PEARL MAKING/HISTORY

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Development of a Pearl

A pearl is formed when some sort of small object or irritant becomes embedded in the tissue of an oyster or mollusk. In response, the mantle tissue of the mollusk secretes nacre, a combination of crystalline and organic substances. As the nacre builds up in layers, it surrounds the irritant and eventually forms a pearl.

Natural pearls are those pearls which are formed in nature, more or less by chance. Cultured pearls, by contrast, are those in which humans take a helping hand. By actually inserting a foreign object into the tissue of an oyster or mollusk, pearl farmers can induce the creation of a pearl. The same natural process of pearl creation takes place.

[edit] The Pearl Industry

Modern-day cultured pearls are primarily the result of discoveries made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Japanese researchers, most notably Kokichi Mikimoto. Although some cultures had long been able to artificially stimulate freshwater mollusks into producing a type of pearl, the pearls produced in this way were generally small and misshapen, rather than actual round pearls. What Mikimoto discovered was a specific technique for inducing the creation of a round pearl within the tissue of an oyster.

This discovery revolutionized the pearl industry, because it allowed pearl farmers to reliably cultivate large numbers of high-quality pearls. In contrast to natural pearls -- which have widely varying shapes, sizes, and qualities, and which are difficult to find -- cultured pearls could be "designed" from the start to be round and primarily flawless. The oysters could be monitored for up to two years until each pearl is fully formed, thus better insuring their health and survival. And the pearls could be grown by the tens of thousands, thereby bringing their cost down to a point where pearls became accessible to large numbers of people around the world.

In short, the development of cultured pearls took much of the chance, risk, and guesswork out of the pearl industry, allowing it to become stable and predictable, and fostering its rapid growth over the past 100 years. Led by pearl pioneer John Latendresse, the United States began culturing freshwater pearls in the mid 1960's.

Incidentally, prior to the 1930s, exporting pearls was the main economic activity of Kuwait. When the Japanese invented cultured pearls, the Kuwaitis decided to drill for oil. This was the start of the Kuwaiti oil industry.

Cultured pearls can often be distinguished from natural pearls through the use of x-rays, which reveals the inner nucleus of the pearl.

Today more than 95% of all pearls sold worldwide are cultured pearls.^[1]

Pearl powder

Pearl powder chinese: 珍珠粉;pinyin: zhēnzhū fěn) is a preparation of crushed pearls used in China for skin care and in traditional Chinese medicine as an anti-inflammatory and detoxification agent.

Pearl powder is a finely milled powder from quality fresh water pearls. It is naturally compatible and easily absorbed by the skin and body. Proven safe to ingest and apply to skin directly.

Pearl powder contains about 18 amino acids and over a dozen minerals. Including 10 essential amino acids necessary for the human body to heal and maintain cell nutrition. These essential building blocks of collagen and protein each has a specific function. Deficiency of any one of the key amino acids causes the skin to look coarse, depleted, old, and wrinkled.

Traditionally recognized benefits of using pearl powder products include: Healing, skin brightening, anti-wrinkle, and sun protection. Other anti-aging benefits: Helps to promote cell renewal, enhance elasticity, improve circulation, calming and detoxification, protects from environmental radicals, regulates skin discoloration, and smoothes skin texture.

Pearling in Western Australia

Main pearling areas in Western Australia

Pearling in Western Australia existed well before European settlement. Coastal dwelling aborigines had collected and traded pearl shell as well as trepang and tortoise with fishermen from Sulawesi for possibly hundreds of years^[1]. After settlement the aborigines were used as slave labour in the emerging commercial industry.^[2] Pearling centred around Broome was the largest in the world by 1910. It remains an important part of the Western Australian economy.

