Passion for Pearls

Title: Chanel Cuff
The French fashion designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel used pearls lavishly. This cuff, created in 1995 by the design firm that bears her name, mixes 105 cultured pearls from the Akoya Pearl Oyster with diamonds and gold. Paris, 1995
Chanel Fine Jewelry collection
© Chanel Fine Jewelry
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Greek mythology held whenever the Goddess Aphrodite cried, pearls were formed, leading to their nickname "tears of the Gods"

These gems have long been associated with rulers and royalty.

Julius Caesar permitted Roman rulers to wear them. A similar edict was once held that only British Royalty could wear pearls within the empire.

Pearls are created from irritants in mollusks, probably a parasite rather that the incorrect view that it's a piece of sand. Nacre forms around the unwelcome visitor to protect the soft interior of the shell. Additional nacre layers are formed over time producing the pearl. This process can take up to eight years.

Cultured pearls are made in much the same way, the difference being human intervention adding the irritant into the pearl. The color of the pearl can vary depending on the type of mollusk and the water where it lives.

Title: Pearls in Color
A selection of spectacular pearls (both cultured commercial products and natural curiosities) showcase a breathtaking variety of colors and shapes, including a small natural blue mussel pearl (Mytilus edulis), large white and gold South Sea cultured pearls (Pinctada maxima), a black Tahitian cultured pearl (Pinctada margaritifera), and a natural pink conch pearl (Strombus gigas).
Photo by Denis Finnin
Pearls from the American Museum of Natural History, The Field Museum, Susan Hendrickson, Frank Mastoloni & Sons, and Gayle Pollock collections.
© American Museum of Natural History
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural
History and Royal Ontario Museum

Pearls date back to the earliest shelled mollusks 530 million years earlier.

The oldest evidence of pearls are believed to be rounded depressions found on a bivalve dated 200 million years ago.

Pearls are the stuff of legends and myths.

Greeks believed they were created from lightening strikes in the sea.

Legend has it that Cleopatra won a bet with Marc Anthony that she would host the most expensive dinner ever. He accepted her bet. She took one of her pearl earrings, dissolved in it a cup of wine and drank it.

Pearls are unlikely to dissolve in wine if this story is true. It's far more likely the Queen of the Nile swallowed the pearl whole.

Lore holds that Vitellius, a Roman General, paid for a military campaign through the sale of one pearl earring that belonged to his mother.

Title: Audrey Hepburn Necklace
In the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Audrey Hepburn wore a necklace probably based on this prototype design made in France, about 1960. The pearls are imitation.
Photo by Denis Finnin
Deanna Farneti Cera collection, Milan
© American Museum of Natural History
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Title: Chrysanthemum Brooch
A chrysanthemum brooch made of gold, platinum, and diamonds demonstrates a creative use of freshwater Mississippi River pearls in a design by Paulding Farnham for Tiffany & Co. (1904). This brooch belonged to Lillian Russell, the great American comic opera star of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
On loan from the collection
of R. Weatherly
© Wartski, London
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Pearls can be found in edible oysters but not the lustrous expensive versions.

"Most people see pearls as beautiful gems, but few understand the complexity of their formation, farming and harvest." Says William Thorsell, CEO of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Edible or true oysters are from the family Ostreidae and distantly related to pearl oysters where the expensive pearls are created. At most one would find a small white pearl.

They come in a wide variety of color which will usually, but not always, match the color of the interior of the mollusk from which the pearl was produced.

Pearls are unique because they do not require cutting and polishing unlike most other gemstones.

The Oyster Beds of the Persian Gulf was long associated with the harvesting of natural Pearls, along with the Red Sea and the Gulf of Manaar in the Indian Ocean.

Freshwater pearls are mainly found in Europe and also in the state of Mississippi.

