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As long as pearl jewelry have been known to people, they have been a highly sought commodity for their beauty. It's only in recent times however that the industry has taken the hunt for the perfect pearl to a whole different level. Today, the shiny orbs that we see on in display in jewelry stores have actually almost always been grown in farms.
That's a far cry from the dangerous extraction and collection methods used before the invention of modern technology. In the past, not more than 100 years ago, the only way to retrieve pearls was by diving in lakes, floods and the ocean to pick them up, one at the time. The unfortunate divers who'se job it was to do this, were often poor and lured by the relative large sums they could get. The diver would sometimes have to dive as deep as 100 feet on one single breath of air. In order to preserve air and to stay submerged the longest, the divers would hold on to heavy stones on the way down.
Naturally, this dangerous activity was reserved for the desperate or the powerless - in many cases slaves or extremely poor peasents. Today, this method is all but obsolete in most places of the world. The cheaper cultured pearls have become popular and are many times the only pearls available to the consumer.
There are however still a few isolated areas that practice this old art of pearl diving. Some of the finest natural pearl speciments come from the gulf of Bahrain. Here, divers still risk their health to retrieve what are considered the top of the crop in the world. In fact, Bahrain wants no part of the sale of cultured pearls, banned from trade. Bahrain is one of the few places on earth that does an active job in trying to preserve the natural habitat and waters from pollution.
It's an interesting story and one that continues to fascinate buyers around the world. Somehow, the beauty of the pearl grows when it's been retrieved from the depth of the ocean.
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Buying pearl jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you're considering a gift of pearl jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here's some information to help you get the best quality pearl jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.
Pearls
Natural or real pearls are made by oysters and other mollusks. Cultured pearls also are grown by mollusks, but with human intervention; that is, an irritant introduced into the shells causes a pearl to grow. Imitation pearls are man-made with glass, plastic, or organic materials.
Because natural pearls are very rare, most pearls used in jewelry are either cultured or imitation pearls. Cultured pearls, because they are made by oysters or mollusks, usually are more expensive than imitation pears. A cultured pearl's value is largely based on its size, usually stated in millimeters, and the quality of its nacre coating, which give it luster. Jewelers should tell your if the pearls are cultured or imitation. Some black, bronze, gold, purple, blue and orange pearls, whether natural or cultured, occur that way in nature; some, however, are dyed through various processes. Jewelers should tell you whether the colored pearls are naturally colored, dyed or irradiated.
Clams, oysters, mussels and many other mollusks with limy shells are known to produce pearls. But very few kinds yield gem pearls of jeweler's quality. The pearl is an abnormal growth of mother-of-pearl, or nacre, imbedded in the soft bodies of these shellfish. It is built up, layer upon layer, in the same way as nacre is added to the lining of the growing shell and always has the same color and luster. For example, over the country, hundreds of good-sized pearls are found each year in the oysters we eat. Unfortunately these have no commercial value regardless of whether they have been cooked or not because they are dull opaque white or purple like the shell of the parent oyster. In recent times almost all pearls of gem quality come from the oriental pearl oyster which has a bright shimmering translucent nacre.
A pearl starts growing when some irritating foreign substance such as a sand grain, bit of mud, parasite or other object becomes lodged in the shell-producing gland called the mantle. Pearls formed in the soft flesh where nacre can be added on all sides are most likely to be spherical and the most highly prized. By far the great majority are flattened or variously distorted and have little value. Size, color, luster and freedom from flaws are other essential qualities. Unlike other gems, such as diamonds, pearls have an average life of only about 50 years. In time the small amount of water in a pearl's make-up is lost and its surface cracks. Because they are mostly lime, necklaces which are worn often are injured by the acid secretions of the human skin.
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Tokyo - Viewers expressed mixed reactions on Wednesday to The Cove, a covertly filmed movie about a Japanese dolphin-hunting village that was shown to the Japanese public for the first time at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Some were shocked, but also defended the twisted pearl necklace hunt as part of the country's culture. The film, added to the festival at the last minute partly because of international pressure, shows the annual hunt in the seaside town of Taiji, where about 2 000 dolphins are killed every year for their meat. Some are captured and sold to aquariums. American director Louie Psihoyos, a National Geographic photographer, said he is in wholesale pearl jewelry talks with Japanese distributors about nationwide screenings in Japan, where most people don't know about the hunt and have never eaten dolphin meat. Junko Inoue, a resident of Saitama, north of Tokyo, said she found the final scene, where dozens of dolphins trapped in a hidden cove are freshwater pearl bracelets speared by fishermen, turning the water blood red, "shocking".
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But she didn't think the hunt should be stopped entirely. "There are a lot of pearl earrings cultural differences in people's eating habits," she said. "Westerners say it's okay to kill and eat cows, but not dolphins," said Hiroshi Hatajima, a 42-year-old office worker from Tokyo. "That kind of special treatment isn't going to register with a lot of Japanese. We have to eat animals to survive. It's a cultural clash." The film, while well-made, "comes across as somewhat propaganda-like", he said. The Cove mixes stunning underwater shots of gliding dolphins with grisly footage of their slaughter. The movie's star is Ric O'Barry, the dolphin trainer for the freshwater pearl necklace 1960s Flipper TV show, who over the last decades has been campaigning for the release of dolphins around the world from captivity. Organisers at the Tokyo film festival clearly wanted to distance themselves from the film. A disclaimer stating that the festival had nothing to do with the production of The Cove ran at the start of the screening, and festival officials prevented journalists from interviewing viewers, herding them off the premises of the event, held in the trendy Roppongi Hills area of Tokyo. The film also argues that dolphin meat is laden with toxic mercury. "It's the tragic irony of this movie that the only way to freshwater pearl jewelry save the dolphin now is to prove that we've made its environment so toxic that we can't eat them," Psihoyos said.
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The Japanese government, which allows about 20 000 dolphins to be killed each year, acknowledges that dolphin meat is contaminated with mercury, but denies it's dangerous unless consumed in huge quantities. Psihoyos flew into Tokyo for the festival despite worries that he might be arrested on trespassing charges from opera or rope necklace making The Cove. Police have repeatedly questioned the secret shooting of key footage in the documentary. The fishermen have blocked access to the cove with barbed wire and fences, and Psihoyos was unable to get permission to access it. So he and his film team secretly broke into the restricted area - which is in a national park - at night to set up cameras that capture the slaughter. "It's very courageous of the Tokyo film festival to show this film," said Psihoyos. "I'd also like to thank the Japanese government for not arresting me when I came in freshwater pearl jewelry. I was pretty nervous yesterday, and I'm still a little nervous about getting out." Psihoyos said he felt it was important to come to Japan for the screening and "not to stay safe in America". "I really feel like if this movie is shown in Japan, it will be a huge win for the Japanese people, it'll be a huge win for the dolphins and the environmental movement," he said. The movie may already have had some impact. Last month, 70 dolphins from this year's first catch in Taiji were set free, but 50 pilot whales - a related species - were killed, according to the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, a conservation group led by O'Barry. Kenkichi Kakizawa, a 23-year-old part-time labourer from pearl jewelry wholesale Kamakura, south of Tokyo, who watched the film said he couldn't support the hunt, but hoped that the film is shown in Japanese theatres. "I hope they show this in Japan," he said. "People need to see it."
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