A pearl is a gem stone, but unlike most other gems its perfection and lustre requires no human aid in order to be acceptable.
Science and technology are of assistance in engineering new shapes and enhancing hues, but the glory of the pearl is complete when it is harvested from its host mollusk, an oyster,clam or mussel. The imagination and training of the pearl jeweler transforms it into the coveted creations that continue to be associated with both glamour and purity, virtue, vice and greed and of course wealth and refinement.
Throughout history, man has purchased, traded and often stolen in his desire to possess pearls.
The origins of pearls were explained by the ancient Romans as 'tears of the Gods' and by the early Greeks as 'lighting strikes at sea.' It was only in the 1600's that the widespread belief that pearl formation was due to dew or raindrops solidifying in the shell was proven false. Less savoury were the theories of undeveloped eggs or buried parasites.
Today we know that a pearl is made of concentric layers of calcareous substance, often but not always, mother-of-pearl or nacre which forms around a central nucleus in a living mollusc. This is seldom due to the popular theory of the irritating grain of sand culprit, but rather the host molluscs attempt to protect itself from an invading 'foreigner.'
Pearls have survived in many forms since the age of the dinosaur and have been coveted by both men and women alike. When Julius Caesar restricted the wearing of pearls to women above a certain class, they then became and have remained to this day, a status symbol. Imagine the elegant beauty of pearls alone or combined with the soft pastels of smokey rose quartz, hand-blown glass hearts, agates, unusual mabe' clasps, corals and the natural wood-like look of tourmalines and you will meet the imagination and perfection of the modern jeweler and his classic pearl and gem stone designs.
