El Salvador Pearl Diamond Fashion Jewelry.14

El Salvador Pearl Diamond Fashion Jewelry.

By Aamir Mannan.

History of the Discovery and Appreciation of Pearls - the Organic Gem Perfected by Nature - Page 1

Pearls are Organic Gemstones Perfected by Nature and Possessing Unique Optical Properties that Cannot be Replicated by Human Intervention

Pearls are organic gems produced by Mollusks such as bivalves (oysters, mussels, clams, scallops etc.) and gastropods (sea snails like melo melo sea snail, queen conch, horse conch, abalone sea snail etc), considered as gifts of nature, that come ready-made, already perfected by nature, not requiring human intervention such as cutting and polishing, and possessing a luster and brilliance as in nacreous pearls, that sometimes exceeds such properties, created by man in inorganic gemstones using modern technical skills and innovations; and possessing unique optical properties such as orient and overtones, caused by the refraction of light as it passes through successive layers of nacre, giving rise to unique color combinations, that is not found in any inorganic gemstone including diamonds, and that cannot be replicated by human intervention.

Pearls were Perhaps the First Gemstones Discovered and Appreciated by Pre-historic Man

Being ready-made gems that come perfect from the hands of nature, pearls were perhaps the first gemstones discovered by ancient  and pre-historic man, during his perennial quest for food, one of early man's pre-occupations as a food gatherer. Having made the discovery that freshwater mussels and saltwater oysters were ideal sources of food, ancient man collected them by the thousands from  the rivers and the sea. In the process of shucking these mussels and oysters ancient man would have stumbled upon the first pearls, with their beautiful luster and brilliance, which he came to like and appreciate for their beauty. Had the pearls been rough, and dull in appearance they would not have captured his attention, and like other inorganic gemstones such as diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, etc. pearls would have waited for several millennia more until man's cultural evolution would have progressed to that extent, enabling cutting and polishing to reveal their beauty.

Further, by experience pre-historic man would also have learnt that pearls were not found in all oysters and were elusive and extremely rare, found just in a few oysters out of thousands of oysters shucked. Such extreme rarity would have naturally instilled in ancient man an admiration and awe for these elusive creations of nature, to which he ascribed  a spiritual provenance, fit only to be adorned by members of the royalty and nobility, who were considered as agents of the creator on earth. Pearls and the more easily obtainable mother-of-pearl shells were among the first materials of adornment incorporated into items of jewelry by ancient man. However, the use of pearls in adornments evolved simultaneously with ancient man's ability to drill various materials, both of organic and inorganic origin and convert them into beads.