Pearls are the only gemstones grown inside of a living organism. Natural pearls are formed when a small foreign object, such as a parasite, grain of sand, or piece of food lodges itself in the mantle tissue of a mollusk. When the mollusk is invaded by a foreign object that it cannot eject, it responds by defensively entombing the offending entity in successive, concentric layers of nacre. Nacre is a combination of crystalline and organic substances that form the iridescent mother-of-pearl lining of mollusk shells.

Well formed, symmetrical natural pearls that are large in size are extremely rare. For pearls to form in nature it may take many years of near-perfect conditions for them to make a significant gain in size.  Before the beginning of the 20th Century, pearl hunting/pearl diving was the most common way of harvesting pearls.

Divers would manually pull oysters from the ocean floor and river bottoms and checked them individually for pearls; unfortunately, not all natural oysters produce pearls. It would take nearly one ton of oysters to produce only three or four perfect round pearls, making them highly scarce, and valuable.  Because of their scarcity, natural pearls are almost always used in single-pearl jewelry pieces. The most common natural pearls are Penn, Abalone, Conch, and Oyster.

It is commonly assumed that only one out of ten-thousand mollusks naturally produce gem quality pearls. Thankfully, the process to culture pearls was developed – otherwise ownership of pearls would still be relegated to the wealthiest and pearl producing mollusks would be on the brink of extinction due to over-harvest.

The principle difference between Natural and Cultured Pearls is the thickness of the nacre, and human intervention. It can take two to five years for a quality natural pearl to fully develop in the oyster.  Quality in the culturing process is key: lower quality cultured pearls are created by inserting a large nucleus to hasten the process – resulting in a pearl with a very thin layer of nacre that will not have a great deal of luster, and will not be very durable.
TAHITIAN PEARLS: Tahitian pearls are produced in the black-lipped oyster ‘Pinctada margaritifera’, in and around Tahiti and the French Polynesian islands. This oyster itself is quite large – sometimes over 12 inches across and weighing as much as 10 pounds – which often results in much larger-than-average pearls. Not only are the pearls beautiful, but the black-lipped oyster’s mother-of-pearl inner shell is also extremely attractive. By the early part of the 20th century, before conservation and repopulation efforts began, the Tahitian pearl oyster had almost been hunted to extinction for its shell alone.

SOUTH SEA PEARLS:  The waters of the South Seas, that lay between the northern coast of Australia and the southern coast of China, are the native habitat of a large oyster known as Pinctada maxima.  There are two varieties of Pinctada maxima, the silver-lipped and the gold-lipped. The two are distinguished by their distinct coloration of the outer edge of the interior. This type of shell is also known as mother-of-pearl, and is responsible for the coloration of the cultured pearls produced, therefore the name. The nacre of a South Sea pearl is unusually thick, ranging from 2 – 6 mm, compared to the 0.35 – 0.7 mm of an akoya pearl resulting in a unique, satiny. South Sea pearls also have a subtle array of colors; typically white, silver, and golden, that are rare in other pearl types.

AKOYA:   In the early 1900s, Kokichi Mikimoto of the Mikimoto pearl company was the first to successfully and consistently grow round pearls in the akoya pearl oyster utilizing a technique discovered by William Saville-Kent in Australia. The akoya pearls have been synonymous with classic beauty and elegance. They are the roundest of all pearl varieties, and are known for their sharp luster and pink overtones – they are the classic, elegant pearl that springs to most of our minds when we think of a strand of pearls.

Stop in today to custom design a Father’s Day gift for your Pop – June 20th will be here before you know it!

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The Mogul Emerald; 271.80 carats

May’s birthstone is the vibrant Emerald, and it is an appropriate gem for this last month of spring.   Its green color symbolizes life & recalls the colors of spring.  Spring comes and goes each year, symbolizing rebirth and renewal.  The intense color inspires harmony and illustrates love of nature.  It is fresh & vivid – never monotonous.

The Vedas (the holy scriptures of the Indians) claim that emeralds are endowed with the promise of good luck and the power to enhance well-being – making them one of the Maharajahs’ favorite gems.

