Pearl love affair

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Not sure if this is the right thread (sorry in that case), but I was thinking about the history of pearls versus the history of other non organic gems. Several things struck me as interesting.

Pearls were immediately tangible wearable items (along with shells, seeds and nuts), some of the first items to adorn us humans.
Pearls and pearl mollusks inspired (good or bad) global exploration.
Pearls have a legacy of consumption and tradition that is uniquely its own

These are just a very few insights I had about pearls. Then I started thinking why am I so fascinated by them? (Disclosure: I am a gem head for sure, I love colored gemstones in particular).

When I think of non organic gems (ex: Diamonds, Rubies, Sapphires, Garnets etc..) they are fascinating being millions of years or billions of years old, but they seem cold and aloof. If that makes sense? With Pearls there is a warmth and intimacy about them. There is a calmness in their glow, there is a comfort in their luster. Pearls are tangible and tactile?I can imagine many of you have unconciously caressed your pearls absently as they lay around your neck. I don't think a diamond inspires the same desire?sure they are beautiful in all their sparkle and glory, but that is all it will give you a cold hard sparkle. Pearls in their wonderful orient and playful rainbow of colors?they give a sense of closeness and familiarity. While diamonds, sapphires and rubies (as with most gems) are synthesized/created/duplicated in a lab?. The pearl is an anomaly a happy mistake, but more importantly truly a part of nature that man can never create on his own, that to me is the mystery and history of the pearl.

 

[GemGeek]

You are so romantic about our nacreous children!

 

[lary007]

That's a lovely explanation of the uniqueness of a pearl vs colored gemstones. I am almost always found wearing a colored stone of some sort, but pearls do really have my heart. They are just more special to me than gemstones.

 

[Jacques]

You nailed it PearlDude!

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Thanks GemGeek- As a gemologist you can appreciate (I think) the point of view I made , but as a pearl lover I know you understand!

lary007- I am admittedly a gemoholic for sure, boxes and boxes of things I will probably never do anything with but sit a corner drooling over all the sparkles and colors. However the pearls they have a deep personal meaning for me, especially Tahitian pearls, and no other gem will ever have that powerful of a connection for me.

Jac- You can relate to this sentiment for sure! How lucky we are, in my estimation there is no better place to be than surrounded by such a treasure.

 

[CathyKeshi]

BlackPearlDudeDC, your great description of the allure of pearls also matches all the lovely friends here who love pearls ... an even greater treasure

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

You can certainly tell that there is a tight knit group of you guys posting here and on PS with a common bond!

BlackPearlDudeDC, your great description of the allure of pearls also matches all the lovely friends here who love pearls ... an even greater treasure

 

[SunSeeker]

ABD, well said! I absolutely agree with you! There is definitely a multitude sensual experiences related with the wearing and handling of pearls that doesn't occur with other gems. Also, another unique aspect of pearls and the pearling industry, is that pearl farming done well is actually really good for the environment. ..that thought always warms my heart.

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Thanks SunSeeker- You are spot on with the idea that proper farming techniques are an ecological benefit. Few aqua-culturing practices "Give" back more than they take. The Pearl farmers going "Green" and practicing sustainability are blue prints the gem industry as whole can learn from.

ABD, well said! I absolutely agree with you! There is definitely a multitude sensual experiences related with the wearing and handling of pearls that doesn't occur with other gems. Also, another unique aspect of pearls and the pearling industry, is that pearl farming done well is actually really good for the environment. ..that thought always warms my heart.

 

[dkan 168]

I love pearls and I also love inorganic gemstones, and am having a great time collecting coloured gemstones (CS) at the mo.

I would not say inorganic gemstones are cold and aloof, as I believe they too have personalities, for their differences in colour, difference cuts etc...

DK

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

To each his or her own. I also love faceted and cab gems which is the reason for the disclaimer

I love pearls and I also love inorganic gemstones, and am having a great time collecting coloured gemstones (CS) at the mo.

I would not say inorganic gemstones are cold and aloof, as I believe they too have personalities, for their differences in colour, difference cuts etc...

DK

 

[pattye]

Beautifully said, BPDDC. Besides pearls, though, I'm fascinated by the Oregon gemstones. The jaspers with swirling and mottled natural colors, polish to a silky finish that warm against the skin just as pearls do; then there's the sunstones, common opals, thunderegg agates~

 

[juliebeth]

i love me a good pink-orange spinel, even the everyday cheap one not just the mahenge. the water of a pretty sparkling native-cut spinel just cannot be beat. oregon sunstones, YES for their amazing color and schiller (why do people so love the plain red ones? give me a sprinkle or even curtains of schiller any day!). and pearls, the queen of gemstones. at their finest, the play of color reminiscent of adularescence, of schiller, of rainbows and unicorns...

ok, i ran out of words. but i agree with all said above. love them all. the pearls are closer to nature, as they can be plucked from the source and are immediately perfect and beautiful (surely one needs to rinse it off a bit?), but i have a fine oregon sunstone crystal still in matrix that is equal to many a pearl.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

My other love besides pearls, and even closer to nature since man had no hand in culturing it, is watermelon tourmaline.

Unheated, untreated, just pull it out of the mine and slice it! I'm thoroughly addicted to it.

 

[pattye]

Oh Yeah, Pearl Dreams!!

 

[Katbran]

I love it too.. someday I'll buy some... someday....

 

[amti]

I've never thought much about why I love pearls, but you are right. There is an inner warmth not found in gems. I've never cared much for gems, but I thought it was because my grandmother owned a jewelry store, so I got jewelry every year for every occasion. I have more sapphires than I care to admit, so I thought I was just burned out on them. But I don't care much for diamonds or other stones. I am delighted by the awesome and unique colors of opals though, even though I never wear my opal ring. So perhaps, I'm drawn into the mysterious colors that cannot be copied by man.

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

I can understand. Though I do have a passion for gems (I am a collector and have been since a kid) but there is nothing like a pearl. I don't care for white diamonds, but natural fancy colors are great. I love spinels in all their wonderful colors, garnets are a prize when it comes to color, a great demantoid shines like a star and tourmaline occurs in every color and shade of that color possible (probably more so than any other colored gem) and I can spend hours lost in the microscope looking at internal characteristics, quite cosmic in fact... but through all of that the pearl is in a world of its own, there is nothing like them. Gems have cold hard angles or smooth domed surfaces, but the pearl has a softness and warmth in its color, its shape and its feel, even the baroques, no other gem quite captures that in the same way, pearls and gemstone beads in the same necklace probably best showcases what I mean.

Btw I can relate to overkill. When friends and family learned I liked a particular animal, over the years on every occasion I would end up with it in some form or another…I eventually lost interest. I thought I am going to be an old man with what-nots everywhere. The thought was very kind but my goodness…enough is enough.

I've never thought much about why I love pearls, but you are right. There is an inner warmth not found in gems. I've never cared much for gems, but I thought it was because my grandmother owned a jewelry store, so I got jewelry every year for every occasion. I have more sapphires than I care to admit, so I thought I was just burned out on them. But I don't care much for diamonds or other stones. I am delighted by the awesome and unique colors of opals though, even though I never wear my opal ring. So perhaps, I'm drawn into the mysterious colors that cannot be copied by man.