Pearl history

Pearl cultivation began in China and was imported to Europe in the 17th century. As the technology improved and pearl cultivation became more profitable, it grew as a business in the late 18th and early 19th centuries until cultivated pearls became the dominant type of genuine pearls found on the market today.

How do pearls come into being?

Natural pearls

Natural freshwater pearls occur in mussels for the same reason that saltwater pearls occur in oysters. Foreign material, usually a sharp object or parasite, enters a mussel and cannot be expelled. To reduce irritation, the mollusk coats the intruder with the same secretion it uses for shell-building, nacre, then more and more nacre covers the intruder, it is the pearl

Cultured pearls

Like natural pearls, cultured pearls grow inside of a mollusk, but with human intervention. The only difference is that while natural pearls occur randomly in nature, cultured pearls are created when a pearl farmer deliberately injects an irritant into the mollusks. The Chinese were the first to culture a product from freshwater mussels. To culture freshwater mussels, workers slightly open their shells, cut small slits into the mantle tissue inside both shells, and implant small pieces of live mantle tissue from another mussel into those slits. After they have been implanted, it will take an oyster or mollusk 2 to 3 years to produce a pearl. Winter is the best season for pearl harvesting, because pearls tend to have a deeper luster at this time of year. Before the pearls are sold, they go through a process of sorting, cleaning, bleaching, and polishing to prepare them for the market.