Pearls

"June Girls Wear Pearls" is what my GrandNani said to me when she gave me my first pearl necklace, and my second.

"Ah, this is a beautiful pearl... pink, as it represents love. How foruitous for your Honeymoon" Said an overly helpful Asian woman in a popular tourist trap on Kauai, as my husband and I pried open a previously seeded oyster to reveal the certain treasure.

Yes, even though A pearl is definately an organic treasure, or one might say, an irritant, I have never been able to escape them. As I have grown up, I have come to appreciate the unique luster of the pearl, and come to care for it, as a precious gem.

The pearls depicted in the picture are from my own personal collection... more of the treasure I found in Kauai, allong with the sea glass, and the hessonite garnets. I have a third pearl, pink, a sister if you will to these two. These two came from the same oyster, but one is coated darker than the other. My other pearl, the first honest, untampered pearl I ever came to possess, nearly caused me to make a scene.

At the stand, where I got to pick out my own oyster, a great big ugly behemoth... which in my opinion isnt saying much as far as oysters go, the helpful saleswoman held up my pink pearl, let me cup it breathlessly in the very palm of my hand, and then... plucked it from me, only to drill a hole right into it!!

Readers, if only you could have imagined my face as I watched this! My stomach dropped! I felt nauseated! But, it was all part of their ploy! Now that my pearl had a hole in it, it was much easier to trick me into buying a pendant to put it on! The pendant I chose was a modestly priced one... I was horrified, natually to be tricked in such a manor, my stomach still queasy with the sound of the drill.... and I eventually made a choice of a simple white gold, with a tiny diamond nestling next to my pearl, apologising under my breath to my husband, for falling for such a costly gimmick!

However... all was not lost, for in cooperation for sitting through he horrible scene, I was given an oyster seeded with two pearls, both pinkish in color, and I quickly yelled out " DO NOT PIERCE THEM!!!" Much to the saleswomans surprise. These are the pearls you see in my picture.

If you like, you, too, can have a riviting experiance... if you go to http://www.mauidivers.com/ the company who sponsored my private thriller.

My wedding was in June, as is my birthday... so for that summer month, pearls still reign supreme.

Other gemstones for June birthdays include: Moonstone and Alexandrite.

"The Pearl of Allah" is a famous, and mysterious pearl.

The largest pearl known, was found in the Philippines in 1934. It is a naturally-occurring, non-nacreous, calcareous concretion from a giant clam. Because it did not grow in a pearl oyster it is not pearly, instead it has a porcellaneous surface. In other words, it is glossy like a china plate. Other pearls from giant clams are known to exist, but this is a particularly large one.

The pearl weighs 14 lb (6.4 kg) and was supposedly first discovered by an anonymous Filipino Muslim diver off the island of Palawan in 1934. According to the legend as it is currently told, a Palawan chieftain gave the pearl to Wilbur Dowell Cobb in 1936 as a gift for having saved the life of his son. The pearl had been named the "Pearl of Allah" by the Muslim tribal chief, because it resembled a turbaned head.

Another even more elaborate legend says that this object is actually the Pearl of Lao-Tzu, a cultured pearl created with a carved amulet and then supposedly progressively grafted into several giant clams, before supposedly being lost due to a shipwreck in 1745. This legend has been discredited, however because this pearl is indeed the product of a giant clam, Tridacna gigas, which cannot be grafted. The pearl is also a whole pearl, not a mabe pearl, and whole pearl culturing technology is only 100 years old.