For more than 4000 years pearls have been collected, sought, bought and prized as the world’s only organically produced gemstone. Long before man learned how to facet diamonds or cut emeralds, pearls were regarded as the epitome of luxury jewelry, and were only afforded to the most wealthy and influential.
For thousands of years people of all cultures sought the elusive secret of pearls why did they grow, and how did they grow. Theories ranged from dewdrops and tears of the God’s, to the most commonly accepted urban legend of a trapped grain of sand. But until the end of the 19th century scientists and shell farmers were only able to produce blister pearls, or pearls attached to the inside of mollusk shells.
This all changed when British-expatriate marine biologist William Sawville-Kent developed a way to stimulate a mollusk to produce whole pearls in Australia. His technique involved planting a rounded bead inside a mollusk. This had been attempted before, but he discovered the real secret. Along with the bead he implanted a small piece of donor mollusk mantle tissue. The perfect combination was born. This small piece of tissue acted like a catalyst...