| The History of Pearl Cultivation |
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Prior to the 20th Century, pearl diving was the method by which pearls were harvested. Known as a very dangerous way to make a living, pearl divers would often dive to great depths at risk of their own peril to attempt to find even one suitable pearl. Very few mollusks naturally produce pearls in the wild, which made natural pearls such a rare find and worth the danger for many divers. All of that changed in the early 20th century when Tatsuhei Mise and Tokishi Nishikawa, both scientists at Tokyo University, found a way to cultivate pearls by implanting mollusks with foreign bodies. Kokichi Mikimoto, who was granted a patent for the process in May of 1916, was the father-in-law of Nishikawa and perfected the process through a great deal of trial and error. Pearl cultivation, from the beginning onward, has undergone its fair share of advancements. Cultivaters have experimented with many substances of many sizes in order to achieve the the best pearls possible. Along the way, it was noted that fragments of mussel shell wre indeed the most ideal substance, and could be easily implanted. Today, cultured pearls are abundant, and the variety and quality of freshwater and saltwater pearls is increasing all the time. Some methods of modern pearl cultivation are geared toward producing larger pearls in the shortest amount of time, though the pearls created are often considered of inferior quality. The beauty and value of a pearl lies in its layers of calcium carbonate. These layers, both in number and thickness, are referred to as the pearl’s “nacre”. The greater the size of the foreign body implanted into the mollusk, the less layers it must produce to make a pearl of considerable size. This allows the pearls to be developed rather rapidly, maximizing profits. The less layers produced, however, the lower quality the pearl. Conversely, some pearl cultivaters are using finite foreign bodies and realizing smaller crops of pearls in order to achieve heightened quality. When purchasing pearls, be sure to ask about the thickness of the nacre. Of course, other factors such as surface blemishes, dimension and proportionality can greatly affect the price of a pearl, but most of these are readily visible to the consumer, whereas a pearl with a substandard nacre may not appear to be of poor quality unless placed next a pearl with a thick nacre. To purchase Pearl Bracelets http://www.purepearls.com/pure-pearls-pearl-bracelets.htm or Pearl rings http://www.purepearls.com/pure-pearls-rings.htm visit our jewelry store http://www.purepearls.com for other pearls Read more at: http://www.ArticlePros.com/Fashion-and-Beauty/jewelry/article-68715.html. |
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