When I visited The Fiji Pearl Farm in Savu Savu Fiji, Justin Hunter was beginning to create an in-house oyster hatchery. It is now in full production, I am proud to report. His goal was to selectively reproduce pearl oysters in a man-made environment.
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For a truly vertical pearl farm, wild spat have to be ecologically collected from the surrounding waters in the South Seas. This is called natural spat collection. In the months of October and November, pearl oysters produce sperm and eggs in to a water column. It is here that they fertilize and form free swimming larvae.
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There isn't a simple answer to this question. There are many factors that determine how long a pearl must grow in a mollusk.
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I love to write to you about fabulous historical pearl jewelry. As you can see with this brooch, the artist has made superb use of a Baroque pearl to resemble the torso of this dramatic Merman or Triton. There is intricate enamel work and masterful setting of table cut diamonds and rubies
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Keshi Pearls are a little known form of, what I like to describe as, "pearls gone wild". Keshi Pearls are smaller and grown as a second growth of a cultured pearl or if the first nucleation is rejected.
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The Pearl industry has made a major effort to educate the public about cultured pearls for the last 50 years. It has been 100 years since the designation of the word "cultured" to the farmed pearl. So, why is the lab grown diamond using the designation of "cultured" to market its synthetic diamonds?
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All pearls are unique, but there are some historically significantly unique pearls and The Hope Pearl is one of them. Of course you have heard of the Hope Diamond, but there is the Hope Pearl, as well.
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Nacreous pearls are the pearls that we mostly talk about and see. These are the South Sea Pearls, Tahitians, and Freshwater Pearls. Non nacreous pearls are grown in conch shells. There are many varieties, but the main ones are the Conch Pearls and the Melo Melo Pearls.
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A millionaire, Morton Plant traded his Fifth Avenue Mansion for a 2 stranded Cartier Necklace of natural pearls. This was the extreme value of natural pearls in the very early 20th century.
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Golden South Sea Pearls are some of the most valuable pearls cultured today. The most beautiful and most valuable are the deep golden colored pearls grown in the gold lipped variety of the Pinctada maxima South Sea oyster.
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