homeabout fresh water pearls History about Pearls Pearl had been around long before the mankind. It was around long before mammals came to replace dinosaurs. It is around for hundreds of millions years. But only humans have learned to value the beauty of these" tears of the sea". As the result, since our ancestors have discovered pearl, they began to worship it, and to use it to measure luxury and success. For example, in ancient Rome. Their interest to acquiring pearls ancient Romans got from Egyptians. According to the Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (in the book called "The Twelve Caesars"), the Emperor, "son of the God Augustus (Imperator Caesar Divi filius Augustus) have once donated sixteen thousand pounds of gods and sixty millions of sestercius of treasures. Those treasures were mostly pearls, taken (robbed) from the Egypt. Ancient Egyptians also have learned to use the mother of pearl; about 6000 years ago they were using it to decorate jewelry. Mostly, its' source was the Persian Gulf. As for the pearl itself, it had passed unnoticed by Egyptians till the year 500 B.C. In this area, the ancient China was definitely ahead. The first written document they have, mentioning pearl, is dated 2300 B.C and is described as an exclusive privilege of the royal family. Merchants from India believed that the ring containing pearl can protect its owner from thief's and from unfair deals in business. According to ancient Greeks, pearls are the tears of the sea nymphs. They were worshiping the beauty of the pearl, associating it with love and marriage. In ancient mythology, the pearl necklace became the synonym for a happy marriage. The rich Greek women were wearing pearls, believing that not only it makes your eyes shine, but also guards the owner from the torture of an unhappy love. By the way, the belief that pearl makes your eyes shine, created another belief - that it has the ability to cure eye problems. In Europe, during the epoch of Romanism, the pearl ring, given to the loved one, symbolized the "tears of a broken heart". Also, Europeans believed, after the ancient Greeks, that pearl is good for a marriage, as the result, it became a popular part of bride's dress. The dress, covered with pearls, symbolized the "girl's tears", the more tears, the stronger the marriage was expected to be. In the Middle Ages, Knights not only were presenting pearl jewelry and dresses to the loved ones, but also were taking it with them to the battlefield, believing that it will save them from wounds. Epoch of Renaissance: One look at the famous paintings of that period is enough to realize, that both kings and their "shining" vassals were covered by pearls. Literally after America was discovered, all pearls extracted in the "new world" had been transported to Europe. Greed of pearl catchers resulted in almost complete extinction of American Ouster in XVII. Pearl was used in Church dresses and decorations. It is not just a coincidence: the symbolic sign of Christianity is fish. There was even a legend in the medieval times: angels lock orphans and innocent souls in the shells, and they turn into pearls. An interesting detail: pearl have become more than a treasure, it was a measure of prosperity and nobility. In XVI the law was issued, forbidding people with low income to wear pearl. Hundred years later, in 1613, the "dress code" has been accepted, and according to this code, only nobles were allowed to wear pearls. Through all our history, from ancient China and India, to Europe and Arabic countries, pearl was part of potions to treat sclerosis, sleep disorders, asthma, heart and liver diseases, and even... snake bites. Not only was it a gem, but also part of pills, potions and lotions. Unfortunately, it is neither the best nor the cheapest way of getting calcium! Cleopatra, the last ruler of the ancient Egypt, once made a bet with Mark Antonius. She placed the pearl in the goblet of vine, and as it dissolved, drank it. It seems, that this episode impressed poor Roman guy a lot, as the estimated price of that particular gem was about 10 million Roman sestercius. Pearl was and still is used to create expensive jewelry, to decorate wonderful things we see sometimes in churches and in palaces of Kings. It is used at a measure of wealth, and of course - for some very important reasons - it appeared through all our history on some very nice necks and fingers. A single pearl could cost a fortune, and we know that for fortune people do crimes... Even kill... Should not we expect pearls to be stored in safes and worn only sometimes, on special occasions? Yes, but... But wait a minute! Yesterday I saw a woman wearing a heavy pearl necklace - in a supermarket! And - look over there! Here is a schoolgirl, wearing pearl earrings. And over there... Are they all millionaires? Probably not! Let's take a look at changes that have happened to pearl in XX century... What is a Pearl? Pearl is probably the only gemstone that is used in jewelry as it is, without cutting. There are no two identical pearls in the world, they all are unique. In China, it is called gjen-dju, In India - "manjara (the flower), Greeks and Italians call it "margarites", English, German and French people call it "pearl", Russians - "gemchug" (is it derived from English "gem" or from Chinese "gjen-dju"? Who knows...?) Pearl is a gem and in the same time - a biologically created substance, produced by a mussel. These mussels are of different types, both freshwater and saltwater. Freshwater species live in the zones with mild climate, populating fresh (and clean!) springs, rivers and lakes of North America, East Asia and Far East. Due to the pollution, their numbers have dropped dramatically, so at the moment five of these species are protected by law. As for the saltwater ones, about 10 species live in tropical seas: the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Ceilone (Sri-Lanka), Australia, Japan and Venezuela. How is the pearl produced? The natural (real) pearl is formed if a tiny grand of sand, or some other irritant, gets into the body of a mussel, or between its body and a shell. It can also be a reaction to the parasite. Pearl is simply a reaction of the mussel, an attempt to isolate the foreign object, to cover it with the mother of pearl (perlmutter), the same material that covers the inner side of a shell. With time, an object of spherical or irregular shape is formed. If you cut the pearl, you will see the core (the original grain of sand) and the rings - thin layers of aragonite (calcium carbonate), glued together with organic glue - conhioline - produced by a mussel. The time that it takes to create a pearl, its color and other details are directly related to the outside conditions, like the temperature, quality of water and availability of nutrition's. The colour of a freshwater pearl is white, pink or mauve. Saltwater pearl can be black, white, yellow or gray. The size on a pearl of an average quality can be between few millimeters and the size of an egg of a pigeon. Extraction of Natural Pearl Freshwater pearl have been known for centuries all around the world, from natives of North America to Russians. Russians, by the way, had the technology of extracting pearl without causing extensive harm to a population of mussels. All they used was... three baskets. The first basket (one without the bottom) they were using to take a closer look at the bottom of the river, edges of the basket "filtering out" the waves. When the mussel was found, they were placing it to the second basket, full of water. When the second basket was full, Russians were placing the mussels to the second basket, with the heated (not boiling! just warm) water. In the warm water, the mussel was opening its shell, and the catcher was able to take a look inside, without taking it out from the water. If there was no pearl inside, the mussels have been returned to the river. Speaking of Russian pearl. It is worth mentioning that in Russian Carelia it was silver-white or silver-blue, while in Lapland it was pink and sometimes black with metal tone. Most of these pearls have been sold to the Northwegian merchants, not to the Russian Tsars. It was supplied either to the Europe or to the king of Northway. More to the South, the saltwater pearl was much more popular. The best quality was supplied from Persian Gulf, Red Sea, India and Japan. The one from the Persian Gulf was valued the most. Some little amount is still caught in Persian Gulf. Catching the natural pearl is a difficult and dangerous occupation. Catchers collect the mussels from the bottom of the sea in a special bag. Aboard their boat, they use a special knife to open the mussel, if lucky; they'll find one pearl in 30-40 mussels. Of course, after such a barbaric procedure, all 40 mussels die. Sometimes the fortune smile at the catchers, and they find 2-3 pearls in one mussel, however, to find a high quality one, you need to go through thousands of mussels. Besides - where can we find that much, considering our ecological situation?