Coconut Pearls

[jewel457]

Hi Everyone,

Any collectors of Coconut Pearls and your thoughts on them! IP Delta most recent Newsletter has an extensive article.

My mouth fell open when I realized that I have actually tried to nibble on a few before. Yep! My excuse... I was younger then.

Thx!

 

[Kent]

where is the article

where is the article

which website has the article

 

[Pearls_by_Angela_Carol]

I though Coconut Pearls were a myth - having never been proven by actually seeing the coconut cut open and finding one.

 

[Zeide Erskine]

Hi Stephen,

What makes you think that? Coconut pearls are precipitates in dumb coconuts.

Zeide

 

[Pearls_by_Angela_Carol]

Well, from what I understand, the ones that are in existence were not presented with their original blind coconut. Also, I didn't think that there was anything in the in the cellulose meat that could cause a calcareous formation - in less than a year.

But then again I am not a Botanist...

 

[effisk]

Here's some info on the subject for those who haven't googled the term: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0901.htm#coconut

 

[Valeria101]

Coconut or conch, or something... you never know. Wanna look at some real' strange 'pearls'? CLICK then

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

I waws under the impression that "coconut" pearls were finally classified as a fraud????

 

[effisk]

Coconut or conch, or something... you never know. Wanna look at some real' strange 'pearls'? CLICK then

what are these? Paris mushrooms? Or some kind of cork maybe?

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

I have hears of the cave perls and in one of my pearl books there is a picture, possibly pearls a natural history I will have to double check.. Glad I asked! Thanks!

Ash

 

[rcsl]

re: reply to the aboves

re: reply to the aboves

Hie there, ok well its been a while haven't discuss this topic online.
Ok let me clear this for you guys. This pearl is no ordinary ones. The colours and lusture are not the same. I heard there is an article which circa around 197X forgot which date where there is a prof lookin for in in the Straits times press. I'm from malaysia, chinese descendant. Wanna know more of this pearl? I don't claim i know all but.....if u ask some people they might know or either way cause some people don't seems to know it cos its so rare that its takes years , decades to find 1. Ok there are 2 types of this pearl. Dont mean by type its by lusture.

the normal ones are like the coconut meat but liked its hardened .2nd is the ones which is the same but its covers withs the coconut water/milk watever u call it. Which its called the maharajah. Ok i do owned a few of the coconut pearls. No joke. I even sent a pic to Dr.Brown aust gemologist but he told me the pic was not clear. By mail bythe way. Don't ask where 2 get it ok? The maharajah pearl was left down by my granddad the rest was collected in indonesia by some guy the sold it .
Its be a few decades since people started to ask about them again! If the is any questions pls do post again

 

[effisk]

I'm curious to see what it looks like.

Please do post a good picture of your pearl.

 

[Valeria101]

It really feels odd that there is no trace of these pearls in gemology papers, even if vanishingly rare or otherwise impractical materials do get attention. Perhaps folks just do not want to accept the idea? Or some other branch of science would be more appropriate o describe them?

The current AG has one article reporting unsuccessful ID of some non-mollusk-originating pearls and identification criteria:

"ANOTHER IMITATION ELEPHANT PEARL,
Grahame Brown
ABSTRACT
Artifacts purchased in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, which were claimed to be either “elephant pearls” or “bamboo pearls”, have been shown to be man-made objects that were manufactured from dense mammalian cortical bone. The identifying features of this biological gem material are presented in this paper."

 

[rcsl]

Pictures,

Pictures,

Hey are the pics. do enjoy them. What i can say is that do not ask me whether its real or not? Because this pics i what i found from research. The are the type that was talking about ...calcareous/ chalky but for maharajah it is different hope that you will enjoy it. The pic is for personal you only. But if u like to post it somewhere else pls do email for notice. Thanks for more question please ask.


http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p81/qwertyy_photos/

 

[rcsl]

re:

re:

It is there any reply ?

 

[effisk]

Well to be honest with you, the pictures aren't of great interest.

They are blurry, and I only see an oval-shaped chalky white thing.

 

[Valeria101]

I would imagine that your sample would be very interesting to settle the debate whether these pearls exist and what they are... Perhaps it is a given for you that these are pearls and jewels of great mystical value, but one could go though libraries of English language books on jewelry and barely find three words, mostly doubting that these pearls are for real. So testing by an open minded expert would help and probably make news.

However, the pictures are not going to help allot: if possible, such identification will likely rely on close examination of the structure and composition of the pearl. Microscopic photography would likely be a hit, but nothing could replace actually handing in the pearl to a gemological laboratory with great reputation.

It looks like Zeide is the most informed and least skeptical on the subject; recently mystical pearls have been talked about on a different thread. Here it is: LINK.

 

[Iskandar]

I have witness two coconut 'pearls' being extracted from coconut in Malaysia. One is pure white and another is turquoise blue. All are not smooth and round. Just irregular small spheroid 8-10mm.

 

[SteveM]

Photos and sufficient variety for purchase to satisfy almost any collector:

http://www.bezoarmustikapearls.com/coconut.html

Steve
Seattle

 

[Caitlin]

There is considerable disagreement among botanists as to whether coconut pearls actually exist, or whether they are calcareous concretions from giant clams, or a myth that has been perpetuated for centuries......

In his book entitled Seed to Civilization (1973), Charles B. Heiser, Jr. states that coconut pearls in museums have been shown to come from mollusks.

Tridacna pearls= coconut pearls?

The highlighted link above leads to the best information on coconut pearls I have yet seen.

I just had to add this: ( form same source)

In 1939, Dutch zoologist A. Reyne, chief of the Coco-nut Research Station at Menado, Celebes, studied the structure of so-called coconut pearls in public and private collections, and concluded that they were pearls from giant clams of the genus Tridacna. He examined the concentric striations (lamellae) of the pearls, including thin sections mounted on microscope slides. His research was published in the journal Annales Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg Vol. 49: 43-48. Eight years later, Reyne published a detailed article about the structure of the shells and pearls of clams in the Dutch journal Arch. Netherlands Zoology Vol. 8: 206-242 (1947). According to Dr. Reyne, fraudulent coconut pearls are common and widespread throughout Malaysia, particularly Celebes. He examined the notorious pearl of Dr. Riedel and concluded that it came from a giant clam. Regarding Dr. Hunger's famous coconut pearl: "I am convinced that it is a Tridacna-pearl, as it shows a bipolar structure with the peculiar white veins of the crossed lamellar structure clearly developed. It seems likely that Dr. H., who as a botanist was not familiar with Tridacna-pearls, has become the victim of some trick of the natives."