A round pearl with a smooth surface is a rare piece that is worth its weight in gold. Natural pearls form in the shells of molluscs living on the seabed and the growth process requires several years of tranquility and a nourishing environment.
How pearls are formed
The secret of the appearance of spherical nacreous inclusions inside the shell of a mollusk is simple: a grain of sand, a fragment, a parasite larva, a pebble or other small particle that the mollusk recognizes as a foreign body gets there through the slightly open valves. To neutralize the alien, he uses mother-of-pearl, evenly covering the irritant with this hardening substance.
Growing pearls at home is impossible. For growth, immersion in the sea is required, the water of which is rich in trace elements necessary for the healthy life of the mollusk.
It takes months and even years to form a round pearly body. Due to the immobility of the mollusk, pearls are often uneven.
Pearl growing methods
Thanks to human observation, the principle of pearl cultivation was discovered in antiquity. Over the years, inventive personalities have added interesting nuances to the traditional solution, but the essence remains the same: a foreign body is placed inside the shell of the mollusk, around which it forms a mother-of-pearl shell.
Chinese way
The first to grow cultured pearls were the Chinese. Back in the 13th century, they invented a simple procedure:
- The shell of a young mollusk is opened with fine forceps.
- Inside, between the folds of the mollusk mantle, a grain of sand is laid with a bamboo stick and the valves are closed.
- The finished shell is placed in a special enclosure in the sea and waited for a couple of years.
China is a leader in the production of pearls. Farmers grow their crops in fresh water. Chinese pearls are rarely used for jewelry: they are crushed into powder, which is added to cosmetics and medicine.
Swedish way
In the 18th century, the Chinese procedure was improved and supplemented by the naturalist Linnaeus, who later grew many of the most valuable specimens.
For a long time, the scientist failed to create round pearls, and then he invented a solution: with a thin drill he made a hole in the upper shell of the shell and lowered a wire with a limestone ball at the end into it.
As it grew, it was supposed to twist and move the ball so that the mother of pearl was applied evenly. In view of the troublesome method invented by Linnaeus, he did not make an impression and was soon forgotten.
Silver pendant with pearls and cubic zirkonia, SL; silver earrings with pearls and cubic zirkonia, SL; silver ring with pearls and cubic zirkonia, SL (prices by links)
Japanese way
In the 19th century in Japan, pearl cultivation took on an industrial scale.
To speed up and simplify the procedure, the Japanese attached a ready-made small pearl ball to the mother-of-pearl flap, and then lowered the shell into sea water along with the rest, placing them in special wooden structures designed to protect the mollusks from predators.
Japanese pearls have a flat surface on the side where they were attached to the mother-of-pearl layer, therefore, when processing, a mother-of-pearl patch is attached to the flat side of the pearl. This feature is the hallmark of cultured Japanese pearls.
How are pearls born? Can you “grow” it yourself?
-
Growing pearls is an extremely time consuming and laborious process, but this type of business is considered to be very profitable. The process begins with the collection of pearl oyster caviar and then they are grown in special incubators. When the eggs grow into oysters, they are placed in cages with small cells and released into the sea or other natural conditions.After 2 years, the oysters are placed in large cages, and after a few more years, mother-of-pearl balls are placed in the already ripe oysters. It is worth noting that more than 20 pearls can be grown in one such shell.
An oyster with pearls looks like this:
-
Pearls - the formation in the body of oysters or mussels (molluscs) in the form of a ball with a mother-of-pearl tint based on a certain core, which is the basis for the formation of pearls. In mollusks, self-defense functions are triggered when a foreign object is in the shell. These are mainly dead parasites (cestodes, trematodes, nematodes ...) and their larvae, in rare cases grains of sand. Inside living organisms, a cyst (protective shell) is usually formed around the body of parasites, in oysters, morphological changes of a cyst with a parasite leads to the formation of pearls, except In addition, oysters and mussels secrete secretions that cause the formation of nacre. Thus, pearls are the result of the pathological state of the mollusk and quot; the grave of a parasitic worm (see details here).
