Archive for the 'Keshi' Category

Birthstone Of The Month – June

Published on June 12, 2011 in Bridal Jewellery, Eskae Private Jeweller, Freshwater, Gemstones, Keshi, Pearls and South Sea. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Pop open an oyster and hope to find what? June’s birthstone: Pearl!

The pearl birthstone is a favourite of millions and is the only precious stone to be created by a living organism. Talk about a unique birthstone!

Origins

There are two types of pearls: Natural (non-nacreous) and Cultured (nacreous). Natural pearls happen accidentally, naturally and can occur in just about any salt or fresh-water mollusc. Coming in three basic forms, they can be shaped as whole-round pearls, blister pearls and blisters.

Nacreous pearls are formed by irritants, such as a single grain of sand that’s added by people. To create a the best and most valuable cultured pearl, the irritant should only be stimulated inside of the mollusc and nothing more, allowing nature to then take its course.

Cultured pearls come many different colours with two specific factors that determine its overall colour: Body Colour and Overtone. The Body Colour is the base of the pearl’s colouring, such as white, cream, black or gold whereas, the Overtone is considered to be the secondary colour or tint. This is the most visual colour, i.e. pink, rose, peacock or blue.

Unlike most other gemstones, pearls are extremely fragile and soft which makes a lot of room for marring and other small imperfections. Usually, the bigger a pearl is, the more imperfections it will contain which is why large, minimally marked natural pearls found in the wild are extremely rare and very seldom found for an affordable price.

In order to create a fine cultured pearl, professionals let pearled oysters sit for a minimum of two to three years. This develops what is called nacre and gives the pearl its layer of protection as well as that beautiful sheen with ridges and swoops.

Mystical Qualities

Also known as the Stone of Sincerity, pearls signify faith, charity and innocence to enhance one’s personal integrity, bring the truth to light and inhibit boisterous behaviour. Other mystical qualities derive from ancient Chinese myths that say pearls fell from the sky where dragons fought, ancient legends that state pearls are the tears of gods and ancient Greek legends that believed pearls were drops of love to be worn and prevent newlywed women from crying.

Besides its legendary qualities, pearls are believed to also hold healing powers. People who believe strongly in a pearl’s healing power, ingest them to cure bloating and biliousness along with stronger powers of increasing chance of childbirth and easing pain from giving birth.

Gift Ideas

In today’s day and time, pearls are used to symbolise June birthdays and 30th wedding anniversaries. One quality pearls did carry over from ancient legends is the purity and innocence that shows through when worn. There is something so wholesome about pearls, alone, that make it a favourite for office wear, formal occasions and most popularly, bridal jewellery.

Women are coming up with newer, more modern ways of wearing pearls by adding other precious stones, such as diamonds or coloured gemstones to make the pearl pop. Another popular way women are wearing pearl necklaces is by either layering them or wearing long strands of pearls

However you choose to gift a woman with pearls, whether it’s a fancy ring, gorgeous earrings or a magnificent necklace, you can’t ever go wrong because she’ll love them the minute she lays her eyes on her brand new pearls!

And women, don’t forget that pearls can be given to men as birthday and anniversary gifts too! While you won’t see a man with a string of pearls around his neck, men do enjoy tie clips, cufflinks and money clips accented or set by pearl. As long as it keeps a masculine look, don’t be afraid to give a valuable gift of pearl to the guy in your life!

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The Beauty of the Pearl; A Series Part I

Published on July 24, 2010 in Freshwater, Keshi, Pearls and South Sea. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

In my jewellery profession, there are a number of different stones and metals that combine to create true works of art – worn for both pleasure and purpose by my clients. One of the most exotic items included among these gems is the pearl. As the variety of pearls is vast, I have dedicated a series of posts to explore different pearls and the beauty they bring to you – the wearer.

Pearls are something that truly emulates miracles in nature, the idea of something so beautiful emerging from a process so simple leaves many in awe. If you are not familiar with the birth of a pearl, they are the result of a biological process inside a living creature – an oyster. (While clams and mussels also have the ability to produce a pearl, those will be discussed in a future post in this series on the pearl.)

