23 August: Pearls

On 23 August 2016 Philippine officials recovered the biggest natural pearl in the world — weighing 34kg (75 lb). The Pearl of Puerto, or Pearl of Puerto Princesa was found in the Philippines sea by a Filipino fisherman, who kept it under his bed as a good luck charm. The officials discovered it after his house burned down (not so lucky, then!) It measures 2.2 feet (67 cm) long, 1 foot (30 cm) wide and is valued at $100 million. 10 things you might not know about pearls.

1. Pearls are the only jewels created by living animals. All other gemstones form in the Earth’s crust as magma cools under high pressure. Pearls are made from a substance called nacre, which is produced by a mollusc in response to damage or injury. Nacre is made mainly of calcium carbonate.
2. Calcium carbonate dissolves in vinegar, and hence so would a pearl. There is a legend which tells of how Cleopatra won a bet with Mark Antony that she could host the most expensive dinner party ever. She took one of her pearl earrings (made from one of the largest pearls in existence at the time) dropped it in strong vinegar and drank the resulting mixture, the most expensive cocktail ever (and possibly the most disgusting tasting one as well!)
3. We tend to associate pearls with Oysters, but other shelled molluscs can produce them, too. The bailer shell Melo, the giant clam Tridacna, various scallop species, Pen shells Pinna, and the Haliotis iris species of abalone all produce gemstone quality pearls. Mussels produce pearls, too, and this is what is said to have prompted Julius Caesar to invade Britain, because pearl forming mussels were found in rivers. They still are, but harvesting the pearls has been banned since 1998 because river mussels are now endangered. Other molluscs produce objects that are technically pearls but have no value except as curiosities.
4. A pearl of sufficient quality to make jewellery is only found in one in every 10,000 wild oysters. Hence pearls have been highly prized and expensive in the past. They were so expensive that Julius Caesar created a law that prohibited anyone below the ruling class to wear them. At one time the economy of Kuwait was heavily dependent on pearl fishing. While a pearl might bring in a substantial sum, pearl diving was a risky business. Divers risked not only contracting the bends but being attacked by Sharks as well. 50% of them died in the attempt to find the pearl that would make them their fortune. It's less risky now there is health and safety! In terms of weight, 10 times more diamonds are produced per year than natural pearls.
5. The word pearl derives from the Latin word for a thigh bone, because that was the shape of the mollusc pearls came from. Pearl is also a name which is often given to girls. It was very popular in the US between 1880 and 1911 but fell out of favour in the 1960s. In 2012 Pearl was the 322nd most popular name given to baby girls in England and Wales. The old Persian word for a pearl also gives us another very popular female name - Margaret, and all its derivatives (Marguerite, Maggie, Peggy, etc).
6. 99% of the pearls on the market today are cultured. The process of cultivating pearls was invented by Kokichi Mikimoto and patented in 1896. Pearls were now in reach of people with more modest incomes. The economy of Kuwait suffered greatly from this (but then oil was discovered there). Mikomoto was quoted saying that his dream was to “adorn the necks of all women around the world with pearls.” The island on which he pioneered the process was called Ojima, but the name was changed to Mikimoto Pearl Island.
7. It takes between 6 and 24 months for a pearl to grow. Pearls grow as layers of nacre form around the irritation. It is the layers which cause the unique lustre of pearls, which varies according to the thickness of the layers. They break up the light falling on the surface; the thinner and more numerous the layers are, the more lustrous the pearl.
8. Pearls have been seen as precious since 2300 B.C. - records mentioning pearls have been found in Mesopotamia dating back that far. The oldest pearl ever found was discovered in a tomb in the United Arab Emirates in 2012 and was dubbed Umm al Quwain after the region it was found in. Scientists used carbon dating to determine that the pearl was over 7,500 years old.
9. Pearls even have a special measure of weight, called the momme, which was originally a weight measure used in Japan. In today's parlance a momme equals 3.75 grams.
10. Pearls are mentioned in one of the parables of Jesus where a merchant finds a "pearl of great price" and sells everything he has in order to buy it. This represents the kingdom of Heaven. It was this parable which inspired Hester Prynne, heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, to name her illegitimate daughter Pearl because she was "of great price, purchased with all she had, her mother's only treasure."

My latest books

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two