The month of June came around with its sunshine and thoughts about the seaside. And since it’s quite a sunny and positive month, we’re going to talk a little bit about June’s birthstone- the pearl.
This classic oldie dates back to ancient Greece when they found one in a Persian princess sarcophagus back in 520 BC.
Our ancestors thought that pearls were the tears of the gods
Actually pearls have a period of history named after them called the Pearl Age during the ruling of Tudor in England. With the 16th century noble people started wearing grand amounts of pearls.
But since naturally found pearls were really expensive, people started cultivating them around the beginning of the 1900s.
Thus, more and more households were able to afford the natural gems.
The meaning behind pearls is something along the lines of simplicity and sweetness. It is thought to carry properties of elevating well-being, calming down nerves, and easing illnesses and such.
So, without further ado, let’s jump right into some interesting facts on this Earth’s treasure.
The most famous pearl
The most famous pearl is the La Peregrina which has the approximate size of an egg and has an oval shape. It has a really long life of about 550 years and many influential people like Napoleon have worn it.
Its recent owner was the actress Elizabeth Taylor who had the pearl as a gift for Valentine’s Day.
Quite rare
One of the rarest jewels are natural pearls as oysters become more and more extinct from people overfishing. Some statistics show that only one in 10,000 wild oyster beds have a pearl. Also, cultured pearls make up a whopping 99 percent of the market on average. Even the next fact is linked to man-made pearls, so keep reading.
And with cultured pearls, people tend to go after them as they are the easiest and less expensive option.
The first cultured pearl
Have you heard of the name Kokichi Mikimoto? Well, he is the man that started the first man-made pearls back in 1978 and 8 years later, he received the patent.
A quote by him says that his dream is every woman to have his pearls around her neck.
And with that, the pearl farms started to emerge and women all over the world began buying these less expensive gems.
Little did the world know about the oldest pearl called Umm al Quwain that was found in 2012. Scientists unravel its age, evaluating it at 7,500 years old.
A winning bet
As you know, the Queen of Egypt Cleopatra loved the finer things in life. Thus, it’s no surprise that she had pearls on her hands. So, once Marc Anthony made a bet with her if she could throw an expensive dinner.
Cleopatra didn’t think for a second and dissolved one of her pearls in vinegar and later on drank the liquid.
We need to mention that the pearls that she had were one of the biggest ones back then.
A Caesar law
In Ancient Rome, people thought of pearls as symbols of wealth and prosperity. So in 1BC, Julius Caesar invented a law that banned anyone below the ruling classes to wear pearls.
Talk about harsh justice!
However, natural pearls do have a lot of qualities to be cherished so much for. For example, the most expensive pearl in the world has a value of 100 million dollars.
It’s not only expensive but it’s massive with a weight of 75 pounds and length of 26 inches.
So why is pearl jewellery still popular nowadays?
As you can see, pearls have a long history of being a top indicator of wealth and noble status. However, they are widely popular right now. And if you’re currently looking into buying some pearl jewelry, you would make a good investment.
Firstly, pearls are the most earth-friendly jewellery you can find. They’re renewable and no harming resources are wasted for their extraction, when they are natural. However, if they’re cultured, every purchase of cultured pearls creates a new job for someone in a community.
Pearls are so versatile and any of their size and origin can fit your lifestyle and budget. Moreover, it’s a great heirloom to pass to your kids once their older. No wonder, they are a popular 30th wedding anniversary gift. After all, they’re pretty durable just like a good marriage should be.
To top it all off , pearls like Hanadama ones can increase their value over time. This just goes off to show how many qualities can fit in such a small gem.
To sum up, June’s birthstone is one of the most historical jewels in the crown of the world. Pearl jewelry has everything you may want in store. It’s very important to note what kind of pearls you have on your jewellery such as freshwater pearls, cultured pearls, and saltwater pearls. Later on, once you pick a kind of pearl, you have to choose the type of jewellery. If you want necklaces, there are many like long pearl necklaces, single pearl necklaces, over-sized pearl necklaces, and others. If you fancy a new pearl ring, then you have the options like pearl wedding rings, pearl engagement rings, vintage pearl rings, and more.
If your birthday is in June, then we wish you a wonderful day of celebration!
And if you wish to purchase some pieces from our pearl jewellery collection, then go to our Pearl section: https://www.glamira.com/white-pearl/
Important: You can get 10% discount with the promo code pearlgc20 on all pearl jewellery.
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