Mother of pearl was very popular in the 19th century used to make everything from jewelry to fine buttons and ornaments. Mother of pearl refers the inside layer of the oysters shell it is very smooth and beautiful in color and transparency. It is here in the nacre of the mother of pearl that fine pearls are made when a grain of sand or other foreign body enters the oyster it becomes irritating to the oyster and stimulates a secretion on mucus.


This mucus engrosses the grain and coats it with a fine layer which hardens, over time this process is repeated enough to produce a pearl. Only one in every 20,000 oyster shells when opened will contain a pearl so they are very rare to fine in nature. Today of course they are cultured on oyster farms and grains are hand inserted into the oyster to begin conception of the pearl making these cultured pearls in plenty supply to the public unlike natural wild pearls that are very rare indeed.


Pearls were a very coveted item in the 19th century worn by royalty and the like. The most famous of them being the black pearl which was the center piece of a necklace that was part of the Russian crown jewels this pearl was called “Azurai”. The black color comes from the outer shell of the oyster itself, the whitest oyster shell produce white pearls and the darker shells will produce a darker pearl.


All colored pearls are extremely rare and therefore highly prized. Due to the high demand for black pearls as they grew in popularity unfortunately the supply of black lipped oysters depleted in population. The only supply we have today is the cultured Polynesian pearls that have been groomed for years now to produce black pearls alas this does take away from their once rare and mystical nature.


Today the Tahitian black pearl is world renowned and there is a great availability of black pear necklaces and bracelets to purchase. The Tahitian black pearl is a beautiful color of blackish green with a lustrous coating it is a very beautiful natural gem. These pearls come from the black lipped oyster known in Tahiti as Pinctada margaritifera. The pearl is produced by the mollusk species of oyster because of its dark shell.


The black pearl can come in a range of shades from Black, silver, gray to dark green and even dark gold. The South sea pearls known for their white, gold and pink colorings are produced by the Pinctada maxima or the gold lipped oyster and are indigenous to the beautiful blue lagoons of the islands of Fiji and the Cook islands.
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