By 1900, the isolated town of Broome, Australia supplied 75 percent of the world's Mother of Pearl, with a population of more than 3,000 Asian pearlers and a fleet of 400 pearling luggers. By the 1950s demand for Mother of Pearl plummeted with the invention of plastics and the development of plastic buttons. To survive, pearlers developed a viable industry based on the culturing of South Sea Pearls using the large Mother of Pearl shells. Nicholas Paspaley was one of those visionaries, and today his namesake Pearling Company is the largest in Australia — and his children Nicholas and Marilynne carry on the business.

• The pearls from Paspaley's farms range in size up to 20mm (the top size is very rare), with pink, white, silver and gold hues.
  
• Paspaley Pearls are cultivated in the large Australian, silver-lipped Mother of Pearl shells, which are harvested from the wild in waters 60 to 120 feet deep.
  
• The cultured pearls are untreated, so their color and luster never change.
  
• Major pearl and gem dealers purchase loose pearls directly from Paspaley to service world-wide distribution networks.
  
• Paspaley Pearling Company also sells pearl-set jewelry through its retail outlets in Australia located in Sydney, Darwin and Broome.
  
• Nacre is a combination of mineral and protein that protects the oyster from irritants.
  
• In Greek astrology, wearing a pearl is said to impart the lunar gifts of second sight and power over the opposite sex.
  
• Luster is a mark of a pearl's quality. Cracks and peeling are signs of thin nacre.
  
• The word "keshi" means poppy seed in Japanese.
  
• Price range, pearls:
  • AAA-grade classic 13-15mm pearls strands
    $6,000-$25,000

  • AAA-grade circle strands 8-10mm
    $2,000 and up

  • Multi-strands Keshi pearl necklaces
    $1,000 and up

Paspaley Pearls
Broom, Australia
Phone: 011 61 8 8982 5555
www.paspaleypearls.com

Black Pearl Gallery, Maui
Pamela Schrack
3750 Wailea Ala Nui Drive
Wailea, HI 96753
808-875-1977

Gems and Jewels by Benjamin Zucker

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