Emerald in the Rough

Emeralds are actually reasonably hard (7.5 – 8 on the MOHS scale), but hardness only relates to scratchability.   Emerald’s reputation for being soft is actually due to its brittleness and its many fissures – which make cutting, setting, & cleaning rather difficult.  The ‘Emerald Cut’ was developed to reduce the amount of pressure during cutting, as emeralds are sensitive to pressure due to their internal inclusions.

The Chalk Emerald Ring; 37.82 carats

Emeralds belong, like the light blue aquamarine, the tender pink morganite, the golden heliodor and the pale green beryl, to the large gemstone family of the beryls.  Generally, the trace elements responsible for emerald’s color (vanadium & chromium) are concentrated in separate parts of the Earth’s crust from beryllium.  Fortunately, intense tectonic processes allowed these contrasting elements to find each other and make this vibrant green gemstone.  Due to emerald’s turbulent genesis, undisturbed large, flawless crystals are rare and more valuable than diamonds.  Slight inclusions do not diminish value and the character they add actually make it more apparent that the stone is genuine.  The fissures and inclusions found in emeralds are referred to as ‘jardin’ which is French for garden – as that is what they resemble – a tiny, private garden paradise.

The Crown of Cortez; 306 carats

Early gemstone merchants sought to purify the transparency of their emeralds by immersing them in clear oils or paraffin. They found that clear oils and waxes rendered surface fissures less visible to the eye. This method of enhancing emeralds continues today – which is why emeralds should never be cleaned in the ultrasonic!  The chemicals in cleansers can strip away the oils and leave a dull appearance.  Emeralds are also heat sensitive, and repairs to jewelry containing emeralds must be handled carefully by a professional who will either ‘heat sink’ the emerald (protect it by immersing it in water) or use a laser welder that can apply heat with pin-point precision.

Stop in today to see some unique examples of this beautiful gem!

We had a great turnout and there were only two sets of tickets that were unclaimed when we closed up shop on Friday evening – so we had the pleasure of pulling two couples out of line and presenting them with the tickets.  We just had to give the boy with the Ironman shirt tickets!  He and his girlfriend thought we were playing a trick on them at first – they were ecstatic when they realized we were seriously *giving* them two tickets just for fun.

Mark will be blogging about palladium – a metal from the platinum family, that we make rings out of and will not kill you! The science of Ironman is pure fiction.  It was a great movie; we all really enjoyed it!

Click to watch video on WINK

Mark Loren, Norman Love, and Lindsay with WINK News had an life-changing day traveling all around Southwest Florida in the armored car, presenting the winners of the Storybook Mother’s Day Contest with their gifts!  Mark & Norman surprised the winners and their families by personally delivering their well-deserved prizes.    There were over two hundred heartwarming entries, and it was apparent that many women in our community are deserving of praise for their outstanding commitment to their families.  Mark Loren & his staff were thrilled to help the families of these four special ladies to honor them this Mother’s Day.

Congratulations  again to:  Donna Yzaguirre of Immokalee, Laura Bowling of Naples, and Rosa Tortosa of Cape Coral, and Rosie Young of Fort Myers.

Tell us how outstanding your mother is, and she could win a personal visit from Norman Love (of Norman Love Confections) & Mark Loren (of Mark Loren Designs) with prizes of fine jewelry and gourmet chocolates. She will also be recognized on WINK News this Mother’s Day!

Visit http://www.GreatMothersDay.com/ to enter, the deadline is Midnight, May 1st!

This year we had the honor of redesigning the lapel pin that the award winning teachers receive, and providing the trophies as well.

Mark Loren, Cameron Pelle (Gallery Manager), and Sara Edgington (Designer) attended the emotionally moving event.  Supporting teachers and recognizing their hard work ties in with or mission to support kids and kids’ charities.  It is our teachers who are on the front lines trying daily to make a difference in the lives of the children they encounter.  It was a beautiful evening and the teachers were amazing!

Congratulations to the Golden Apple Winners, and to the Finalists!

You are all incredible!

Mark Loren Designs donated for auction a luxurious custom jewelry piece. The one-of-a-kind diamond and colored stone necklace features a 15.80 ct Brazilian Amethyst atop a Bronze Viking ornament dated 900 A.D., and  accented by diamonds and a black pearl. The centerpiece hangs from 95 ct of rough diamond crystal beads.

The bidding was exciting!

Congratulations to the winning bidder: Friedrich Jaeger, publisher of Times of the Islands.