A PEARL IS BORN
Far below the surface of the sea, nearly half a world away, a miraculous event is taking place -- the birth of a cultured pearl. Born from the womb of mother oysters, cultured pearls are truly a gift of nature. Unlike other precious gemstones which are cut and polished to release their inner beauty, cultured pearls come into the world naturally radiant. They emerge miraculously with a shimmering iridescence, lustre and soft inner glow which is unlike any other jewel on earth.
A natural pearl occurs when a foreign object, such as a parasite or bit of broken shell, accidently lodges itself in the soft inner body of an oyster, where it cannot be expelled. The oyster attempts to protect itself by secreting a smooth, hard crystalline substance around the irritant. This substance is often referred to as "nacre." For as long as the irritant remains, the oyster will continue to secrete layer upon layer of nacre around it. After few years, the irritant has become totally encased. The result is a lovely and lustrous pearl. Nacre is composed of microscopic cystals, aligned perfectly, so that light passing along the axis of one is reflected and refracted by another to produce a warm and inviting glow of light and subtle colour.
The nacre found in cultured pearls is formed by oysters in a nearly identical manner. The only difference is that man surgically implants the irritant -- a small, round bead of polished shell, or in the case of a freshwater pearl, a small piece of body tissue from another mussel. Then it is up to the host oyster and Mother Nature to create their miracle.