Early history

After the arrival of Europeans, an explorer witnessed an aboriginal wearing an oyster shell which had travelled at least 500 miles from its point of origin. ^[3]

The European pearling industry began in the 1850s at Shark Bay where natural pearls were found in the Pinctada albina oyster. In 1866, two speculators, Hicks and Tays were shown pearl shells near Broome by local aborigines. A shipment of 9 tons of pearl shell was sold for £2000 the following year^[4]. When the larger Pinctada maxima oyster which produced high quality mother-of-pearl shell was discovered in areas north of Nickol Bay near present day Karratha, the industry spread rapidly during the 1880s along the north west coast. By 1910, nearly 400 pearling luggers and more than 3500 people were fishing for shell in waters around Broome, making it the worlds largest pearling centre^[5]. The majority of the workers were Japanese and Malaysian, but also included were Chinese, Filipino, Amborese, Koepanger (Timorese) and Makassan, as well as Indigenous Australians and people from Europe.^[4]

Pearl luggers at Roebuck Bay, Broome in about 1912

Early luggers were sail-powered and only catered for one diver and his apparatus, but by the 1930s, most vessels were motorised and mechanical air pumps allowed two divers per boat. The death toll in the early pearl industry was horrific, from the 'bends', cyclones and sharks. Between 1908 and 1935 four tropical cyclones hit the area resulting in over 300 deaths and more than 100 boats being lost. The Japanese cemetery in Broome contains the graves of many of these casualties.

At the time of the World War I the price of mother-of-pearl plummeted with the invention and expanded use of plastics for buttons and other articles which had previously been made of shell. Broome had been the centre of an industry that supplied up to 70% of global demand for the shell ^[6]. By 1939 only 73 luggers and 565 people were left in the industry and during the World War II, pearling virtually stopped. Japanese divers discreetly went home or were interned and Broome was bombed, destroying many of the remaining luggers. After the war, as few as 15 boats employing around 200 people remained.

Cultured pearls

Due to the prospect of an adverse reaction in the natural pearling industry, the Australian government through the "1922 Pearling Act" prohibited anyone in Australia from artificially producing cultivated pearls. The Act was repealed in 1949^[2]. In 1956, a joint Japanese-Australian venture was setup at Kuri Bay, 420 km north of Broome as a cultured pearl farm, named Pearls Proprietary Ltd. The company was owned by Male and Co, Broome Pearlers Brown and Dureau Ltd, and the Otto Gerdau Company (New York). The Japanese owned Nippon Pearl Company handled distribution and marketing. The principal was Tokiuchi Kuribayashi who became highly influential following the death of Kokichi Mikimoto (1858-1954). Mikimoto, Kuribayashi and another man, Tatsuhei Mise (1880-1924) had all been involved in the invention of cultured pearls around 1900. Kuri Bay was named after Mr Kuribayashi.

By 1981, there were five pearl farms operational: Kuri Bay, Port Smith, Cygnet Bay, and two in Broome's Roebuck Bay.

The industry today includes 19 of Australia's 20 cultured pearl farms and generates annual exports of AUD$200M and employs approximately 1000 people.

Pearl hunting

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Pearl diver in Japan

Pearl hunting or pearl diving refers to a now largely obsolete method of retrieving pearls from oysters. Before the beginning of the 20th century, the only means of obtaining pearls was by manually opening oysters found on the ocean floor or river bottom. Free-divers were often forced to descend to depths of over 100 feet on but a single breath, exposing them to dangers of sharks, jellyfish and drowning. Often, because of these dangers, divers were slaves or others from low societal classes. Because of the difficulty of diving and the unpredictable nature of natural pearl growth in oysters, pearls of the time were extremely rare and of varying quality.

