Birth of a Pearl
Far below the surface of the sea nearly a half a world away a miraculous event is taking place--the birth of a cultured pearl.
Born from the bodies of mother oysters, cultured pearls are truly a gift of nature. Unlike other gemstones which are cut and polished to release their inner beauty, cultured pearls come into the world naturally radiant. They emerge miraculously with a shimmering iridescence, luster and soft inner glow that is unlike any other gem on earth.
A natural pearl occurs when a foreign object, such as a parasite or piece of sand, accidentally lodges itself in the soft inner body of an oyster, where it can not be expelled. The oyster attempts to protect itself by secreting a smooth, hard crystalline substance around the irritant. The substance is called "nacre." For as long as the irritant remains, the oyster will continue to secrete layer upon layer of nacre. After a few years, the irritant has become totally encased. The result is a lovely and lustrous pearl.
Nacre is composed of microscopic crystals, aligned perfectly with one another, so that light passing along the axis of one is reflected and refracted by the other to produce a rainbow of light and color.
The nacre found in cultured pearls is formed by oysters in a nearly identical way. The only difference is that man surgically implants the irritant -- a small, round piece of polished shell. Then, it's up to the host oyster and Mother Nature to create their miracle. In the end, despite painstaking care, only 20% of the oysters will yield marketable cultured pearls.
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