LEGEND OF THE PEARL
A gift from the sea
Organic, yet with an almost celestial beauty, pearls are the oldest known gemstone. They were once so valuable that a 1st century Roman general financed a military campaign by selling just one of his mother’s pearl earrings.
In China, India and Europe, whole or powdered pearls were swallowed for medicinal reasons. They were said to cure everything from eye ailments, heart trouble and indigestion to nervousness.
In nature, a pearl results when a grain of sand or other irritant accidentally settles inside a mollusk. The mollusk reacts to this foreign object by smothering it with a special coating called nacre. Hundreds or even thousands of layers later, a pearl is born.
Organic, yet with an almost celestial beauty, pearls are the oldest known gemstone. They were once so valuable that a 1st century Roman general financed a military campaign by selling just one of his mother’s pearl earrings.
In China, India and Europe, whole or powdered pearls were swallowed for medicinal reasons. They were said to cure everything from eye ailments, heart trouble and indigestion to nervousness.
In nature, a pearl results when a grain of sand or other irritant accidentally settles inside a mollusk. The mollusk reacts to this foreign object by smothering it with a special coating called nacre. Hundreds or even thousands of layers later, a pearl is born.