Whilst many pearls in Asia could be found on shoals at a depth of 5-7 feet from the surface, more often than not divers had to go 40 feet or even up to 125 feet deep to find the oysters; which was extremely hazardous for the divers. In the 19th century, divers in Asia would be given very few means of survival at such depths: they would grease their bodies, put greased cotton in the ears, a tortoise-shell clip on the nostrils to compress them and a wide mouthed basket or net to keep the oysters. ^[1]

For thousands of years, most seawater pearls were retrieved by divers working in the Indian Ocean, in areas like the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and in the Gulf of Mannar (between Sri Lanka and India). Pearl divers near the Philippines were also successful at harvesting large pearls, especially in the Sulu Archipelago. In fact pearls from the Sulu Archipelago were considered the "finest of the world" which were found in "high bred" shells in deep, clear and rapid tidal waves. Selling pearls above a certain size could result in the death penalty since these pearls belonged to the Sultan. However many made it out of the archipelago in stealth ending up in the possession of the wealthiest families in Europe. ^[2]

In a similar manner as in Asia, Native Americans harvested pearls from lakes and rivers like the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi, while others successfully retrieved marine pearls from the Caribbean and waters along the coasts of Central and South America.

Today, some, like the Ama divers of Japan, continue pearl hunting, but their numbers are few because of the new methods of pearl farming developed by Japanese scientist Kokichi Mikimoto, which allowed for more predictable production. Today's cultured pearl industry produces millions of high quality pearls every year, taking advantage of the natural process of pearl growth by implanting particles in the oysters that encourage the formation of pearls.

Pearl of Lao Tzu

The pearl was extracted from a giant clam off the coast of Palawan, on 7 May 1934 by a Muslim Filipino diver. Wilburn Cobb, the son of an American mining engineer, spent his boyhood in the Philippines. In 1934 while he was hunting in the Philippines near a fishing village, he was a witness to a native diver who had been seized by the jaws of a giant clam, which in turn contained an enormous pearl with the image of a turbaned face resembling Mohammad. The Mohammadan tribal chief labeled the treasure "The Pearl of Allah". At the time of discovery of the pearl, Cobb offered to buy the pearl from the tribal chief. The tribal chief rejected the offer saying that nothing paid for by the sacrifice of a human life could be bought with money. Cobb returned to the village two years later to find the chief's son dying of malaria. Cobb saved his life and as a token of gratitude the chief gave the pearl to Mr. Cobb.^[2]

In 1939, Cobb returned to America with the largest pearl in the world. In New York City the pearl was authenticated by Dr. Roy Waldo Miner of the American Museum of Natural History. Victor Barbish learned of The Pearl in the 1970's and had offered to purchase The Pearl from Mr. Cobb for $5 million dollars and was refused. A year later Mr. Barbish and his partners Henry Kyle, Robert Pease, Johnny Weissmuller, and Rudy Vallee, offered Mr. Cobb $10 million dollars and again he rejected the offer. Mr. Cobb told Mr. Barbish that no amount of money could buy something whose value is priceless.

After Cobb's death in 1980, his family sold the pearl to Peter Hoffman, a jeweler in Beverly Hills, for US $200,000 through probate court. Headlines across the world's newspaper hailed it as a bargain considering its fame and appraisal by famed pearl dealer Lee Sparrow and his San Francisco Gem Laboratory for $4,200,000 at the time of the sale. Appraisals since have valued the pearl from $42,000,000 to $59,000,000 based on it being a unique world treasure. Victor Barbish acquired half ownership from Hoffman at the time of the sale in 1980. He purchased the pearl for his daughter, Gina Diane Barbish.

In 1983 another descendant of the Li Family contacted Mr. Barbish's partner, a former CIA agent by the name of Lewis Maxwell, to meet with Mr. Barbish. Mr. Barbish was introduced to Mr. Lee in Pasadena, California. They talked over dinner for nearly six hours about the Pearl of Lao-Tse. The following day Mr. Lee viewed the pearl at Security Pacific Bank. Mr. Lee was in awe of finally being able to see The Pearl of Lao-Tse that was the fathomless legend foretold throughout his families' history. He offered to purchase the Pearl of Lao Tzu. Mr. Barbish initially rejected the offer. Mr. Lee expressed his sincere gratitude for the opportunity to view the pearl. Mr. Lee returned to China, and Mr. Barbish never heard from him again.

