Pearls are one of the oldest known gems and are surrounded by legends that reach back into the mists of time. Significantly, in all the legends, pearls are the most fortuitous of jewels, bestowing love, happiness and good fortune on their possessors.

In ancient Greece, the word pearl implied 'perfect unity', while in Rome the same word suggested sweetness and pleasure. Unfortunately, however, the warm, flattering lustre of pearls was so sought-after towards the end of the nineteenth century that oyster beds were close to being harvested to extinction.

Alert to the danger, Kokichi Mikimoto set up a pearl farm on Japan's Shima peninsular, with a view to both protecting and developing natural oyster beds. After a number of years of trial and error, Mikimoto discovered a method of implanting the oyster with an irritant in such a way that it would retain the nucleus and surround it with mother-of-pearl. Mikimoto died in 1954 but his legacy is a thriving market in cultured pearls, initially in Japan, but increasingly in China. As a result, 98% of all pearls sold today are cultured.

This type of cultured pearl is generally round, though occasionally nature can create pearls in irregular shapes. Much depends on where the irritant is impanted. If, for example, it is placed on the edge of the oyster's mantle, or flesh, near to the shell, half a pearl will be produced which is flat on one side. These are ideal for use as earrings. Irregularly shaped pearls are often made into brooches, pendants or other attractive accessories, including necklaces, while round pearls are matched to be made up tinto graduated or uniform necklaces, ropes, chokers, rings, bracelets, brooches and earrings.

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