{"id":1211,"date":"2015-06-01T21:20:44","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T01:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birkatelyon.com\/blog\/?p=1211"},"modified":"2018-09-04T14:27:01","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T18:27:01","slug":"a-history-of-pearls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birkatelyon.com\/blog\/a-history-of-pearls\/","title":{"rendered":"A History of Pearls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"simulated<\/a><\/p>\n

Mother\u2019s Day is behind us, and we hope all of our mom readers out there and all of our readers with mothers \u2013 so, basically, everyone \u2013 had a great one with their families. In addition to the wonderful women who brought us into this world and raised us, Mother\u2019s Day also reminds us of Mother of Pearl and (naturally) pearls.<\/p>\n

Pearls are closely linked to the history of mankind dating all the way back to the fourth millennium BC when the ancient Egyptians began using pearl shells as decorative items. In addition to historical evidence of their use as jewelry and decorative objects, pearls also turn up in two of the most popular religious tomes in the world: the Bible and the Koran. And, as it is with most jewels and gemstones, mystics over the years applied cosmological and mythological explanations for them.<\/p>\n

Not Egg<\/em>zactly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most readers are likely familiar with the common story behind pearls: oysters rise from the surface of the waters in the mornings and open their shells to receive a few drops of moisture that develop into pearls. Not exactly scientific, but it\u2019s a fun explanation, so it caught on for many centuries. It wasn\u2019t until the 15th<\/sup> century when the popular belief changed to that of pearls being oyster eggs. That one stuck around until about the 1700s when it was discovered that pearls were, in actuality, the result of the intrusion of hard substances or parasites into oysters.<\/p>\n

The reality isn\u2019t exactly romantic or mystical, is it? Well, historical and scientific truths often aren\u2019t. That\u2019s just the nature of the world, but, hey, we won\u2019t fault you if you want to go on pretending they\u2019re oyster eggs just for fun. The point is, they\u2019re marvelous gems that are loved by many the world over for being symbolic of perfection and purity, affluence and elegance.<\/p>\n

Pearls can be found in a great variety of shapes, colors and sizes. And it\u2019s possible for any mollusk to create them \u2013 possible, but hardly common. In fact, naturally occurring pearls are believed to only form in one out of every 10,000 mollusks. Starting in the early 1900s, however, the pearl industry began developing a number of methods to increase those odds. As a result, there are more pearls being produced today than at any other time in history.<\/p>\n

From Mothers to Pearls<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pearls are thought to be the first gems that man has collected and used. It is commonly held that in the days of antiquity before the start of written history, the first pearls were discovered when hunting parties were out scouring the shorelines for seafood. Ever since that time, the world has been drawn to the gems\u2019 shimmering, lustrous beauty.<\/p>\n

Those \u201cold school\u201d Egyptians we name checked at the beginning of this blog? They used Mother of Pearl (the outer coating of pearls) for decorations, not beginning to use the gems themselves for such until sometime around the 5th<\/sup> century, when they started burying people with them. Around the same time, another culture picked up the habit of prizing pearls, and many others followed suit over the years:<\/p>\n