Let's Talk About Pearls
It’s June (already?!?) and I want to talk about one of this month’s birthstones: the pearl! Which by the way, is technically a gem, but not a stone ;) Pearls are one of my favorite treasures to use in my designs. I love their array of shapes and sizes, not to mention their incomparable iridescent luster, which I have fun pairing with unexpected materials like vintage lucite and sterling silver. Here are some fun tidbits about this much-adored gem, which was once more valuable than diamonds and gold.
Unlike other precious gems that are formed as minerals underground, pearls form within a variety of sea-dwelling mollusks. Naturally occurring pearls are extremely rare and happen when an irritant enters the soft tissue of one of these critters, causing them to secrete something called nacre which covers the irritant - and turns into a pearl! Only 1 in 10,000 oysters yield a pearl naturally.
Pearls have been prized by humans for thousands of years, dating back to 2300 BCE. Freshwater varieties occur in a range of beautiful organic shapes, but the iconic, smooth round pearl shape is created in saltwater mollusks, specifically oysters. Many cultures associate pearls with the moon due to their shared luminous orb-like form and ties to the ocean.
There is a fascinating story about the origin of the pearl farming business in Japan, involving a man named Kokichi Mikimoto, who created the first cultured pearl in the world in 1893 - read more about him (and pearl history in general) in this NOVA article
Ancient Japanese believed that pearls were the tears of mermaids, while ancient Persians thought that pearls were created by the meeting of a rainbow and the earth after a storm. In ancient China, pearls were thought to be created inside the heads of dragons and were gifted to emperors and empresses as a show of reverence.
According to Greek mythology, pearls are seen as tears of joy shed by the goddess of love, Aphrodite. She is often depicted donning the lustrous beauties. Julius Caesar was convinced that he was a descendant of Venus (Aphrodite’s Roman counterpart) and adopted the pearl as his personal symbol. He also passed a law that said only aristocrats could wear pearls within Rome’s borders (rude!).
Another fabulous story from ancient times involves Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, who was rumored to have dropped a pearl worth $9 million into a glass of vinegar causing it to disintegrate at a dinner party to show the wealth of her kingdom to Marc Antony.
The Cartier Mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York was acquired when the original owner of the building, Morton Plant didn’t have the cash to buy his wife Maisie a $1 million (yes MILLION, and to be clear that’s $30 million in today’s dollars) strand of pearls that she was coveting from Cartier’s original NY location. Since Pierre Cartier had expressed interest in his property, he proposed that they trade the mansion for the strand of pearls and $100 cash. The rest is history.
Pearl Powers: Wisdom, calmness, integrity, loyalty, purity and serenity (fun fact: wear pearls combined with agate for protection, like our Cassie and Phoebe Necklaces 🥰)
Paintings pictured above: Rene Magritte, Shéhérazade, 1947, oil on canvas + Johannes Vermeer, Girl With A Pearl Earrings, 1665, oil on canvas