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MOTHER OF PEARL

While Queen Elizabeth I gave Mother of Pearl its name in the 15th century, the beauty of Mother of Pearl was used in the decoration of jewellery and ornaments 3,000 years before the birth of Christ. Also known as nacre (from the Arabic word for shell “naqqarah”), the name reflects the fact that these shells are the “mother” from which Pearls are created.

Mother of Pearl is the smooth lining of iridescent lustre found in some mollusc shells such as oyster, abalone, mussel and paua shells.

Legends and lore

In the 1920’s, a series of tombs were excavated to the east of Babylon in the Middle East. The tombs were of Sumerian royalty from ancient Mesopotamia and yielded a treasure of gold, silver and gemstones, and several beautiful wooden ornaments and musical instruments inlaid with Mother of Pearl (a testament to the wealth and sophistication of this ancient culture). The silver lyre of Ur, found in one of the graves in the royal cemetery, dates to between 2600 and 2400 BC. The lyre was entirely covered in sheet silver and inlaid with Mother of Pearl.

In Asia, centuries before the birth of Christ, the Chinese learned that beads or tiny figures of deities slipped between the soft mantle and the shell of a living mollusc soon became coated with Mother of Pearl. These beads and carvings were then taken to temples and offered to the gods in the hope that they would bestow good luck.

The Yaqui Indians of Mexico, immortalised in the shamanic tales of Carlos Castaneda, wear a necklace called the “hopo’orosim”. The necklace is made of Mother of Pearl and is believed to provide the wearer with protection from evil.

By the 15th century Europe’s growing demand for Mother of Pearl for use in gold and silver rings, necklaces and brooches had all but depleted the supplies of Mother of Pearl in the Persian Gulf.

In 1568 the Solomon Islands, known as “the Pearl of the Pacific”, were discovered by the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendana. On discovering the island’s rich bounty of gold and Mother of Pearl, he gave the archipelago its current name, believing that he had found the mythical source of King Solomon’s mines.

In Polynesian lore, the iridescence of Mother of Pearl is attributed to the spirits of coral and sand, Okana and Uaro, who as legend has it, adorned Tahitian oysters in glistening cloaks covered in all the colours of the fish of the sea.

Just the facts

High quality Mother of Pearl is produced by the members of mollusc family called bivalves (two part shells).

Mother of Pearl’s nacre forms when an organic particle becomes trapped within the mollusc or if the mollusc is injured in some way.

Sensing the object or damage, the living organism within the mollusc secretes calcium carbonate, a derivative mineral of Aragonite, and the binding protein conchiolin. The layers of calcium carbonate settle and are interspersed by the conchiolin, which acts as a kind of organic glue binding the crystals together.

Mother of Pearl is created by a living organism and thus environmental factors play a crucial role in its formation. As Mother of Pearl producing molluscs cannot regulate their body temperature, they are susceptible to changes in external conditions. Mother of Pearl appears in a wide variety of colours and derives its colour from its genetic make-up and the water in which it grows.