As an oyster is a living creature; it moves, grows and eats just like other living creatures. The two valves (one part of a two-part shell) usually stay open to allow the oyster to eat. This process can sometimes also allow a foreign substance to get between the shell and the mantle, or the organ that produces the oyster’s shell.

When this happens, the mantle is irritated by the foreign substance and its natural reaction is to cover the irritant with the same substance it uses to create the shell. This substance is known as nacre.

The oyster continues this process over and over, covering the irritant with a number of layers of nacre. The result is the formation of a pearl. The most valuable pearls are those that were shaped beautifully within the oyster; but not all resulting pearls are the perfectly rounded objects you find in jewelry settings. Pearls that form in uneven shapes are known as baroque pearls.

Round and unique products of nature, pearls formed perfectly through this natural process are found in a range of colors such as white, red, black, gray, blue and green. Pearls can be found all over the world, although black pearls are indigenous to the South Pacific.

Aside from their shape and color, pearls vary in a number of others ways. While we have already discussed the natural pearl, there are also cultured pearls often found on the market. The process for creating these pearls is very similar to that of the natural process, although pearl harvesters help move the creation of the pearl along by cutting a small slit in the mantle tissue and inserting an irritant.

Both cultured and natural pearls discussed here take place in saltwater environments, although pearls are also formed in fresh water. This process is different from that of saltwater pearls and requires a much closer look. Join us next time as I continue this series on pearls by diving in for a closer look at fresh water cultured pearls.

Sam Kritsotakis

Eskae Jeweller – Your Private Jeweller

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Pearls. How are they Made?

Published on April 9, 2010 in Freshwater, Gemstones, Keshi, Pearls and South Sea. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Pearls are made how, I hear you ask?

Pearls are formed inside the shell of particular types of mollusks: as a defense mechanism to a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite or a foreign body inside its shell, the mollusk secretes a protein which forms around the irritant, which in turn creates a pearl around the irritant to seal it off from potentially causing damage to the mollusks insides.

The difference between natural and cultured pearls focuses on whether the pearl was created spontaneously by nature — without human intervention — or with human aid.

The mantle (or shell) of the mollusk deposits layers of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of the mineral aragonite or a mixture of aragonite and calcite (both crystalline forms of calcium carbonate) held together by an organic horn-like compound called conchiolin. The combination of aragonite and conchiolin is called nacre, which makes up mother-of-pearl.

The commonly held belief that a grain of sand acts as the irritant is in fact rarely the case. Typical irritants  include organic material, parasites, or even damage that displaces mantle tissue to another part of the animal’s body into the inside of the mollusks membrane. These small particles or organisms enter the animal when the shell valves are open for feeding or respiration. In cultured pearls, the irritant is typically a cut piece of the mantle, together with processed shell beads, the combination of which the animal accepts into its body.

Natural pearls are nearly 100% calcium carbonate and conchiolin. It is thought that natural pearls form under a set of accidental conditions when a microscopic intruder or parasite enters a bivalve mollusk, and settles inside the shell. The mollusk, being irritated by the intruder, secretes the calcium carbonate and conchiolin to cover the irritant. This secretion process is repeated many times, forming many layers of nacre thus producing a pearl. Natural pearls come in many shapes, with perfectly round ones being comparatively rare.

The rounder and more perfect the pearl is the more rare and more valuable they become, in a similar way to the way diamonds are valued as they become bigger and better in quality.

Without getting overly technical here, a pearl is basically formed when a foreign body enters the animals membrane while the shell is open for feeding or breathing. The mollusk then secretes a protein called nacre to cover the foreign body, which will help minimise any damage it can potentially do to the muscular structure inside the shell. It does not stop there as the mollusk will continually secrete the nacre to form many many layers over the foreign body, which over time creates the pearl we are after.

Sam Kritsotakis

Eskae Jeweller

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