Pearls: 10 Fun Facts

Ben Johnson of Seabourn Pearls

Apropos of nothing, here are ten interesting, odd or unusual facts about pearls you probably didn’t know.  Here goes:

1.  The largest pearl producing oyster is the Pinctada Maxima.  This hub cap sized mollusk grows to 12″ in diameter and more than 12 pounds.

2. The largest natural pearl ever discovered was found in Patterson, New Jersey.  Patterson freakin’ New Jersey!

3. Up until just a few years ago the American Pearl Company of Tennessee supplied nearly 100% of the shell beads used to nucleate pearl producing oysters the world over.

4. Kokichi Mikimoto believed pearls had special health benefits and healing powers.  He ate two small Akoya pearls every morning and lived to be 94.  He also ate 5-8 bowls of rice daily.

5. The famous La Peregrina pearl was smuggled out of Spain to Napoleon and later purchased at auction by Richard Burton who gave it to Elizabeth Taylor as an anniversary present.

6. My wife feels like she can conquer the world when wearing a big, fat strand of Tahitians.  “Like driving an Aston Martin, they just feel so damn good.”

7. A genuine cultured pearl necklace has the unusual distinction of being worn by both female heads of state and porn stars during important performances.  Keep it clean people.  I’m talking about jewelry.

8. Pearls are the birthstone for the month of June and the 30th wedding anniversary is the pearl anniversary.

9. Not only is Margarita a sensational cocktail but the name Margarita means pearl.

10. Small changes in water temperature are what cause male oysters to release their sperm and female oysters to release their eggs into the water column.

To learn more about pearls please explore our Web site and blog archives.  We encourage you to Like us on Facebook and to Follow us on Twitter for special offers, contests and giveaways.  Feel free to call us anytime if we can answer any questions about pearls or otherwise be of service.  We’d love to speak with you.

Tags: Pearls

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 at 1:21 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.