Pearls Of Great Price
This is how Jesus described the Kingdom of Heaven. There are a number of biblical references to pearls, the pearly gates for example. The twelve gates of New Jerusalem were reportedly each made of single pearl and the circular shape of the pearl was considered to represent love and knowledge. Is it any wonder that pearls have been highly prized from the earliest of times?
Pearls are hard objects produced within the shell of a living mollusk. The most valuable pearls occur in the wild but they are very rare. Today most pearls are cultured or farmed from pearl oysters. Pearls from the sea are more valuable than freshwater pearls. Jewelry made of pearls has been prized throughout the ages and the metaphor for the word pearl has come to mean something fine, rare, and valuable.
Gemstone quality pearls are almost always nacreous and iridescent like the interior of the shell in which they are produced. They are made up of calcium carbonate in very fine crystalline form. This has been deposited in concentric layers as the pearl forms. natural pearls form without any human intervention. Many hundreds of oysters or mussels have to be gathered and opened to find just one pearl. This is why they were so valuable before pearl farming was common.
Saltwater pearls grow in pearl oysters. Freshwater pearls grow in river mussels. Both are now farmed to produce cultured pearls. Many cultured pearls are from China. In fact China is the largest exporter of cultured pearls.
The luster of pearls depends on the reflection of light from the numerous translucent layers. The larger and thinner number of layers produces the most lustrous pearls. The iridescence is caused by the overlapping of the layers.
Pearls come in eight basic shapes, round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, baroque, and circled. Perfectly round pearls are the most rare and valuable. Pearls also come in many colors, pink, black, brown, and even yellow. They have been used in jewelry and even to embellish clothing for years. There is nothing more classic and lovely than a string of pearls.
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