Canadian Natural Pearls

[Caitlin]

What sweeties. Little cutie pies.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Dave,

Those look translucent, just beautiful! What are the approx sizes?

About 2 to 4.5 mm

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

So with Mytilus californicianus you're getting pinks... M. edulis and M. trossulus (and hybrids) seem to be my wild ones... not many in the pink realm, more purple to cream with many dull greys, but they do look similar.

Blues and Californias, despite different habitats are anatomically simillar.

In BC, blues grow at accelerated rates and have short lifespans (often less than 2 years), so natural pearls are very rare. I've never found a single one.

It's nice you should mention purple. While it's not the dazzling purple we see in quahogs etc, it's a beautiful overtone while looking at the collection on the whole.

 

[pierrettedE]

Blues and Californias, despite different habitats are anatomically simillar.

In BC, blues grow at accelerated rates and have short lifespans (often less than 2 years), so natural pearls are very rare. I've never found a single one.

It's nice you should mention purple. While it's not the dazzling purple we see in quahogs etc, it's a beautiful overtone while looking at the collection on the whole.

extremely similar, yes... Do you ever come accross some that have "super lustre"? Once in a while, I come accross a M.Ed. natural that has mirror-like lustre, always white ones, usually 2-4mm and usually quite round, with sharp clean silver/ light rainbow overtones/ lustre. I'm trying to figure out the conditions for this. ideas??

Pierrette

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

If you define "super lustre" as nacreous or foliated structures, then the answer would be yes. Athough most are micro sizes, occasionally I'll stumble on a larger extraordinary gem(s).

Naturals from Mytilus c. tend to be somewhat translucent. Even to the degree of seeing the nucleus with simple magnification. This accounts for the purple overtones in my collection, as opposed to the orient from the organic matrix between the lathes of crystals seen in many other pearls.

As I mentioned earlier in a reply to one of Steve's posts, I see tremendous beauty in foliated structures, especially when mounted with flair and suited to an individual's appearance.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Many of the naturals I've found in the past have been tiny, mis-shapen or have unusual surfaces. Perhaps 1 in 10 collections yield anything remarkable and usually only a single piece.

However, today's collection was like no other, ever.

Two 7mm blacks, a nearly round 5mm champagne and several nearly round 2 to 4mm, among other interesting specimens.

Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. Not only due to the count/size, but also a couple of malacological theories panned out. The knowledge gained from this collection is most certainly a boon to my development technology. I can never put enough emphasis on the "in situ" observation of how natural pearls come to be formed.

Again, apologies for my image quality, but here's the images:

 

[pattye]

Bravo, Dave! What a fascinating range of colors! Obviously working some magic up there.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Bravo, Dave! What a fascinating range of colors!

Indeed the colors are amazing. While black is highly desireable and white shows purity, I am personally partial to the caramel/champagne pearls which have a slight rose undertone.

I've also been actively investigating the purple streaks.

 

[GemGeek]

Great news! I think your photos show the pearls very well. And I agree that the colors are lovely.
If you won't be spilling the proprietary beans - I'd love to hear what you've learned.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

If you won't be spilling the proprietary beans - I'd love to hear what you've learned.

Without getting into specifics, I'll try to explain.

We all know, the selection criteria for the graft donor is based largely on the extracrystalline structure of nacre at the pallial line. On the other hand, when it comes to recipents, most growers who rear their own spat, work with what they have on hand, within a controlled environment.

In my operation, I enjoy something most southern growers don't. That would be the ability to pick and choose adult stocks for both donors and recipients. My recent research has determined an additional (narrow) window of environmental factors in the wild which will greatly benefit the growth rate of relayed recipents.

Clear as mud?

 

[GemGeek]

Very very cool!

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Here are a few lovely naturals, I've since come across. Artificial lighting doesn't do the colors justice, but they are certainly contrasting from the brightest whites, to the darkest blacks.

 

[pattye]

Dave,

Those are beautiful! They seem to have a "glow from within" quality about them-----------

 

[Caitlin]

Really nice. And so unique!!!

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Dave,

Those are beautiful! They seem to have a "glow from within" quality about them-----------

Yes, they do have a lovely transluscent "glow" Bead nucleated pearls tend to be opaque, but most of these have either micro-nuclei or none. This allows light to pass or lets you look deeper into the pearl.


If or when the sun ever comes out around here (wet summer),I'll redo these in sunlight so we can get a better look at the surfaces.

I have several more sorted into color ranges and have some new theories about how some colors come to be.

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

We have had some discussion in the "grain of sand" threads, especially the relationship between predators and shellstock. It's my theory to take this one step further, by suggesting a commensal synbiotic relationship, apart from parasitism.

When observing my naturals, one often gets a hint of purple undertones.

For a very long time, I suspected purple sea urchins were implicated, but after cutting, peeling and breaking a few samples, I had hoped to find an urchin spine or grain of sand. I found neither.

Having seen a few markedly purple pearls, a pattern emerged.

In the top half of the the posted image, we see a collection of white naturals of similar tone. In the lower half, I flipped each of these off of their "flat spots" to reveal their purple over/undertones.

Okay, now this begs the question, why are these pearls colored purple on the flat spots?

We know in pearl culture, color is determined by the donor. We also know shellstock can be fouled by numerous species. My target species, the California mussel has no inherent tendency to produce purple tones in their shells, hence suggesting purple pearls are not homogenic in origin.

These purple flats, tend to be unlike the colors of most of my other naturals. (about 1-2% incidence) Purple colors can occur in several species, but they predominate in the venus clams (quahogs, manilas etc.) and in some pectens (rock scallops). Both of these groups occur in Canadian waters prolifically. Very often, they are found nestled between the tunicates and sponges on rocks, floats and shellstock.

Both of these bivalves have an intriguing transition, when they no longer swim and become sedentary. Venerupus sp, have more than treble the amount of byssal threads and as such, tend to be really sticky at metamorphosis. Rock scallops don't, but have a high external output of pallial fluid, which allows to concrete themselves rapidly to their holdfast.

Conchiolin has a high affinity for calcium carbonate. California mussels have thick conchiolin and as such are easily fouled. It's my assertion, the larvae of these scallops (and possibly clams) occasionally attach near to the mantle folds of mussels and become grafted to the tissues, hence replicating the color and extracrystalline structure of the donor.

In the attched image of the rock scallop shell, you'll see the purple is caused by the close proximity to the other valve. In the absence of conjunctions, this might explain the purple color at the flat spots and their xenogenic origin.

Cool eh?

 

[GemGeek]

Very Very Cool! They have a tender, delicate, and sweet luster.

 

[CLICLASP]

Hi Dave
This troubles me a lot :
We know in pearl culture, color is determined by the donor.
If we were to graft a black lipped oyster with a nucleus and a piece of mantle from a gold lipped oyster, (left besides if it is in fact possible or not ),
what would be the color of the cultivated pearl harvested from this black lipped oyster ?

 

[Caitlin]

According to the principles of transgrafting, Zeide Erskine claimed the donor cells form the pearl sac will determine the pearl.

Her highly theoretical and imaginative example-of South Sea mantle tissue put into imaginary Siberian pearl oysters resulted in a huge beautiful freshwater pearls, one of which she sent to me.

Through all the pretend stuff, I think she got the principle correct.

 

[CLICLASP]

I am still in trouble.
Because the nacre comes from the inside of the oyster receiver, so what?
Hi experts overthere I think this idea is as troubling as the famous "pearls come from a grain of sand in the mollusc"
Where is the thruth ?