Cultured pearls, in their properties, are no different from the real ones. The cultivation process begins with the gentle opening of the pearl oyster shells and the cutting of the soft body of the oyster. From another oyster, a small piece of its soft body is taken and connected to the core of an unformed pearl. The cells of the removed tissue form a cyst around the nucleus, which will begin to cover the nucleus with layers of nacre. This immature pearl is carefully put into the first shell and released into the sea (a previously fenced area - a farm) and wait 3-4 years.
Growing pearls at home - it is recommended to carefully open the pearl oyster and put it between a small bead / bead between the mantle and the shell wall, and lower it into the habitat (sea water). The process is long and laborious.
Interesting fact. The largest pearl mined is the Pearl of Allah, mined in 1934 on the Philippine island of Palawan, which grew inside a giant tridacna weighing 6.37 kg and a diameter of 23.8 cm (estimated at $ 40 million).
-
Yes, in order to grow pearls, you need special pearl oysters or mussels. In nature, a precious ball is formed from a foreign body (for example, a grain of sand), which falls on the mantle of a pearl mussel. She envelops him with her mother of pearl, thereby showing a defensive reaction.
To germinate pearls at home, a number of conditions must be met: a large aquarium, the required temperature and salinity of the water, a water filter, constant monitoring of the condition of oysters or mussels, feeding with special food additives, growing a certain type of plankton, etc. etc.
At home, in order for a pearl to form, they simply put a small ball on the pearl's mantle with tweezers. And then they stock up on patience for many years - pearls grow very slowly.
Most gemstones were formed by nature a long time ago - in the era of rock formation, when crystals of stunning beauty were formed under tremendous pressure and temperature. Pearls are a different matter. Pearls are the result of the activities of molluscs living in marine or freshwater environments. Precious stones need to be cut, polished and polished so that they turn into jewelry, and the beauty of pearls is created by nature itself.
An interesting fact is that the oyster itself does not need a pearl. She forms it, fighting with a foreign body accidentally trapped under the sink. In nature, this is most often the larva of the parasite. The mollusk fights against the irritant, enveloping it with an even layer of solid crystalline substance - mother of pearl - in order to neutralize the activity of the parasite. The longer the pearl is in the body of the oyster, the thicker the layer of nacre forms around it. So in a few months or even years, a shiny spherical gemstone - pearl - is obtained.The mother-of-pearl shell consists of microscopic calcium carbonate crystals that refract light in such a way that it forms a rainbow on the surface.
It would be wrong to call artificial pearls obtained at the pearl "farm". Also, as we do not call artificial cow meat. It would be more correct to call it cultivated. Such pearls have the same properties as natural ones, and the process of their formation does not differ from natural ones. A person only initiates the process by placing an irritating factor "seed" inside the shell. Most often it is a piece of ground shell or a piece of the soft body of another oyster, which also consists of mother of pearl.
At the beginning of their life, oysters are raised in "manger", in fresher water near the coast where they have fewer enemies. For "seed" oysters are taken at the age of two to three years (for the southern seas). During the growth period, the oysters are periodically examined and cleaned of parasites and layers. An adult oyster is ready for the introduction of the "embryo" of a future pearl.
The process of growing cultured pearls begins with the fact that the shell of the oyster is carefully opened and an incision is made in its soft body. At the same time, a small piece of soft body tissue is taken from another oyster of the same species, in order to then connect it to the nucleus of a pearl that has not yet been formed. The cells of the artificially removed tissue will begin to form a sac around the nucleus, which, having developed, will begin to cover the pearl with a layer of nacre. Further, the not yet formed pearl is implanted into the first oyster, after which it, together with other molluscs, is placed in a cage and the cage is lowered on a rope into the sea, two to three kilometers from the coast, rich in nutrients necessary for the oyster to grow and develop normally. Further, the oyster itself creates a pearl, obeying instincts.
Some crustaceans and algae pose a threat to the life of the oyster, which are periodically removed from the surface of the shell, and treated with a special medical compound that prevents the spread of parasites. The process of growing oysters takes several years. After that, the basket is raised to the surface, the shell is opened and the ripe pearls are removed. This is where the life of the mollusk is over. Each oyster is capable of growing several pearls at once. The thrifty Chinese put up to a dozen of their education centers in the sink.
