Cultured Pearl

Above: Front of specimen card.   "He had taken from a secret resting-place in his bosom the pearl, the last of his jewels. As he looked at it, a mellower lustre, a soft and iridescent light, full of shifting gleams of azure and rose, trembled upon its surface. It seemed to have absorbed some reflection of the colours of the lost sapphire and ruby. So the profound, secret purpose of a noble life draws into itself the memories of past joy and past sorrow." ~ Henry van Dyke, The Other Wise Man, 1895 The pearl is an iconic treasure. Serving as a symbol of wealth across many cultures throughout history, the pearl is not a gemstone, but rather a completely organic creation formed within the shell of a living mollusk.When an irritant (sand, parasite, etc) enters the mollusk’s shell, the animal reacts by coating the object with layers of aragonite and calcite. Known as nacre, this material builds up layer after layer creating a hard shell around the object. While this process protects the sof