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As long as pearl jewelry have been known to people, they have been a highly sought commodity for their beauty. It's only in recent times however that the industry has taken the hunt for the perfect pearl to a whole different level. Today, the shiny orbs that we see on in display in jewelry stores have actually almost always been grown in farms.
That's a far cry from the dangerous extraction and collection methods used before the invention of modern technology. In the past, not more than 100 years ago, the only way to retrieve pearls was by diving in lakes, floods and the ocean to pick them up, one at the time. The unfortunate divers who'se job it was to do this, were often poor and lured by the relative large sums they could get. The diver would sometimes have to dive as deep as 100 feet on one single breath of air. In order to preserve air and to stay submerged the longest, the divers would hold on to heavy stones on the way down.
Naturally, this dangerous activity was reserved for the desperate or the powerless - in many cases slaves or extremely poor peasents. Today, this method is all but obsolete in most places of the world. The cheaper cultured pearls have become popular and are many times the only pearls available to the consumer.
There are however still a few isolated areas that practice this old art of pearl diving. Some of the finest natural pearl speciments come from the gulf of Bahrain. Here, divers still risk their health to retrieve what are considered the top of the crop in the world. In fact, Bahrain wants no part of the sale of cultured pearls, banned from trade. Bahrain is one of the few places on earth that does an active job in trying to preserve the natural habitat and waters from pollution.
It's an interesting story and one that continues to fascinate buyers around the world. Somehow, the beauty of the pearl grows when it's been retrieved from the depth of the ocean.
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Buying pearl jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you're considering a gift of pearl jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here's some information to help you get the best quality pearl jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.
Pearls
Natural or real pearls are made by oysters and other mollusks. Cultured pearls also are grown by mollusks, but with human intervention; that is, an irritant introduced into the shells causes a pearl to grow. Imitation pearls are man-made with glass, plastic, or organic materials.
Because natural pearls are very rare, most pearls used in jewelry are either cultured or imitation pearls. Cultured pearls, because they are made by oysters or mollusks, usually are more expensive than imitation pears. A cultured pearl's value is largely based on its size, usually stated in millimeters, and the quality of its nacre coating, which give it luster. Jewelers should tell your if the pearls are cultured or imitation. Some black, bronze, gold, purple, blue and orange pearls, whether natural or cultured, occur that way in nature; some, however, are dyed through various processes. Jewelers should tell you whether the colored pearls are naturally colored, dyed or irradiated.
Clams, oysters, mussels and many other mollusks with limy shells are known to produce pearls. But very few kinds yield gem pearls of jeweler's quality. The pearl is an abnormal growth of mother-of-pearl, or nacre, imbedded in the soft bodies of these shellfish. It is built up, layer upon layer, in the same way as nacre is added to the lining of the growing shell and always has the same color and luster. For example, over the country, hundreds of good-sized pearls are found each year in the oysters we eat. Unfortunately these have no commercial value regardless of whether they have been cooked or not because they are dull opaque white or purple like the shell of the parent oyster. In recent times almost all pearls of gem quality come from the oriental pearl oyster which has a bright shimmering translucent nacre.
A pearl starts growing when some irritating foreign substance such as a sand grain, bit of mud, parasite or other object becomes lodged in the shell-producing gland called the mantle. Pearls formed in the soft flesh where nacre can be added on all sides are most likely to be spherical and the most highly prized. By far the great majority are flattened or variously distorted and have little value. Size, color, luster and freedom from flaws are other essential qualities. Unlike other gems, such as diamonds, pearls have an average life of only about 50 years. In time the small amount of water in a pearl's make-up is lost and its surface cracks. Because they are mostly lime, necklaces which are worn often are injured by the acid secretions of the human skin.
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Buying pearl jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you're considering a gift of pearl jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here's some information to help you get the best quality pearl jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.
Pearls
Natural or real pearls are made by oysters and other mollusks. Cultured pearls also are grown by mollusks, but with human intervention; that is, an irritant introduced into the shells causes a pearl to grow. Imitation pearls are man-made with glass, plastic, or organic materials.
Because natural pearls are very rare, most pearls used in jewelry are either cultured or imitation pearls. Cultured pearls, because they are made by oysters or mollusks, usually are more expensive than imitation pears. A cultured pearl's value is largely based on its size, usually stated in millimeters, and the quality of its nacre coating, which give it luster. Jewelers should tell your if the pearls are cultured or imitation. Some black, bronze, gold, purple, blue and orange pearls, whether natural or cultured, occur that way in nature; some, however, are dyed through various processes. Jewelers should tell you whether the colored pearls are naturally colored, dyed or irradiated.