Many oysters die before the pearls ripen, some are unproductive due to disease. Strong rainstorms that reduce the salinity of seawater, some types of phytoplankton, an increase in the population of which leads to a decrease in the level of oxygen in the water, typhoons, attacks by predators and parasites, lack of nutrients - all this creates obstacles to the increase in the number of sea oysters. On average, only 50 percent of selected oysters produce pearls, with only one fifth of these pearls being marketable. The rest of the pearls are usually too damaged to be used as jewelry.
Artificial pearl cultivation has been practiced since the 13th century, when the Chinese discovered that foreign bodies placed inside the shell of freshwater molluscs were covered with a layer of mother-of-pearl. With a special spatula, they slightly opened the shells and, using a bamboo stick, placed the chosen object between the mantle and the shell of the mollusk. Then the shell was returned back to the reservoir, where it matured for several months during this time, the object was overgrown with mother-of-pearl and grew to the shell. Earthen balls, pieces of bone, wood or copper were used for seed. This art has flourished in China for seven centuries. Around the middle of the 18th century. this method was independently proposed by the great Swedish naturalist Linnaeus, and some of the pearls he cultivated are kept in the collection of the Linnaean Society of London.Linnaeus did not improve his own method, but revealed its secret in 1762. His method consisted, apparently, in the fact that a hole was drilled in the shell valve, into which a limestone ball was inserted at the end of a silver wire. The wire allowed the ball to be moved from time to time, so that it did not adhere to the shell. This method did not become widespread and was soon forgotten.
The Japanese adopted the art of pearl cultivation from the Chinese and created an entire industry around the end of the 19th century. The Japanese method consisted in attaching a ball made of mother-of-pearl to the nacreous layer of the shell, after which the mollusk was returned to the sea.
Thus, formations resembling bubble pearls were obtained. The rate of deposition of nacre is very different, but, apparently, it is noticeably higher than in the case when the mollusk is not disturbed. The balls were covered with mother-of-pearl only on one side, and when removed from the shell, they had to be attached to a piece of mother-of-pearl in order to give the pearl its usual symmetrical shape. Therefore, "Japanese" pearls, as they have been called since then, are easy to recognize by examining their reverse side. Cultured pearls first appeared on the London market in early 1921 when they were believed to originate from a new pearl-mining area. As soon as the pearl cores were discovered in these pearls and their true nature was established, the pearl traders were seized with horror. However, it soon became clear that these grown pearls, when irradiated with ultraviolet light, fluoresce with a greenish color, which makes it easy to distinguish them from natural pearls, which fluoresce with a sky blue color.
Later studies have shown that this difference in fluorescence is due to the different types of waters in which the corresponding pearl oysters lived, and does not depend on the nature of the mother-of-pearl excretion, so this test is not entirely reliable for identifying cultured pearls. Fortunately, not long before this, another method was proposed and now an experienced researcher can accurately determine if this pearl was formed by human intervention. As a result, the prices of cultured pearls quickly dropped to half that of natural pearls, and subsequently dropped to one-fifth or less.
Currently, industrial pearl cultivation is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Chinese economy. China's Deching region, which is rich in fresh water, is the main base of the national pearl growing industry. Driving past the local lakes, you can see hundreds of white dots hanging below the surface of the water from afar. These are fishing nets filled with pearl shells carefully attached to bamboo poles.
On pearl farms, the “harvest” is harvested in September. China is currently the world's largest producer of freshwater pearls. Every year this country produces almost a thousand tons of pearls, and the local “pearl” industry employs approximately 300,000 people.
At the factory, pearls are sorted according to their color, shape and size. Oddly enough, but only 10% of pearls produced in China are used in the jewelry industry. The rest of the pearls are crushed into a fine powder, which is used for the production of cosmetics and traditional Chinese medicine. Pearl powder, in particular, is part of the skin creams that are in great demand among Chinese women, among whom pallor is considered one of the signs of true beauty.
