Natural Pearls.

Many years ago, pearls were thought to be the tears of the gods, or moonbeams that fell into the ocean and were swallowed by the oysters. Today however, we know that pearls are the accumulation of thousands of tiny layers of a translucent material called nacre`. This is what gives a pearl its beautiful lustre and iridescence.

Natural pearls are formed by accident, without human intervention. This occurs when an irritant enters the shell, this could be a grain of sand or a tiny piece of coral, and continuous layers of nacre` grow around the particle creating a natural pearl. In every 10,000 oysters, you may be lucky to find a natural pearl.

Before the creation of the cultured pearl, and natural pearl necklace was considered to be the most expensive piece of jewellery in the world. Natural pearls were so rare and expensive, they were exclusively owned by nobility and the very wealthy. Some of the oldest known pearl beds were discovered in the Persian Gulf. Also found in the waters off India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).