Clams, oysters, mussels and many other mollusks with limy shells are known to produce pearls. But very few kinds yield gem pearls of jeweler's quality. The pearl is an abnormal growth of mother-of-pearl, or nacre, imbedded in the soft bodies of these shellfish. It is built up, layer upon layer, in the same way as nacre is added to the lining of the growing shell and always has the same color and luster. For example, over the country, hundreds of good-sized pearls are found each year in the oysters we eat. Unfortunately these have no commercial value regardless of whether they have been cooked or not because they are dull opaque white or purple like the shell of the parent oyster. In recent times almost all pearls of gem quality come from the oriental pearl oyster which has a bright shimmering translucent nacre.
A pearl starts growing when some irritating foreign substance such as a sand grain, bit of mud, parasite or other object becomes lodged in the shell-producing gland called the mantle. Pearls formed in the soft flesh where nacre can be added on all sides are most likely to be spherical and the most highly prized. By far the great majority are flattened or variously distorted and have little value. Size, color, luster and freedom from flaws are other essential qualities. Unlike other gems, such as diamonds, pearls have an average life of only about 50 years. In time the small amount of water in a pearl's make-up is lost and its surface cracks. Because they are mostly lime, necklaces which are worn often are injured by the acid secretions of the human skin.
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Andrea, on the other hand, noticed a chilling effect on her social life: Since the fb update, at least one of my friends has lost access to my profile (there may well be more, but I don’t communicate regularly with all my fb friends, so I don’t know). We both checked our settings & she ought to be able to see everything, but f reshwater pearl jewelry - nope. Very annoying, since it was all working ok before. Eva just wishes the Horizons bloggers would keep their big mouths shut: I don’t use Facebook and I never will. But unfortunately, I’ve been inundated with these ‘news’ items about FB user complaints for over a year. Is there a way to turn off FB complaints in the news? Could the news pay closer attention to something more important? boo hoo. Sorry, Eva. In the future, perhaps we can freshwater pearl jewelry interest you in a “Facebook-free” edition of the daily news? In the meantime, why don’t you talk to Dave. Dave is a Facebook Libertarian. He wants freedom from corporate control: I don’t mind having options, I just wish facebook hadn’t forced everyone to change… Why not let users pick which design they wish to use? It’s all electronic, so it’s not like there’s a lot of wasted paper or resources involved in offering users different display formats. Finally, we have a reader who identifies him or herself only by the letter “b.” “b” hates the changes! “b” wants the old Facebook back. “b” can’t wait any longer: I like the new design more than pearl earrings the old one. Excuse me? You must have stumbled into the wrong comments section. Anyway, Facebook hasn’t yet responded to the growing flood of comments. That’s probably because, as other bloggers have noted, every time Facebook makes a change to its design, users crowd together and scream very loudly at Facebook, usually to no avail. Will this time be different? Only time will tell.
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Facebook should have seen it coming. After all, if you give people a platform to complain about anything, then they’ll probably complain about everything, including the platform itself. To recap: Last week, Facebook revamped its status feed, which now gives users the choice of freshwater pearl jewelry two filtering options. The “Live Feed” option opens the floodgates – you’ll get all the information you want, and probably some of the information you don’t. (We’re looking at you, Uncle Henry.) On the other hand, the “News Feed” button gives Facebook permission to chew through the data, and pick out only the stuff it thinks you will like. So far, so good. Evil! Bad! Horrible! Give me back my old Facebook! Now! We’re only half joking. It took about 10 hours for Facebookers – a notoriously ornery bunch – to freshwater pearl pendant lurch into gear. Some people joined groups such as “Change Facebook back to normal” and “Members want the old Facebook format back.” Others shouted from their Twitter feeds. And a whole lot of folks did their complaining right here on the Horizons blog. What did people complain about? Well, a reader named Deanna says she wants things back to the way they were: There was absolutely nothing wrong with how it was before and it just makes no sense at all as to why they wasted time and money to change it this way. I don’t need to freshwater pearl earrings know when my friend Felicia’s friend Astrid (a friend of Felicia’s that I’ve never met) makes friends with Joe Blow! I could care less!
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