Pearl
About Pearl
The only gem created by a living creature. An oyster secretes nacre around an irritant at 0.5 mm per year - a 7 mm pearl takes 14 years. Cleopatra famously dissolved a pearl in vinegar and drank it to win a bet. La Peregrina (the Wanderer) pearl was owned by European royalty for 500 years before Elizabeth Taylor bought it. Natural pearls are extremely rare - 1 in 10,000 wild oysters contains one. Kokichi Mikimoto created the first cultured pearl in 1893. The Pearl of Allah at 6.4 kg is the largest. South Sea pearls can reach 20 mm. The global pearl market is worth $8-9 billion annually.
Related Gemstones
Amber
Tree resin fossilized over millions of years - Baltic amber is 30-50 million years old. It...
Coral
Made by tiny marine polyps that build colonies over decades. Precious coral (Corallium rub...
Ammonite (Ammolite)
Made from the fossilized shells of ammonites - extinct cephalopods that lived 70+ million ...
Coral (Black)
Not a mineral but the skeleton of a marine animal - black coral is the state gem of Hawaii...