LITTLE HISTORY OF THE PEARLS
What are natural pearls? What difference does it make with cultured pearls?
Pearls are nacre 'spheres' produced by the soft body of bivalve molluscs, around strange particles that are introduced into it.
Since ancient times they are considered as gems or precious stones, by their symmetry and their particular luster.
Natural pearls are formed when a foreign body naturally enters the mollusk, which reacts by slowly covering the particle with a mixture of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) crystals and a protein called 'conchiolin', forming the mother-of-pearl, which also covers the inner walls of the leaflets. After a while the particle is covered by layers of mother-of-pearl, which eventually form a pearl, and which will take years to create.
They are of variable size, color and shape. The value of the pearl is determined by various criteria but we can focus on three: a desirable shape (for example, perfect spheres or "tears", without 'chopped'), the rarity of its color (the whole range between white and black) and naturally the brightness and the iridiscence. The brightness of the pearl comes from the light reflection on the crystalline surface, while the iridescence comes from the refraction and diffraction light in the multiple layers of translucent nacre.
Although the aesthetic and size characteristics are fundamental in the value of a pearl, the final price depends largely on the fashion trends of the moment. And production capabilities.
Until the end of the 19th century, it was necessary to snorkel to find, after hundreds of dives, and fortunately, a pearl. And it could be small, defective, rough, etc... Finding a beautiful, quite perfect and large pearl (8-9 mm) was something extremely improbable (the American writer John Steinbeck describes it very well in his novel 'La Perla' ). Their prices were prohibitive, only on the scope of the greatest fortunes.
Some have a proper name. The 'Peregrina Pearl' of unusual size and shape, considered one of the most valuable and legendary gems in the history of Europe. Discovered in the waters of the archipelago of the Pearls in Panama in the sixteenth century, passed into the hands of King Philip II, became part of the jewels of the Spanish Crown. Attached to a brooch or jewel with the diamond "El Estanque", was worn by the successive queens who occupied the throne. The first was the British Maria Tudor, fleeting wife of Felipe II; She wore it in her famous portrait painted by Antonio Moro (Museo del Prado). Upon his death, the pearl returned to Spain.
Queen Margaret of Austria-Styria wore this brooch in her equestrian portrait completed by Velázquez (Museo del Prado), and also her husband Philip III carries it, attached to his hat (without the brooch), in a pair of portraits. Later it was property of Jose Bonaparte and after numerous trips and avatars, was auctioned the 23 of January of 1969 by Parke Bennet in New York. Most bids stopped at $ 15,000. Up to 20,000 arrived Alfonso de Bourbon Dampierre. Finally the actor Richard Burton acquired it (using an intermediary) for the extraordinary amount of $ 37,000, as a gift to Elizabeth Taylor.
In 2011 the jewels of Elizabeth Taylor were auctioned and the pearl reached 9 million €.
By the mid-nineteenth century, in the Japanese ports, fishermen collected oysters in the hope of finding some pearl that would change their fortune. Until a curious Japanese boy, Kotichi Mikimoto (1858-1954), son of a noodle seller and born in a small village on the island of Toba, systematically observed oysters and began to believe in the possibility of growing pearls. After many unsuccessful trials he gave the procedure, patenting and establishing in 1888 the first pearl cultivation in history, which would revolutionize the pearl trade.
Nowadays the production of all kinds of pearls is a thriving industry that supplies genre overall the planet. However, there are still a demand in the exclusive and selected market of natural (uncultivated) pearls, rarities, many of them from the s. XIX and earlier, which reach highest prices.
In our January 2017 auction, lot 273, a pair of earrings, with beautiful pair of natural pearls, broke the record of price increase, ending at 9,500 €
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