Natural GSS

[Jaye]

Has any natural gold south sea ever been found?
Anyone has a photo?

 

[pearlescence]

I found a couple only a fortnight ago, but they cannot be classed as natural under cibjo rules - mantle tissue keishi

 

[Jaye]

I was wondering of a gold pearl found in the wild. In you look at paintings in history all pearls worn by the royalty were all white natural pearls. I have never a painting with gold pearl.
So who cultivated the first golden pearl? I am assuming that it was the Japanese at the Burmese farms in the 50s?
I have an Akoya pearl necklace from my grandmother that was probably acquired in the 60s with a gold pendant drop.
But,mainly, my question is in regards to these deep goldens; it seems that none have been found in the wild.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

There are Pinctada maxima oysters with a silver lip, which produce white South Sea pearls, and those with a gold lip, which produce the yellow-to-gold range of South Sea pearls. These pearls are cultured in Australia, Indonesia, Philippines and other places (like Burma/Myanmar).

In the Philippines, Jewelmer has spent over 30 years actually breeding the oysters to produce a more golden color.

In the wild some golden-lipped Pinctada maxima oysters could produce a natural pearl with a yellow-to-gold color, but I don't know what per cent of them would be cream/yellow and what per cent would be a deeper gold. I expect most natural gold-lip oyster pearls would be varying shades of yellow rather than deep gold (hence the need for a breeding program.)

However, the pearl industry now is really a cultured pearl industry, and keshi are not considered natural pearls, since they occur in oysters that have been grafted. I don't know of any diving for natural GSS or WSS pearls going on today.

 

[Jaye]

The breeding program is it a trade secret? What does it entail? Selecting molluscs that have a more intense golden lip, and/or placement of nucleus?
I met a man affiliated with H Winston, and worked with Assael; he told me the Burmese were on to the golden pearl before Jewelmer using japanese technicians.
So it would seem that the deep goldens have never been found in the wild, and the deep gold pearl market today is the result of human tinkering.
Thank you PD for your input

 

[ericw]

What I surprise me, first, it's this great coincidence for a wild oyster to receive the two factors required to build a pearl, a bead and a piece of foreigner tissue, that in the same time... Sure it's why natural pearls are so scarce, because if a simple grain of sand was suffisant to work, as it's usually believed, these pearls would be more common.
Then, if nacre colour is a question of oyster's genetic, probably farmers work as in any other crops, by selection of the best shells to give nice nacre tones.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

From what I've read, there does not need to be a nucleus of foreign matter to create a natural pearl, just a bit of displaced mantle tissue from an injury, which then forms a pearl sac.

As to Jewelmer, the fact that they breed for the golden color is not a secret. See this PG thread:
All that glitters


This is a great informative video:

Also see this thread by PG member jacques.christophe (son of the Jacques Branellec, founder of Jewelmer), with link to gorgeous photos:
Philippines South Sea Pearl farms


Also this SSEF article:
http://www.gahk.org/journal/2016/a5.pdf

Jewelmer also has its own YouTube channel, but if you use Jewelmer as a search term on YouTube you'll find other videos about the company.

This coffee-table book, The Ultimate Orient, is full of gorgeous photos of the sea and its creatures in Palawan, as well as the pearling operations of Jewelmer:
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Orie.../dp/9719250208

 

[Pearl Dreams]

I just want to add that even with the breeding program, the number of deep gold pearls in each harvest is still limited. If you look at photos of the pearls they harvest, they come in various shades of cream and gold.

Also, the breeding program helps to preserve the natural oyster populations.

The waters (and marine life) in the area are threatened by certain fishing practices by the Chinese who fish there, in particular the use of cyanide and blasting to stun the fish. Even a very small amount of cyanide in the water kills coral reefs.
See Save Palawan Seas Foundation: http://www.savepalawanseasfoundation.org

 

[pearlescence]

What I surprise me, first, it's this great coincidence for a wild oyster to receive the two factors required to build a pearl, a bead and a piece of foreigner tissue, that in the same time... Sure it's why natural pearls are so scarce, because if a simple grain of sand was suffisant to work, as it's usually believed, these pearls would be more common.
Then, if nacre colour is a question of oyster's genetic, probably farmers work as in any other crops, by selection of the best shells to give nice nacre tones.

A wild pearl has no bead or piece of mantle tissue. Absense of them is how a lab diagnoses a natural pearl


Remember also that with cultured pearls, the pearl harvested from a mollusc is not genetically related to the shell.