AE Guide

The oldest gem and the only organic source, is the pearl. After millennia of being the most expensive item, with the discovery of a method to cultivate the pearl has become the jewel in the sea popular.Cultivadas and fresh water, according to the mollusk that produces pearls vary in size, shape, color and quality. In a jewelry store the most valuable items are usually a combination of metals and stones. Gold, platinum, diamonds, sapphires and rubies of the jewels come from minerals. Among the gems, only the pearl is the product of a living organism, a result of his reaction to an irritant. In the very rare occasion that a specific substance is embedded in the mantle of a mollusk that secretes nacre, the reaction produces a round pearl. For this reason, for millennia the pearl was the most expensive gem. The pearl is produced by several bivalves (two shells) with nacre. The bright pearl is aragonite (CaCO3, calcium carbonate), containing the organic substance conchiolin (an albuminoid). In the mantle, or epithelium of the mollusk that lives between the two shells are the cells that secrete the conchiolin. When you enter a foreign body, these cells adhere to it, secreting a substance that eventually formed nacre to isolate it. Almost always the foreign body is inserted between the mollusk and its shell, forming a hemisphere called pearl blister or bubble. The spherical natural pearl is very rare. Pearls found in jewelry dating back over 4,000 years, but its value is only known since Roman times, whose historians report that a Pearl Earring only paid a general campaign. According to Pliny, Cleopatra's pearls were worth at the time the equivalent of 50 tons of silver. Pliny perhaps exaggerated, but since the natural pearl round, large and perfect is a rare accident, its value was limited only by the purchasing power of those who wanted it. Although the advance of technology allowed find natural pearls, jewels continued between the sides until the first quarter of the twentieth century. The end of the high value of the pearls was due to a discovery in the late nineteenth century in Japan. While it takes a thousand years the Chinese implanting impurities in blister pearl oysters for pearl and figures, no one had succeeded in producing an independent round pearl shell. The way it was discovered and patented in 1890 in Japan. The discovery is attributed to several growers, Kokichi Mikimoto but it was who obtained a patent on the process, which involves implanting in the mantle of the mollusk a fraction of the shell of another mollusc. For a cultured pearl, requires a complicated process, suitable natural conditions and time. Today, in the Bay of Ago, in Japan, the company Mikimoto oysters farmed in tanks. After 60 days are transferred to sea cages, where they spend 3 years to the size for implantation. Each oyster receives from one to six implants, which will produce a pearl each. Returned to the sea in spring, the oysters are taken a year and a half later, in winter because the cold water favors the quality of the pearls. Today, most pearls are cultured in the market, either at sea or in fresh water in various parts of the world and almost all are sold by Japan to export in 1966 reached 140 tons. The increased production has lowered prices and achieved great variety. In all quality pearls depends on the thickness of the nacre, which should not be less than 0.35 mm. In the first 6 months the cultured pearl takes only a fifth of a millimeter, so that time is crucial to their quality. As the softer rock (3 on the Mohs scale, diamond and other precious stones 10 more than 7), the pearl is susceptible to wear. The shell must resist the humors of the body, perfumes, lotions, friction, etc.., So that its thickness determines the length and value of the pearl. Size is another factor. The great Australian oysters produce pearls of up to 2 cm. and the black oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) produces black. The best pearls in the South Seas can cost tens of thousands of dollars. As for color, some pearls Mikimoto Japanese firm is a world leader in jewelry cultured pearls, making its founder Kokichi Mikimoto pearl perfectly round the first of its kind in 1893, besides other types of pearls such as Akoya, diamonds, etc.. Is the director of the crowns that use the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, famous for its exquisite design and careful completion. It is well known for their necklaces, mikimoto pearl and diamond earrings and earrings, all of the highest quality pearls. Last year Mikimoto stood out with his bell? Hope everything he can?, In the fight against breast cancer, with a collection of brooches, necklaces pink sapphire pink pearl farming ($ 910USD), a bracelet pearl pink silk thread ($ 980USD), and a brooch of 18k white gold with an Akoya cultured pearl with 3 beautiful pink sapphires ($ 400USD).