PearlGenie Answers:

Hey Pearl Genie, What’s The Tooth Test All About? Angela!

Many people use the tooth test to tell if a pearl is real. If you bite a pearl along the biting edge of your front teeth, a pearl that feels smooth is an imitation. A genuine and real one however won’t feel smooth, in fact it will feel gritty. This is because the nacre that is applied in layers over time.

Does this tooth really apply…is anyone’s guess. But many are known to make use of it.

Baby Boom..

These past few months have seen a number of celebrities give birth to beautiful babies, the most recent being Halle Berry, then there was Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Richie and so many more. But what do you give one of these precious babies to welcome them into this world. You want it to be something unique, long lasting and memorable. Probably the best thing to gift a baby girl is a wonderful pair of pearl earringgs or a pear pendant or maybe even a pearl bracelet.

Pearls are long lasting, beautiful and definitely unique as no two pearls are alike.  You can be assured, it will be something they treasure forever.

Happy Easter!!

Easter is a fun time to spend with your family and loved ones. So, how about this Easter, while exchanging Easter Eggs, gift your loved one some beautiful pearl jewelry. Am sure they’ll appreciate and love the surprise. BeMyPearl has a wide selection of exclusive pearl offers. Check them out…you’ll definitely find it hard to resist. www.bemypearl.com

Information on Pearl Production

To analyze the pearl production figures with any certainty is quite difficult. It is also difficult to assess accurately the situation and it is cannot be easily accounted for the trading practices used in the informal sector for example the salesmen who tour the islands. The Customs Office is the only source of overall information which is liable to provide some idea of the total output because all the ongoing transactions are handling by the Customs Office. In between the year 1970-80, the first experiments carried out to encourage pearl growers to invest in this activity, and they were amply rewarded as from 1990-92, when an unprecedented report occurred on the market. Thereafter, from 1993 to 1998, it was increased to 6 tonnes per annum which shows that the production increases to one tone a year.

In between the year 1998 to 1999, it roses from Polynesia from 6.1 to 8.6 tonnes of the total amount of crude pearls exported which amounts to a 40% increase. Earlier, the Japan is the only country that engaged in production of pearls and after being monopolized for a long period, the pearl production has been becoming an increasingly international activity during the last ten years or so such as Australia, China, The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are also began to produce very large quantities of different kind of pearls through different process. Australia produces by using its own technology that is White South Sea Pearls. China began to produce very large quantities of white called as Akoya pearls. The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are the small scale producers named as Black South Sea Pearls.

 

About – Pearl Hunting

Generally speaking, pearls are gathered on the ocean floor or on lake or river bottoms. To collect the pearl, the free-divers are forced to go down to more than 100 feet deep water on a single breath and facing the dangerous creatures in sea water or the chance of drowning due to deep water blackout on the surface of water. The divers are generally very poor or low social status and they are always engaged in searching the pearls. In some areas, they apply on their body some lubricants for the conservation of heat, cover the ears with oiled cotton, close the nose with tortoise shell and carry a net for the oysters.

The pearls of the time were very rare of varying quality. The pearls are generally found at a depth of 5-7 feet from the surface. But sometimes divers have to go up to 40 feet or even 125 feet deep to collect the oysters which becomes more dangerous for the divers. The recent technology helps the divers to go deep into the ocean and search the pearl even more than 100 feet deep. The divers are carrying oxygen cylinder with them. For thousands of years, most seawater pearls were recovered by divers working in the Indian Ocean. The finest pearl of the world is found in Sulu Archipelago and the pearls are found in deep, clear and rapid tidal waters. At times, the largest pearls belonged by law to the sultan, and selling them could result in the death penalty for the seller.

Celebrate International Women’s Day Today

8th of March is celebrated as International Women’s Day, world over. It is an occasion to celebrate women’s achievements in various fields.

What better way to celebrate this wonderful day than with some beautiful pearl jewelry.

From Pearl Earrings, to rings and beautiful pearl necklaces, BeMyPearl has it all…so check it out for some amazing offers.

PearlGenie Answers

Hi..PearlGenie, Can you tell me how pearls are examined?

Interesting question, Natalie!

A natural pearl is found in a mollusk, which is a living thing. It is creamier in color and almost round compared to cultured pearls. It can be distinguished from a cultured one by its thickness. The shape, size and beauty of a natural pearl depend on the thickness of the pearl substance which is called the nacre. The nacre also determines the durability of the pearl. Again, we can also get a clue about its existence in the mollusk by its size. The higher the number of years it remains in the mollusk, the size of the pearl becomes larger.

There are many ways to examine the pearl. Out of these, the drill hole process is one of them. In this process, a pearl has to be drilled. Through this process we can easily distinguish between a natural and a cultured pearl. A jeweler or gemologist identifies the pearl by using a special magnifying lens and it can be distinguished by a demarcation line between the nucleus of nacre and the conchiolin layer, which is visible clearly through this process. Sometimes the line appears dark which can be clearly identified.

The second process to examine the pearl is through ultraviolet lamp. This examination with ultraviolet light is often helpful when examining pearls. Through this process, we can distinguish cultured pearls as these pearls normally look strong milky and bluish-white which is uniform for all but the natural pearls will have different color intensity. It is especially useful for jewelries.

The third process to examine the pearl is with a strong penlight or fiber optic light. When a strong light is focused to it then some dark and parallel lines are seen coming out of the nacre which is recognized as a cultured pearl. Sometimes, we can also find some large or small orange color and unevenly shaped marks.