Despite the fact that freshwater pearls are almost identical to pearls born in salt sea water, and have the same excellent brilliance, the differences in culture are quite large. The first difference is that freshwater pearls are grown mussels, not oysters, as in the case of sea pearls.
The relatively low cost of freshwater pearls is explained by the fact that the river oyster is much larger than the sea one, and can simultaneously grow up to 30 pearls, and the sea or ocean oyster - one. Freshwater pearls have more mother-of-pearl, therefore they are beautiful and shiny, and, despite their relative cheapness, they are brighter than sea pearls.
Source
There is something attractive and fascinating in pearls, but in nature it is just the result of protecting the mollusc from a foreign body.
Unfortunately, a pearl lives for only 150-200 years, apparently because it is a mixture of organic and inorganic substances. This is a very moody gem that needs proper care. Pearls that are not worn "die." And even if it is constantly worn and properly cared for, pearls still usually do not last longer than 150-200 years. The oldest large pearl in existence is the pear-shaped "Peregrina", which was caught in the 16th century.
It was owned by Elizabeth Taylor. A huge pearl that once adorned the treasury of a European royal family and belongs to Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor, on a luxurious necklace of diamonds and rubies, was sold at Christie's in New York for a record $ 11,840,000.
Unlike precious stones and metals extracted from the bowels of the earth, pearls are formed in living organisms - oysters living in marine or freshwater environments. Precious stones need to be ground and polished in order to transform them from a fossil into a piece of jewelry. Pearls do not require careful processing, their beauty is created by nature and is already perfect.
Before the Japanese patented the cultivation of pearls at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, pearls were very expensive in the world market. Saltwater pearls are still valued more than freshwater pearls because they are more difficult to harvest / grow and have a much more pronounced brilliance.
Cultured pearls are divided into freshwater and saltwater, depending on the habitat of the shellfish. Today, sea pearls occupy a small share of the world pearl market: 95% of all production in the world is freshwater.
In fact, natural pearls are a foreign body, most often a parasite larva that has got inside a mollusc. To protect itself from a growing and developing stranger, the mollusk begins to secrete a protective substance - mother of pearl, which envelops the parasite and neutralizes it. If the oyster won this war for survival, the dead foreign body inside it continues to grow in new and new layers of pearl year after year, until, perhaps, a lucky pearl dweller finds it. If natural pearls are formed by chance, and it is impossible to predict in advance the shape and size of the pearl, then as a result of cultivation, pearls of the "planned" shape, size and color are obtained. The longer the pearl stays in the body of the oyster, the thicker the layer of nacre formed around it.
The mother-of-pearl shell consists of microscopic calcium carbonate crystals arranged in a row one after another so that a ray of light falling on one crystal is reflected by all the others, forming a rainbow. The record holder in size and weight was a huge pearl, weighing more than 6 kilograms, which was discovered in Japanese waters in the 1930s.
The most expensive and largest pearl in the world is the Pearl of Allah, the Head of Allah or the Pearl of Lao Tzu. Known as the pearl of the giant clam found in Tridacna gigas, it measures 24 cm in diameter and weighs 6.4 kg or 1280 carats. The most expensive pearl in the world was discovered by a pearl diver on the island of Palovan in the Philippines in 1934. It looks like a human brain. Gem specialist Michael Steenrod valued the pearl of Allah at $ 93 million in 2007
It is a mistake to consider cultured pearls to be artificial.The cultivation of pearls is a very complex and delicate process that takes a long time, up to 3-8 years. People practically cannot in any way influence the process and result of pearl growth, and cannot know how the finished pearl will look, and also one cannot be sure that the mollusk will not reject it ahead of time. Not all grown pearls meet the established quality standards, this is a risky business, and the percentage of rejects is quite high. Cultured pearls are natural pearls, they are grown naturally in pearl oysters, simply under human control and assistance. Cultured pearls have the same properties as natural ones.
Pearls are usually grown in baskets suspended by ropes - as a rule, ten to thirty baskets hang on one rope.
There are only four types of oysters that can produce sea pearls in the world. The Pinctada Maxima oyster is the absolute giant among them.
Mainly used in Australia, Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar.
