rich. A jewelry item that today's working women might take for granted, a 16-inch strand of perhaps 50 pearls, often costs between $500 and $5,000. At the height of the Roman Empire, when pearl fever reached its peak, the historian Suetonius wrote that the Roman general Vitellius financed an entire military campaign by selling just one of his mother's pearl earrings. No one will ever know who were the earliest people to collect and wear pearls. However, Since ancient times, the pearl has been a symbol of unblemished perfection. It is the oldest known gem, and for centuries it was considered the most valuable. A fragment of the oldest known pearl jewelry, found in the sarcophagus of a Persian princess who died in 520 BC, is displayed in the Louvre in Paris. To the ancients, pearls were a symbol of the moon and had magical powers. In classical Rome, only persons above a certain rank were allowed to wear pearl jewelry. The Latin word for pearl literally means "unique", attesting to the fact that no two pearls are identical. During the long history of pearls, the principal oyster beds lay in the Persian Gulf, along the coasts of India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and in the Red Sea. Chinese pearls came mainly from freshwater rivers and ponds, whereas Japanese pearls were found near the coast in salt water. Freshwater pearls were discovered in the Ohio, Mississippi, and Tennessee River basins. So many gems were exported to Europe in the 1800's that the New World quickly gained the appellation "Land of Pearls." In past centuries Pearls were produced only from the warm seas, while Pearl hunting was believed to be a risky profession. Nowadays, Pearls are cultivated at the special plantations. Natural Pearls are produced in India, Ceylon, Tahiti, Iran and in the Red sea coast. Pearls have been considered ideal wedding gifts because they symbolize purity and innocence. A lot of old beliefs are connected with Pearls. In the Roman empire, pearls were considered a symbol of power and wisdom. For women it was a gemstone of happiness and sweet dreams. Indians used Pearls as talismans. In the Hindu religion, the presentation of an undrilled pearl and its piercing has formed part of the marriage ceremony. A Culture is Born Kokichi Mikimoto, the son of a noodle maker, had a dream and a hard-working wife, Ume. Together they set about to do what no one else had done -- entice oysters to produce round pearls on demand. Mikimoto did not know that government biologist Tokichi Nishikawa and carpenter Tatsuhei Mise had each independently discovered the secret of pearl culturing -- inserting a piece of oyster epithelial membrane (the lip of mantle tissue) with a nucleus of shell or metal into an oyster's body or mantle causes the tissue to form a pearl sack. That sack then secretes nacre to coat the nucleus, thus creating a pearl. Mise received a 1907 patent for his grafting needle. When Nishikawa applied for a patent for nucleating, he realized that he and Mise had discovered the same thing. In a compromise, the pair signed an agreement uniting their common discovery as the Mise-Nishikawa method, which remains the heart of pearl culturing. Mikimoto had received an 1896 patent for producing hemispherical pearls, or mabes, and a 1908 patent for culturing in mantle tissue. But he could not use the Mise-Nishikawa method without invalidating his own patents. So he altered the patent application to cover a technique to make round pearls in mantle tissue, which was granted in 1916. With this technicality, Mikimoto began an unprecedented expansion, buying rights to the Mise-Niskikawa method and eclipsing those originators of cultured pearls, leaving their names only for history books. By mastering many new techniques and years of experimentation, Mikimoto, and hundreds of other Japanese firms, made pearls available to virtually everyone in the world.
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