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| Cultured Pearls / Natural Pearls |
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 Pearls are the birthstone for June. They are a roundish deposit that forms inside the oyster shell, usually caused by a fragment of shell, a scale, or a parasite that gets trapped inside the oyster. Mother of Pearl is made of the glossy lining inside the pearl oyster shell, and can form an array of beautiful colours. Pearls come in white, pink, gold, and black, and are unique among all other gemstones in the world. It is the only gem that is grown inside a living organism.
Cultured Pearls
Cultured pearls are real, genuine pearls that are formed inside a living oyster with human intervention. When a nucleus is surgically implanted in the oysters flesh, the oyster recognizes it as an irritant and begins to coat it with smooth layers of nacre. Over time, the growing pearls gets completely covered with the beautiful iridescent substance we call nacre, or mother of pearl. All pearls sold today are cultured, with the exception of vintage estate jewelry and heirloom pieces that are more than 80 years old.
Natural Pearls
Natural pearls on the other hand, are formed naturally inside oysters living at sea - without any interference from humans. When a natural irritant, such as a fragment of shell, a scale, or a parasite, becomes lodged inside an oyster or mollusk, it gets covered with layers of nacre inside the oyster. Grains of sand do not form pearls, contrary to popular belief - if sand were enough of an irritant, the ocean floor would be layered with millions of natural pearls! Naturaly, they are unfortunatly very rare, especially since most pearl-producing species of mollusks were nearly hunted to extinction in the 1800es. Pearls bought in the market today are aa cultured; natural ones can only be found on display in a museum or in antique jewelry. Bahrain is the only country in the world where pearl divers still search for natural pearls on the ocean floor, but these novelties account for less than one percent of the worlds pearl industry.
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