In 1985, Barbish borrowed monies from Joe Bonicelli using his interest in the pearl as collateral. Hoffman and S. Mort Zimmerman, of Dallas Texas, who had California Federal Court money judgement against Barbish, each filed motions opposing the transaction between Barbish and Bonicelli with the Colorado Federal Court. The Court ordered the U.S. Marshal Service to seize the pearl from Bonicelli who had hidden the pearl in an undisclosed bank. After a lengthy court battle, Federal Judge Finesilver ordered a resolution to be agreed upon by all parties. As a result, the Federal Court Ordered that Hoffman is 1/3 owner with control over the pearl, Barbish is 2/3 owner of the pearl with the provision that he pay S. Mort Zimmerman, approximately $2 million (as of May 2006) when the pearl is sold. Zimmerman would also have control over the pearl until paid. After paying Zimmerman first, Barbish must pay the Bonicelli Estate 1/3 of gross proceeds from the sale of the pearl as compensation for the loan from Joseph Bonicelli to Barbish.

This is where the history turns bloody. The pearl is now part of the largest wrongful death judgment in Colorado history after a jury recently awarded $32.4 million to Bonicelli's adult children, who sued over the 1975 death of their mother in a contract killing.^[2] After Bonicelli's death in 1998, police said they determined that the decades-old killing was done at his behest. The Colorado Springs barber who was convicted of killing Bonicelli's wife also was convicted of killing the wife of another man whom Bonicelli had introduced to the barber. Bonicelli's children want the pearl sold so they can be paid the settlement they won against their father's estate. They plan to use the money to establish a foundation in their mother's name to help abused women and children.

Over the years Mr. Barbish received various offers to purchase the pearl. One of the initial offers was presented by Mohammad Ben, a Lybian businessman, on behalf of three Mid-East investors. Mr. Barbish was led to believe these were legitimate business men who were willing to purchase the pearl for $40 million. Mr. Barbish received a deposit of $12 million but subsequently found out the buyers included a drug dealer and an illegitimate arms dealer. Mr. Barbish rejected the sale and returned the deposit.

Subsequent offers to purchase the pearl were made by an intermediary of Ferdinand Marcos, then president of the Philippines. The president's fall from power made the sale impossible. Mr. Barbish was also approached by Mohammand Faed, who was reportedly a representative of Saddam Hussein.^[3] Latif Faed, who was believed to represent Bin Laden, also approached Mr. Barbish to purchase the pearl

Chinese legend of the pearl

According to Chinese legend, and stated from China's highly respected Li (Lee) family, the pearl has great spiritual meaning and a fathomless origin.

In 1939, while The Pearl was on display in Robert Ripley's Museum in New York, an elderly Hong Kong merchant named Mr. Lee, requested permission to come to the museum to examine The Pearl. Both Wilburn Cobb, the owner of the pearl at that time, and Ripley agreed to Mr. Lee's visit. Mr. Lee, a direct descendant of Lao-Tse, held the pearl in his hands. He examined the pearl with intense scrutiny, and then tears began flowing from the man's eyes. When he regained his composure he acknowledged that the jewel was the long-lost Pearl of Lao Tzu that disappeared in a typhoon.

Mr. Lee told the factual history of The Pearl, heard many times from his elders. He told Mr. Cobb that when his ancient ancestor, Lao Tzu, became very old he was weary of the unceasing evils of mankind, and he resolved to spend his final years far from civilization. As he prepared to depart, he handed to a nephew a small amulet upon which the philosopher had carved representations of the faces of Buddha, Confucius and himself - the historical Three Friends. It was Lao Tzu's original mission of creation to find a path and way for peace. He told his nephew to place the amulet securely in a clam and wait four years. Doing as he was told would bring great wealth and fortune to his family, and so it did. The Li family amassed great fortunes as successful merchants. Lao Tzu, also a naturalist, provided his nephew with a method to prevent the clam's rejection of such an intrusion. Lao Tzu's instructions were to start the legendary pearl that would symbolize Lao Tzu's "WAY" of life. Thus the pearl, containing its sacred amulet, was handed down from generation-to-generation growing larger and larger as it was transplanted into Tridacna clams of ever increasing size until the pearl reached its present size.