Title: Festoon Necklace
Large, high-quality natural marine pearls like those in this festoon necklace, designed by Jacques Cartier in Paris in 1911, have always been rare. Cartier personally visited the pearl markets near the Persian Gulf to obtain fine pearls.
Photo by Nick Welsh
Cartier Joaillerie, S.A., Geneva
© Cartier
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Title: Japanese Tray
Mother-of-pearl from abalone and various pearl oysters forms lustrous inlaid flowers on a Meiji Period silver tray made in Japan in the late 19th century.
Photo by Jackie Beckett
American Museum of Natural History collection
© American Museum of Natural History
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Kokichi Mikimoto though sheer trial and error, discovered the way to manufacture round pearls in oysters. He built upon the method, discovered independently by himself and two others in Japan. Since these two obtained the patent for their discovery Mikimoto could not use their method, the Mise-Nishikawa technique. He simply went back to the drawing board.

Mikimoto realized their method produced Mabe pearls so he discerned the way to produce round pearls. His success enabled him to buy the rights to the earlier patent. The Japanese inventor was a master of Public Relations. Mikimoto displayed his different pearl creations every chance he had and they quickly became popular.

Title: Marilyn Monroe Necklace
Joe DiMaggio bought his bride, Marilyn Monroe, this classic cultured Akoya pearl necklace during their honeymoon in Japan in 1954.
Photo by Denis Finnin
On loan from Mikimoto (America) Co. Ltd.
© American Museum of Natural History
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Title: Carved Nautilus Cup
The softness of pearl shell allows intricate carving, as in the detailed scenes on this Nautilus pompilius shell in a silver mounting (France, 1830).
On loan from Musée Océanographique de Monaco, Fondation Albert 1er,
Prince de Monaco
© Musée Océanographique de Monaco, Fondation Albert 1er, Prince de Monaco
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Pearls were so expensive only a few could afford a natural pearl necklace. Mikimoto changed this and made pearls affordable to everyone.

Pearls: A Natural History features more than 500 objects. There is a replica of the largest pearl ever discovered at 14.5 pounds. Also jewelry and fashions that have been used by Queen Victoria, Marie Antoinette, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.

The exhibition is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in collaboration with The Field Museum of Chicago.

Ellen V Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History says “Over the ages and throughout numerous cultures, pearls have captured the imagination of kings, poets, movie stars, scientists and all admirers of the beauty and variety of the natural world."

Adds Neil H. Landman, Curator, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, and Curator-in-Charge of Pearls. “Pearls tells a fascinating story ... Unlike other gems, pearls are produced by living animals, and they are fully formed and complete when found. There are approximately 100,000 mollusk species alive today and at least as many extinct species, extending back over 500 million years."

Title: Methods of Pearl Harvesting
Engravings, from a 1637 book on the medicinal uses of pearls, show four methods of pearl harvesting used in various locations around the world: the Red Sea (top left), the West Indies (top right), the Persian Gulf (bottom left) and Scotland (bottom right). The depictions of pearl harvesting in the Red Sea and West Indies – seining for swimming pearl oysters and dip-netting fish that have eaten pearl oysters – are fanciful. The other two – diving and wading for pearls – are historically accurate.
Photo by Denis Finnin
American Museum of Natural History Rare Book Collection
© American Museum of Natural History
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

He continues, "In theory, every mollusk that produces a shell is capable of producing a pearl, but naturally occurring pearls are rare, found in perhaps one of every 10,000 animals. In this exhibition, my colleagues and I have sought to present a holistic story of pearls, incorporating and interweaving, from our own varied backgrounds, elements of pearl biology, gemology, anthropology, mineralogy, ecology, and decorative arts.”

Title: Russian Priest's Robe
This gem-encrusted robe was one of the inner layers worn by a Russian Orthodox priest in the 1600s. Some priest's robes contained as many as 150,000 natural pearls collected from the freshwater
Pearl Mussels of northern Russia.
Photo by Denis Finnin
Collection of Salvador J. Assael, New York
© American Museum of Natural History
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Title: Tarantula Brooch
A rare 27-millimeter oval pearl from the horse conch (Pleuroploca gigantean) is the abdomen of this Tarantula brooch. It has a thorax of Umba sapphires, a ruby eye, and yellow gold legs studded with white and brown diamonds.
Designed by Stefan Hemmerle
© Hemmerle Juweliere
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

Pearls: A Natural History received the Honor Award for Interpretive Design from the Society for Environmental Graphic Design.

