Rare Lilac Cultured Saltwater Pearls

An intriguing necklace of antique baroque shaped and delicately graduated Lilac hued Saltwater cultured Pearls which gave us cause to undertake some interesting research. As they are an unusual colour and we knew them to have some age, we decided to have them analysed at GEMLAB.

The result was that they are Non-beaded cultured pearls ... Cultured pearls formed in a Pearl sac within a mollusk (nowadays done in culturing farms by inserting a piece or pieces of epitherial or mantle tissue around which the nacre would form).

As the first known of cultured Pearls were commercially produced by Mikimoto around the beginning of the 20th century, this was a little confusing as they are from a different species than was used by Mikimoto. 

We believe they are closest in colour to Pearls from the pteria sterna oyster which is now farmed on a very small scale in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, which was for centuries the richest source of natural Pearls in the world. These Pearls naturally occur in a range of hues, including blues, greens, purples, and even lilac...

We have found that there was some early farming of Pearls in Mexico around the same time as Mikimoto was experimenting:

Cultured pearl production in La Paz, Mexico, began with the world's first commercial, large-scale pearl oyster farm established by Dr. Gastón Vivès in 1893 on Espíritu Santo Island. This pioneering operation, known as the Compañía Criadora de Concha y Perla, produced millions of oysters before closing in 1914 after the pearl farm was destroyed during the revolution.

Our presumption is that they could be Keshi (or seed) Pearls which are thought to form naturally in a saltwater oyster, as a piece of trapped tissue, shell or a micro-organism causes the growth of a small baroque pearl. They are a scarce find and hold a place in the history of Pearl farming. 

Clasp: antique 9ct Gold barrel clasp (marked 9CT)

Length: 14.5cm fastening with a vintage hand made 9ct Gold clasp. Rethreaded

Read about Pearls from the Sea of Cortez here.

The illustration of pearl diving in the Gulf of California appeared in the 7 August 1869 edition of Harper’s Weekly Magazine (Vol. 13, No. 658, p. 508).