Legend tells how a bowl of vinegar was given to Confucius, Buddha and Lao Tzu. Confucius tasted the vinegar and said it tasted sour. Buddha said it was bitter, and Lao Tzu said it tasted sweet. There will always be opposites of taste and opinion in all human beings. The pearl has engravings and symbols of all three men, opposites in taste but whose purpose united in one symbol to be an example of how to learn to live respectfully and united harmoniously for peace.

The Pearl of Lao Tzu is said to have influenced China's history. During the waning years of the Sui Dynasty, a direct descendant of Lao Tzu, named Lee, the proprietor of the pearl at the time, was awakened one night by a tapping on his front gate. Opening it he was greeted by a young boy about ten years of age that was in need of shelter and food. He stayed at Lee's home, and on the third day, Lee had a dream in which the pearl spoke to him. The message: "He whom you are protecting is one who will make his father the first Emperor of a new Dynasty and will himself become the real power behind the throne. In time he himself will become the second Emperor. It will be a reign distinguished by a more humane attitude than has prevailed heretofore. But the boy must proceed with caution." The message came from the gree sages in the Pearl. Lee swore the boy to secrecy, showed him the pearl, telling him of its beginning, and recounting the dream and the message that had come to him as he slept. The boy's hame was Li Shih-Min, the son of Li Yuan, Duke of Tang. The boy listened and believed, and modeled his life so that in 618 A.D. Li Shih-Min's father, Li Yuan, became Emperor T'aug Kao Tsu, the first Li Emperor. Li Shih-Min succeeded his father in 627 A.D., became Emperor T'ang T'ai Tsung, and the world's recognized founder of the great Tang Dynasty.^[3]

The Emperor T'ang T'ai Tsung returned one more time to visit Lee to not only thank the man who took him in and communicated the Pearl's message - words which conveyed his family into royalty - but to have Lee's blessing for the selection of an artist to paint the great pearl. The aging Lee gave his permission and recommended a young artist. The resulted work was of such charactor that paper rubbings of the pearl became popular as New Year's greetings between friends and loved ones. One such rubbing, although of reduced quality due to age, has been preserved in the Li family archives.

As wars were fought over possession of this pearl the Lee family decided to hide it by shipping the pearl to Palawan, Philippines and keeping it inside a giant clam which was held close to the shore by a net. A typhoon during the Ming dynasty tore the pearl and the clam away from the netting and it was lost.

Mikimoto Kokichi

Kokichi Mikimoto (御木本 幸吉 Mikimoto Kōkichi, March 10, 1858 – September 21, 1954) was the Japanese inventor of the cultured pearl.

Born as the first son of a udon shop owner in Toba, Mie prefecture (then called Shima Province), he left school at the age of 13 and sold vegetables to support his family. Seeing the pearl divers of Ise unloading their treasures at the shore in his childhood started the fascination with pearls.

In 1888 Mikimoto obtained a loan to start his first pearl farm at the Shinmei inlet in Shima province together with his wife and partner Ume. On July 11, 1893, after many failures and near bankruptcy, the first cultivated pearl was obtained. It took another 12 years to create completely spherical pearls that were indistinguishable from natural ones. In 1899 the first Mikimoto pearl shop was opened in the fashionable Ginza district of Tokyo.

The Mikimoto empire expanded internationally soon thereafter. Just before his death, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the First Class. On September 21, 1954, Kokichi Mikimoto died at the age of 96. Posthumously he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

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