Mikimoto should know better.

[BWeaves]

I was just on the Mikimoto website, for some pearl eye candy, and I clicked on the first video listed: "Explore the original."

So what comes up on the YouTube video?

"When an oyster encounters a piece of grit inside its shell, it builds layer upon layer of luster.
In time, that grit has become something entirely new."

They are spreading the false "grain of sand" myth, and I would have thought Mikimoto would know better than to do that.
That's not educating the public. Grrrrrr.

 

[JerseyPearl]

That is a grrrrrr...an expensive grrrrrr.

 

[ennui]

I think "grit" goes with the theme of the commercial. Leather and boots. Those women look tough!

 

[kelluvpearls]

Post #18 here mention they are the origin of the grain in the sand myth.

https://www.pearl-guide.com/forum/s...rl-in-an-oyster-and-Lpearls-com-warning/page2

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

I was just on the Mikimoto website, for some pearl eye candy, and I clicked on the first video listed: "Explore the original."

So what comes up on the YouTube video?

"When an oyster encounters a piece of grit inside its shell, it builds layer upon layer of luster.
In time, that grit has become something entirely new."

They are spreading the false "grain of sand" myth, and I would have thought Mikimoto would know better than to do that.
That's not educating the public. Grrrrrr.

Mikimoto is comparing apples to oranges. While sand is never used in aqua-cultural processes, it is implicated in natural pearl formation.

Anything trapped in the "extrapallial cavity" will be undoubtedly painted over by nacre. (see attached diagram) This is how mabe pearls are made. A grain of sand entering any other part of the tissues will not form pearls. Mineralizing epithelial cells do not appear spontaneously. They must directly coincide with the grain to form a pearl.

I've also attached a shell of a Geoduck (Panope generosa) which clearly reveals thousands of grains of sand cemented to the shell. The clam had a marked mantle perforation along the anterior ridge.

 

[pearlescence]

It could also have been an early ploy to conceal the actual production process and keep it secret?

 

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

It could also have been an early ploy to conceal the actual production process and keep it secret?

That's my take on the matter.

 

[BWeaves]

Thanks Dave! You are a font of useful information!!!