History of the Pearl

posted in: Holidays | 0

Barbara Bush‘s signature look was her pearls.

Bush, who was born on June 8th, wore the stone, the Pearl, of her birth month.

Pearls are regarded by many as being elegant.  Today pearls can easily be manufactured but natural pearls, made in the wild, are extremely rare.

So, how are real pearls formed?

A pearl is formed when a microscopic intruder or parasite enters and invades the shell of a mollusk, which could be a snail, mussel , oyster or clam.

clam shell

The animal begins to protect itself by providing a secretion around the foreign object.   This secretion covers the object many times until a natural build-up has occurred. 

The process for a pearl to form takes several years. 

In 1917, Pierre Cartier exchanged the most expensive pearl for $1 million.
  Pearl farming has become very popular to meet the demands for a variety of styles and designs that represent pearl jewelry.

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