We can say that the appreciation of pearl jewellery has been a part of many different cultures since the beginning of times. The tradition of pearl jewellery in Europe and India dates back to the BCs, not ADs. Whereas the Middle Kingdom (China) has a long lasting culture of jade, India, the Roman Empire and the ancient Egypt have a long story with pearls. Cleopatra was said to be a frenetic lover of pearl jewellery. For thousands of years, pearls were collected by deep sea divers from the Indian Ocean, in areas such as the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Mannar between Sri Lanka and India. Nowadays, the business of pearl jewellery is mostly situated in India, China and Japan. Other Asian countries like Myanmar, Philippine, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam etc. also came into the business of pearl and pearl jewellery in more recently years.
Pearl jewellery has always been a symbol of a royal and lavish lifestyle. It was so, because before the only means of pearl production available was to search manually for pearls by diving into deep sea beds. The job was dangerous, yield was extremely low. Sometimes it would take over ten years to collect enough similar looking pearls to make a piece of jewellery. But with the invention of pearl pearl culturing technique by the Japanese Mikimoto, the landscape of pearl jewellery industry has changed. Now, it is within the reach of those with a normal income standard. The birth of even more affordable imitation pearl jewellery (such as faux pearls and shell pearls) is another factor adding to this change. In earlier centuries, pearl was the most expensive precious stone and closely linked to royalty and sacredness and keeping pearls by common people or citizens was even regarded as disrespectful in most of the Asian empires. It was a subject exclusively for royal possession. Thanks to pearl culturing which was invented at the beginning of 20th century, now a lot more people can afford pearl jewellery. Pearl jewellery business across the globe has expanded to an unexpected level. The number of online pearl jewellery stores you find when you do a Google research is the most powerful evidence.
Among Asian countries, China and Japan together have topped the position among the pearl cultivating counterparts. Most of freshwater pearls sold all over the world come from China or Japan. Chinese freshwater pearl is one of the very famous kind of pearl in the market. While the Chinese specialise in a wide range of colours and sizes of pearls; the Japan mostly specialize in larger size akoya pearls, mostly above 8mm. Asia also holds the title for the largest pearl known. It was found in Philippines in the year 1934. It is a naturally formed calcareous formation from a giant clam. And it is a white pearl.
Nowadays the Indian pearl jewellery markets focus on imitation pearls. These are the cheapest available look alike of pearls made with different materials including oyster shell (mother of pearl).
From ‘the royalty and the rich only’, most expensive kind of gemstone to today’s ‘affordable glamour’, pearl jewellery have come a long way and closer to everyone along the years. The famous French fashion designer Gabrielle ‘coco’ Chanel has made the final statement of pearl jewellery becoming a part of everyday life of all beauty-loving women, regardless of social class, with her famous rope length pearl necklace and little black suit creation. Pearl has thus become an inseparable part of everyday fashion.
