When some sort of irritant becomes lodged in the tissue of an oyster or mollusk, the animal responds to the irritation with a natural process that surrounds and isolates the foreign invader. The commonly held belief that a grain of sand acts as the irritant is in fact rarity in nature. Typical stimuli include organic material, parasites, or even body damage that dislocates mantle tissue to another part of the animal's body. These usually minute particles or organisms enter the mollusk when the shell valves are open for feeding or respiration. In order to isolate the invader, the oyster secretes a combination of calcium carbonate and organic substances that, over time, gradually build up in layers around the irritant. This secreted substance is referred to as nacre. Over a lengthy period of time, sometimes up to several years, this build-up of nacre forms a pearl.
Owing to the natural creation of the pearl, the size, shape, and color of the pearl are determined by a somewhat random occurrence. Other factors, including the size and shape of the original irritant, whether the mollusk is living in salt or freshwater, and the geographic region where the mollusk lives, will also play a great role in the natural pearl’s creation. Therefore, quality natural pearls of any commercial value or desirability are extremely rare. Reflecting their rarity, the actual value of a superior natural pearl is the same as other "precious" gems, and depends on size, shape and quality. Natural Pearls have become even rarer since most mollusks are used to create cultured pearls, and thus the chance of finding a natural pearl in the mollusk-rich waters is further reduced. Most natural pearls are therefore sold to individual collectors as a collector's item, and rarely used in jewelry such as necklaces. X-Ray examination is required to positively verify natural pearls found today.
Due to the explosion of the cultured pearl industry during the 20th century, natural pearls today tend to be just a minuscule portion of the world pearl market. Therefore, natural pearls are found primarily in older jewelry from estate sales and auctions, they are found in already existing antique jewelry pieces. Nevertheless, some natural pearl beds are being increasingly harvested. These include newly developed farms in the Persian Gulf area and freshwater natural pearls in the United States.
Before the cultured pearl revolution, natural pearls were found in many parts of the world that now harvest cultured pearls. Present day natural pearling is confined mostly to seas off Bahrain in the Gulf. In addition, natural pearls are found infrequently by Australian pearl divers dive for south sea pearl oysters to be used in the cultured south sea pearl industry. The catch of pearl oysters is similar to the numbers of oysters taken during the natural pearl days. Hence significant numbers of natural pearls are still found in the Australian Indian Ocean waters from wild oysters.
An excellent example of a rare natural pearl is the bright orange Melo Pearls. Another example are the original Keshi or Keishi pearls, which actually occur in the mantle of a mollusk where most commonly it is formed as a by product of the main pearl. These natural pearls are usually quite small, with a typical size of a few millimeters.
From the Land
From the Sea
Jeweled Fusion
We cordially invite you to Experience Jeweled Fusion of Land and Sea where we combine shimmering precious and semi-precious gemstones with lustrous pearls and keshi pearls to create exquisit handmade designer jewelry.
