A Super shiny and Fresh look at the World of Pearls:

They make for one of the most beautiful, popular and precious gemstones in the entire world. Yet despite this these beautiful natural gemstones are often done a disservice by the millions of online pages of dull guides and articles. So we thought that we’d provide the world of pearls with a super shiny blog article that takes a fresh look at the world of pearls.  At Diamond Treats you will see a breathtaking collection of Pearl Earrings as well as Pearl Pendant Necklaces, however for some interesting imformation about these Gems from Heaven, do have a read below!

Three Celebrities and their Pearls:

A Hollywood Starlet and the case of the stolen Pearl dress: 12 Years a Slave star Lupita Nyong’o hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2015 for the losing of her Oscar dress (which was a Calvin Klein number featuring no less than 6,000 pearls). Fortunately the dress was found, however not so fortunately for Calvin Klein’s reputation it was reported that the thieves responsible had dumped the dress once they learnt that pearls were in fact fakes! The hottest wedding of 2014 and a pearl studded dress: The wedding of George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin was the hottest date of the 2014 celebrity calendar and the bride wowed in a pearl studded dress; such a choice is however relatively unsurprising given that pearls are thought to help the bride avoid crying on her wedding day. Grace Kelly and a signature pearl look: Grace Kelly is probably the most famous celebrity of all pearl fans, and her signature look of a pearl choker necklace, coupled with pearl earrings, has a timeless quality that looks as good today as it did in Grace’s hey days of the 1950s.

An Introduction to a World of Pearls:

Pearls are far from the simplistic natural gemstone that many take them to be, and in fact there are a range of differing pearls, which may each be farmed in a different way or naturally found, with each and every pearl subject to differing characteristics.  The overarching collection of pearls may be either Freshwater or Saltwater, depending upon where they are found or farmed. However beyond this there are Akoya, Tahitian, South Sea, Eyris or Baroque shaped pearls. Saltwater Pearls: Saltwater pearls are, as their name would suggest, created naturally by oysters within seas around the world (most commonly within regions such as Thailand, Australia and Tahiti).  The akoya pearl is the most common of all saltwater pearls. They are near perfectly round, featuring a bright yet neutral colour and may be the stereotypical pearl that you would think of if asked to imagine a pearl necklace or set of pearl earrings. Freshwater Pearls: Freshwater pearls are grown within lakes, rivers or ponds (which are mostly found within China). Whilst the majority of such pearls are white akoya type cultured pearls, they may also be farmed to specifically be another colour (which is generally a pastel). Finally, as they are freshwater farmed, they feature a nacre which is thicker than is found within akoya pearls. What is the difference between 'Natural' and 'Cultured' pearls?: Many of our clients ask us what the difference is between 'Natural' and 'Cultured' pearls, and in fact the defining difference is simply a matter of where they’re farmed.  Natural pearls are, as you would assume, found naturally within the seas, most commonly within the Persian Gulf. However what is not so obvious is the fact that they have mostly already been discovered and are therefore incredibly rare (as well as expensive).  Cultured pearls are then, in comparison, grown within pearl farms, where pieces of mantle tissue or round beads are placed into molluscs to begin the natural process where layers of nacre form around the foreign body; at the end of this process there would then be a pearl.

The Worlds 3 Most Famous Pearls:

Beauty of Ocean Pearl The Beauty of Ocean Pearl is a gemstone of a staggering size, weighing in at six tonnes in total and reaching five feet in height. Unsurprisingly this pearl is manmade and was constructed over the course of three years. Today this pearl has been valued at £90 million. The Baroda Pearl Necklace This entrant is less single pearl, more double stringed necklace which consist of 68 pearls in total. This necklace is particularly notable for having pearls that are each of the same colour, size and shape and is valued at $7.1 million (or around £4.6 million by the current exchange rate). The ‘Big Pink Pearl’ The ‘Big Pink Pearl’ weighs in at 470 carats and is a sparkling iridescent pink in colour, however it also features shades of silver, orange, pink, green, blue and lavender. Valued at $4.7 million (or around £3 million by today’s exchange rate) this pearl today is owned by the Pacific Coast Pearls Company in California.  

Ten lesser known yet completely intriguing facts about pearls:

1. They are the only gemstone in the entire world that are created by living animals.
2. In America first year wedding anniversaries can warrant the giving of pearls, rather than paper.
3. Each and every pearl is entirely unique.
4. Periculture is the official term for pearl farming.
5. The earliest known pearl in history dates back to 520 BC and was found upon the sarcophagus of a Persian princess.
6. They may naturally come in a range of shapes including round, button, drop, semi-round, pear, oval and baroque.
7. They are produced as a result of a damage or injury sustained by a mollusc.
8. Consist mostly of calcium carbonate.
9. The word pearl originated from the Latin word for thigh bone.
10. The girl’s name ‘Pearl’ was the 628th most popular in the UK in 2014.

Pearls: A few myths and misunderstandings:

1. Far from being just white or ivory in colour, they can appear in pink, black, purple and sometimes (although rarely) even gold, deriving their colouring from their inner shell.
2. It’s commonly but mistakenly believed that pearls form from a single grain of sand that enters an Oyster’s shell.
3. The earliest of all myths began in ancient China where they believed that pearls fell from the sky whenever dragons went into battle.
4. Chocolate coloured pearls do not, as many think, come from sick oysters. The colouring of a pearl is instead entirely dependent upon the natural colouring of the shell.
5. Many believe that pearls can only be found within oyster shells, when in fact that can come from a wide range of other molluscs, including clams and scallops.

Pearls: Summarised within a few well-placed quotes:

Diamond Treats is an online jewellery store brought to you by Satyan Jewellers who have been bringing the beautiful qualities of pearls to their clients for over 30 years. Located in London Satyan Jewellers today meet the demanding needs of their clients from around the world, providing them with uncompromising levels of customer service as well as extensive ranges of some of the world’s most beautiful pearls.