The Exhibit consists of seven sections telling the history of these gems and of course resplendent with beautiful objects such as necklaces, brooches and decorative arts.

Naturally the Royal connection is not overlooked with the inclusion of a pearl and precious gem brooch, a third wedding anniversary gift from Prince Albert to his wife Queen Victoria.

Tom Andruskevich, Birks President and CEO, says, "To be associated with an exhibition of such historic, academic and cultural depth is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. As someone who has been intimately involved with the gem business for most of my career, I can say that Pearls: A Natural History, is without doubt the most comprehensive presentation ever mounted on a subject that is fascinating from every vantage point." Birks was founded in 1879 and is celebrating her 125th Anniversary.

Title: Black Tahitian Double Row Pearl Necklace
Double row necklace of 74 black Tahitian round cultured pearls. Clasp in 18kt yellow gold and platinum set with 205 round brilliant cut diamonds totaling 3.11cts and one full button black Tahitian cultured pearl. The clasp’s centerpiece may be removed and the two end-pieces attached.
Designed by Birks Design Studio.
Created by Birks in 1997
On loan from Henry Birks and Sons.
Image Courtesy: The Royal Ontario Museum

Title: Paterson Pearl
This snake-topped stickpin may contain the famous and mysteriously lost Paterson Pearl (also known as the “Queen Pearl”), a large freshwater pearl discovered in 1857 near Paterson, New Jersey, by a carpenter named Jacob Quackenbush. He sold the pearl to Tiffany & Company in New York for about $1,000. It was ultimately presented to Empress Eugenie of France (1826–1920), the wife of Napoleon III. According to legend, the Empress gave the Paterson Pearl to a Philadelphia dentist and friend, Thomas W. Evans, who helped her escape from Paris when the empire collapsed in 1870. The fate of this fabulous pearl was a mystery for decades, until recently when a stickpin, holding a pearl the same size and color as the Paterson Pearl, was uncovered in the Thomas
Evans Collection at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
Photo credit: Matt Flynn, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
©Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Design
Image Courtesy: The Royal Ontario Museum

Barbara Bush's famous 3 strand Kenneth Lane Necklace is in the exhibit along with a brief note in her own hand.

Queen Mary I of England, is featured in a portrait wearing a pearl, a gift from her fiancé Philip of Spain along with what is reputed to be the gem and its subsequent ownership history.

There is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, illustrating the use of pearls, in Tudor England decorating the monarch's garments.

Hollywood royalty is not overlooked with the pearl necklace gifted from Joe DiMaggio to his bride, Marilyn Monroe, during their Tokyo Honeymoon.

Queens of England and Hollywood are aptly reflected in this exhibition showcasing the prized "Queen of Gems." Pearls!

Title: Venezuela Cross
A gold cross made in Venezuela (prob. 1600s) contains natural pearls from the Atlantic Pearl Oyster (Pinctada imbricata), the species that was found on Christopher Columbus’s third voyage of discovery.
Photo by Rod Mickens
Collection of K.C. Bell, San Francisco
© American Museum of Natural History.
Image Courtesy: American Museum of Natural History and Royal Ontario Museum

November 28, 2004: La Peregrina Pearl. One Night Only! Elizabeth Taylor loans this famous pearl, her 1969 Valentine's Day gift from Richard Burton, for this special event. The pearl is part of a Cartier Ruby and Diamond necklace Ms. Taylor commissioned.

Left:
Title: Elizabeth Taylor
wearing La Peregrina
Photo Credit: Barry King /
Getty Images
Image Courtesy:
The Royal Ontario Museum