Pearls- the unique gift of nature
Posted on March 25, 2008 - Filed Under Shopping |
Pearls, the white, hard, pretty object, formed naturally inside the soft tissue, called mantle of a living shelled mollusk, has been used variously by humankind through the centuries. The pearl is composed of calcium carbonate, deposited in minute crystalline form in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is smooth, round in shape, and highly valued through the centuries as a precious gemstone. That is how this “beauty of nature” is used metaphorically for something admirable, rare and precious. Mollusk in the sea forms pearl inside their shelled body naturally when an irritating microscopic form gets trapped inside the folds of the mollusk’s mantle. However, the most precious iridescent pearls, used in the making of ornaments are formed inside two types of mollusk, bivalves or clams- ‘the sea residing pearl oyster’ and the freshwater ‘river mussels’ or the ‘freshwater pearl mussels’. According to the scientific explanations, the freshwater peals can grow only in those mussels that belongs to the family Uniondale and Margaritiferidae, whereas the marine oysters that can produce the best natural pearls, belongs to the family Pteriidae. Only some specific types of mollusks can make good natural pearls because their specifications of a thick inner shell layer comprises of “mother of pearl” or “nacre”.
Freshwater pearls are formed inside the mollusks that reside in the freshwater areas like lakes, ponds and streams. The freshwater pearls are purchased from the market with their shells intact. Pearl, often artificially harvested are transferred to the “first stage factory”, where it is cleaned and sorted by size and shape. The processing of the pearls is done by pre-treatment in hot and cold chemicals and then bleached. The final polishing of the freshwater pearls is with a mixture of cornmeal and wax which makes them ready for sale.
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