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Pearls: A Brief History of Naturally Occurring and Cultured Pearls

October 16, 2011

Since the discovery of the first naturally occurring pearl, perhaps by seaside hunter gatherers in a perpetual search for food, pearls have been on a journey from obscurity to the quintessential “have-to-have” in every woman’s jewelry box.

 Pearls weren’t found in every bivalve mollusk our ancestors popped open for the sweet meat inside, but they would have come across them intermittently. A little knowledge of the power of intermittent reinforcement tells us that pearls probably acquired a “sought after” reputation. In this time before recorded history, pearls may have become a treasured byproduct of the quest for food. It seems a good place to start the pearl’s junket to the jewelry box.

 Considering three or four perfect pearls can be harvested from a ton of oysters, it’s easy to see how pearl ownership remained the domain of the rich for centuries. Free-diving pearl hunters dove to depths of up to 100 feet to manually open the mollusks in search of the elusive pearl. Today the sea women–Ama–of Japan still dive holding their breath, not taking advantage of the diving gear invented in the early 1900’s. From Caesar and Cleopatra to Anne Boleyn and Mary Queen of Scots, naturally occurring pearls were worn with pride solely by the privileged until the arrival of another invention of the early 1900’s.

 Independently of one another, three Japanese men–a carpenter, a noodle maker, and a government biologist–figured out ways to get oysters to produce round pearls on demand by introducing an irritant into the mollusk’s mantle or body. Freshwater mollusks had been coaxed into pearl production for some time, but the pearls produced were mabé, pearls that grew against the inside of the oyster shell and, therefore, weren’t round. Each of the three men held patents, but the noodle maker, Kokichi Mikimoto, and his Akoyo pearl prevailed. He is credited with bringing pearls within reach of common folk worldwide.

Rainbow Mabé pearl earrings, 13/16" diameter with unique post/clip closure

 By the 1920’s, virtually anyone who wanted to could twirl a long strand of pearls while dancing a Charleston. After WWII, single strands of pearls became the classic accessory for Grace Kelly and everybody’s mom and grandmother, as GI’s brought Akoya pearls home from Japan. Coco Chanel raised pearl wearing to a new level and showed women how to drape and layer pearl strands of different lengths and pearl size. In the 1960’s, tiny seed pearls gained renewed popularity, having been the the source material for intricate and romantic creations a century earlier. And, today’s brides search for a traditional pearl creation that will be as meaningful to them as Krishna’s gift of pearls was to his daughter on her wedding day.

 The rich and famous will continue to own the rarest pearls: Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor La Peregrina, one of the most celebrated pearls in existence, and Jackie Kennedy was gifted a strand of rare, yellow Margarita pearls by the president of Venezuela. Princess Diana commissioned a gown to wear on a state trip to Hong Kong in 1989. It was completely covered in pearls, hand embroidered in place. Equally precious now are the heirloom pearls everyday people add to their jewelry collections everywhere to pass on to those princesses and first ladies everyone knows.