How are cultured pearls?

The pearling procedure involves inserting a foreign body in the mollusk. It was invented by Kokichi Mikimoto, founder of the company in 1893. This procedure, now widely used, was an extraordinary discovery in his time.

                   

Composition of a pearl
Technically, the beads are composed of concentric rings, mainly of calcium carbonate, oyster secretes to protect itself from a foreign body. The mollusk coats the irritating object with thousands of layers of a crystalline substance called nacre, thus drawing a magnificent pearl. The foreign body may be any object small enough to penetrate into the bivalve. A grain of sand, a thorn or a piece of shell sufficient to cause it to start the process.



Today it is often used as nuclei for cultured pearl mussel shells from America, strung.

Process

The oysters are taken out to sea two or
three years. A skilled technician then introduced manually, a piece of shell in the pearl mussel. Then turn to put the oysters in the sea, arranged in bamboo baskets suspended from floating rafts

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It often change rafts place to protect the oysters from predators and extreme temperatures. After three to six years of careful and thoughtful culture pearls are collected, classified by size and quality. The only thing that distinguishes a cultured pearl of a fine natural pearl is the kernel entry mode.

The only technique that can detect the difference between cultured pearls and natural pearls is the use of X-rays, which can identify the nature of the core.

Varieties of cultured pearls

Akoya pearls or Japanese. The variety of Akoya oyster, which is found throughout Japan, produces pearls from 2 to 10 mm with variable shapes from round to irregular, essentially white color, with hints of cream, gray, blue, green, gold, silver and pink nuances. It appreciates the richness of its hues and intense brightness.

Freshwater pearls. Pearl farming in fresh water is normally done by implanting a piece of epithelium of mollusc rather than a solid core. The tissue was dissolved and the pearl turns out to be a thick ball of pearl. Are easily recognized by their strange ways, and often elongated like grapes or grains of rice. The color is lavender, peach, tangerine and teal.

Pearl of the South Seas. This type of pearls produced by the largest variety of pearl oysters, which are grown in the warm waters of the South Seas, usually exceed 10 mm in diameter. Appreciated, especially for its exceptional size and sublime colors.

Naturally black pearls, produced by the black-lipped pearl oyster from Tahiti and Okinawa. These naturally black pearls usually have a diameter greater than 8.5 mm and reflex blue, gray, green and violet. Currently reach very high prices because of its exceptional color and extensive culture time needed to collect them before: they can take up to twelve years to get black pearls growing in size, shape and similar color to form a single collar.

Did you know that ...?
The world's largest pearl, the pearl of Allah, was discovered in 1934. It weighed 7 kilos and measured 22.5 x 12.5 cm.


  

The pearl is associated with the astrological sign of Cancer is the gem of those born under that sign. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese used pearls as cosmetics and aphrodisiac qualities attributed to them. Pearl thought was a reliable indicator of the health of the wearer: shut its luster when its wearer was ill and lost his East when he died. It was said that Tibetan monks had a "seduction pearl" which further increased the appetite loving women trapped by their flashes.