Pinctada maxima oysters produce large pearls with predominantly white, silver and gold shades.
The unique process that takes place at the pearl farm includes three stages of production: maturation, seed and collection of pearls.
The maturity and size of the oyster plays a very important role. Millions of oysters are selected annually for the cultivation of cultured pearls, but only a small fraction of them are capable of producing a truly high-quality product.
In the Gulf of California, a paradise for shellfish, among 100 oysters, 5 to 12 will have a pearl, but only 30% of them will be of decent quality.
If the size of the oyster does not fit, it is sent back to maturation in the basket. After three months, they are already suitable for seeding.
Seeding is the most important step. All instruments are submerged in saline cuvettes during the actual seed process on pearl farms. Do not forget that oysters are living organisms that will fight for survival, and some of them, weaker ones, will lose this fight. Therefore, the instruments must be clean, and the “operation” process itself is as fast as possible, with precise, perfected movements of an experienced specialist. Each worker processes up to 450 oysters daily - 15 seconds each. The essence of the seed is to implant a core into the oyster, around which mother-of-pearl will then form. During the "operation", wooden spacers are inserted into the molluscs and a special "implant" is prepared - usually a small ball.
Unlike China, where several dozen balls can be put in an oyster, in the Emirates only one is put.
Struggle for quality.
After that, they are again placed in baskets and lowered to the bottom of the ocean.
There a sacrament takes place, during which a pearl is born with an average size of 8 to 12 millimeters. Several times a month, oysters are taken out, cleaned of parasites and growths, fed, monitored the composition of the water, its purity and the degree of salinity. But despite all these worries, in the first month, part of the oysters dies, and part of them rejects the ball-implant embedded in them.
In a short time, in 4 - 8 months, the ball will be covered with a very thin layer, while a pearl growing for 18 - 24 months will have a strong and deep nacre. On modern pearl farms, in order not to injure oysters once again, they are x-rayed and determined whether there is a pearl inside, and if so, what diameter it is.
The process usually takes just 18-24 months, and sometimes even four years. On average, only about 50% of selected oysters produce pearls, with only one fifth of these pearls being marketable. The rest of the pearls are usually too damaged to be used as jewelry.
The pearls are then carefully removed from the shells, washed and sorted by color and size.And after that, they go to the jewelers, who make different jewelry out of them. Non-jewelry pearls are crushed into a fine powder, which is used for the production of, for example, cosmetics or traditional Chinese medicine.
High-quality pearls are very rare and are valued VERY highly: according to statistics, less than 5 percent of all grown pearls have the correct shape and characteristic bright luster of mother-of-pearl. Such pearls are a true treasure, a find for any jewelry collection. The collected pearls must be sorted.
In nature, there are no two absolutely identical pearls, as well as two identical leaves on a tree, so sorting pearls is a very complicated and time-consuming process.
Pearls are grouped by size, shape, color, brightness of the nacreous layer, so each pearl can be rearranged many times.
After sorting, a hole is carefully drilled in each pearl, the slightest inaccuracy can damage the pearl. It is important that the hole is exactly in the center of the pearl, because the slightest asymmetry can ruin the appearance of a necklace or any other jewelry made of pearls in which a hole is not drilled accurately.
Since ancient times, pearl products have been famous for their medicinal properties. So in China, Korea and Japan, it is believed that sea pearls soothe the nervous system and normalize blood circulation. Since pearls are the only gem created by a living creature, the inhabitants of the East firmly believe that river pearls are able to strengthen vitality and somewhat prolong youth.
In Japan and Korea, it is believed that wearing pearls in a silver frame helps to make better decisions. Perhaps that is why pearl products in the Far East are traditionally worn not only by women, but also by men.
Filipinos and Thais also revere the pearl as a symbol of wisdom. By analogy with how an oyster envelops a small grain of sand layer by layer, turning it into a jewel, it is believed that a person accumulates knowledge throughout his life, eventually becoming a storehouse of wisdom and knowledge. Thais give pearls if they want to praise the mind and significance of a person. In Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, pearls are also believed to enhance memory and the ability to concentrate.
