The Pearl Society

In The Beginning...

It is ironic to think that something as beautiful and coveted as a pearl begins with irritation. Usually, a microscopic organism breaches the mussel's protective shell, causing distress. The mussel soothes its discomfort by layering the intrusive material with a sticky, brownish substance called conchiolin. It then begins to lay down numerous coatings of nacre, or calcium carbonate, which forms the outer layer of the pearl. This is true of both natural and cultured pearls: the difference lies in the nature of the intruder. Take South Seas pearls for instance. These pearls can be from Australia, Indonesia, Tahiti, the Cook Islands or the Philippines, with China and Thailand still refining their process. To begin the process, healthy young animals (if it’s ocean they are oysters; freshwater are mussles/clams) are raised for three to four years, maturing enough for the nuclei to be implanted. Once these mollusks have attained a diameter of at least 4 inches, they are cleansed of barnacles or other parasites and moved to a new habitat where they remain for 8 to 10 days to adjust to their new environment. Later, they are immersed in either running or shallow water, which causes the oyster to open its shell for oxygen. A small piece of wood is inserted into the shell opening, allowing access for implantation without harming or killing the oyster. The nucleus, which is a round bead cut from the shell of an American freshwater mussel, is placed into a slit in the oyster's reproductive organ along with a piece of mantle tissue from a donor oyster. The mantle tissue prevents the nucleus from being rejected by the mussel as a foreign object.

Over the next few years, constant supervision is required to ensure high quality pearls and healthy oysters. The shell is cleaned regularly, removing debris from the inside and parasites, like barnacles, from the outside. Other conditions, like water temperature and plankton levels, are carefully monitored since pearl formation is affected by extreme temperature fluctuations, and high plankton levels can signal a red tide — a saturation of the water by plankton which can kill an oyster within minutes. Even with all of these precautions, only very few such nucleated oysters will be capable of producing a pearl at all, and of these, only a very small percentage will be of fine quality. Once the pearl has developed completely, it is separated from the oyster, polished, and introduced into the pearl market. What was begun by irritation has hopefully ended in fulfillment!

Pearls have been a growing classification in the jewlry and fashion worlds for the last several years. Whether large or small pearls, women of all ages succumb to the mystique of this singular gem. There is an old adage and although lighthearted it may be true, “the older the girl the bigger the pearl.” Although there are exceptions to this saying, it seems from teens on up with each passing year the attraction to a larger pearl grows and grows.