Pearl Jewellery

About Pearls

While most precious gemstones come from deep within the Earth, made by pressure and heat over millions of years, pearls, the most famous organic gemstone are created by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell. The pearl forms inside the shell of the oyster or mussel as it slowly secretes layers of aragonite and conchiolin, materials that also make up its shell.

To create a freshwater pearl, the mollusc must first have reached maturity, at about three years of age. It can then take between 6 months to several years to produce a pearl. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can be found.

Pearls were discovered before written history began and have been used as an adornment for centuries and were presented as gifts to Chinese royalty as early as 2300 BC. The ancient Greeks believed pearls were the tears from the goddess Aphrodite, while in ancient Rome, pearl jewellery was considered the ultimate status symbol. Pearls were considered so precious that Julius Caesar passed a law in the 1st century BC, limiting the wearing of pearls only to the ruling classes. The oldest fragment of pearl jewellery was found in the sarcophagus of a Persian princess that dates back to 420 BC.