Pearl and Alexandrite

Pearl

Meaning: Purity, beauty, prosperity, chastity, loveliness

Name Origin: From Old French Perle, or Perla in Latin, but before that, translations are a bit cloudy. Some sources claim it was translated from “pear” or Vulgar Latin Pernula (literally ‘ham bone’ due to the freshwater tear-drop shape of locally-sourced pearls.)

History: Unlike other gemstones, the pearl is not made of minerals, but of organic matter; sand, and the saliva of mollusk shells. (Uh, eew?) But interestingly, pearls are associated with purity and beauty, and as some scholars have pointed out, they are the only gemstones to have been born (quite literally) out of pain:

If a mollusk (like a clam, or an oyster) gets an irritant in its mouth, (such as a piece of sand or a parasite), it coats the irritant over and over again with saliva called “nacre” to protect itself from infection. As time passes, these layers harden to form a pearl. As you might imagine, there are SO many religious metaphors that can be and have been made from this reality.

The oldest mention on record of the pearl comes from a Chinese historian in 2206 BC, and until Christopher Columbus’s travels, the only known pearl sources were found in the Persian Gulf, the waters of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Chinese rivers and lakes, and the rivers of Europe. But in 1492, (you know, that time when the famed voyage of Christopher Columbus changed course of the western world), he noticed that the natives of South America adorned themselves with a plethora of pearls, and not long after, Europeans eagerly “mined” the waters of present-day Venezuela and Panama. But within one hundred years, the supply was depleted. It wasn’t until the 1920s when the first successful ‘cultured’ (artificially created) pearl was successfully developed in Japan. Soon ‘pearl farms’ dotted the globe to meet the demand for pearls all over the world.

Sources: There are four different types of pearls: Akoya, South Sea, Tahitian and freshwater. Akoya pearls come from the saltwater oyster and are usually white or cream colors. South Sea pearls are rarer, but feature hues of gold, yellow, and champagne luster.

Akoya pearls are defined by their soft cream or white colors and their perfectly round shapes. They are what most of us imagine pearls looking like, (partly because their incredibly perfect spherical shape is mindboggling and is therefore what is most often depicted in art, film or literature).

But Tahitian pearls are the rarest of the four. Originating in the shell of the black-lipped oyster in Polynesia, Tahitian pearls defy pearl stereotypes and are actually a stunning black! Their variety ranges from a velvety grey to midnight black, occasionally displaying a rainbow-colored overlay on their surface.

Fun Facts:

· The Romans (like many other ancient cultures) reserved pearls for royalty (and often as tribute to their gods), and a citizen could be severely punished if he or she were seen wearing pearls without the proper permission.

· The oldest pearl necklace we currently know to be in existence was found in a 2,400-year-old tomb of a Persian Queen. It is called “the Susa necklace.” This necklace has three rows of 72 pearls and has been on display for over 100 years in the Louvre Museum.

stunning antique necklace laced with pearls

· “La Peregrina,” is arguably one of the world’s most famous oval-shaped pearls, measuring about the size of a small egg. As far as researchers can tell, its history spans at least 550 years, and it traded hands from royal families through the centuries, including the legendary Bloody (Queen) Mary and Napolean Bonaparte. (Not to be confused with the Mary Tudor pearl, however!) Later, actress Elizabeth Taylor received La Peregrina as a Valentine’s Day gift from Robert Burton, and she eventually had it set in a necklace surrounded by tiny diamonds and rubies. It recently sold for 11 million dollars.

· In the book of Revelation, the 12 gates to The City of God are each wrought from a single pearl. (My imagination goes wild envisioning the intricate luminescence each gate could display!)

· Many cultures who had access to Akoya pearls associated them with the moon, due to their spherical shape and silvery luster.

· In Renaissance Europe, pearls were always associated with purity, modesty, and loveliness. This association has been passed down through the ages through art, literature and poetry, and the connotations have lasted into current generations, (being especially famous at weddings!)

· The Chinese used to believe that the pearl could protect them from dragon-fire.

· Old legend claims that Cleopatra boasted to Marc Anthony that she could produce the most expensive meal ever provided at his banquet. It is said that after the wager was made, she took off one of her pearl earrings, dropped it in sour wine, and it dissolved… then she drank it.

Alexandrite

Meaning: Prosperity (mostly because it was a beloved gem of Russian royalty for generations), longevity, a means of encouraging healthy relationships, (especially romantic ones), and an enhancer of self-esteem when self-hatred knocks too long at the door.

Name Origin: This beautiful stone was named after Prince Alexander II, future Czar of Russia in honor of his 16th birthday.

History: *Note* Like the Emerald in last month’s post, both the pearl and the alexandrite hold status as two of the world’s seven precious gemstones, which, coincidentally, makes June the only month of the year to boast more than one precious gemstone! The other months can only claim one precious gem as their birthstone, or they represent birthstones that are considered a part of the semi-precious gemstone category.

The Alexandrite gemstone is one of the rarest gems in the world, making it one of the most expensive stones to buy. It carries the nickname, “Nature’s Magic Trick,” because it is one of the few gems that change color in the light! If held up to an incandescent light source, like a candle or a lamp, it will glow with a deep ruby tone, but if it is held up to the sunlight or fluorescent lights, it will glint a verdant emerald tone.

Alexandrite: same stone, two different light sources

The Alexandrite possesses the unusual history of being one of the more recently discovered gemstones, and yet the rarest of gemstones to find. First discovered in the emerald mines of the Ural Mountains in 1834, its Russian miners initially assumed it was another emerald. But as the story goes, when the miners lit their usual campfires at the end of a hard day’s work, the gemstone mysteriously glowed red. The miners were baffled, and when morning came, the sunlight showed it to be an emerald green, just as it was when it was discovered. Before long, the mysterious gem became a coveted possession!

Sources: Though first discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia, its supply was all-too-soon depleted, and very few Alexandrites now come from that region of the world. Today, though still a rare find, they are mostly mined from Africa, Brazil, and Sri Lanka.

Fun Facts:

· A single carat of Alexandrite can cost as much as $30,000 – $70,000. Now imagine this: the Smithsonian Museum is home to a 66 carat Alexandrite!

· In extremely rare cases, the Alexandrite can also exhibit ‘chatoyancy’ or ‘the cat's-eye’ effect. In these gems, a white line shines straight down the center of the gemstone and shifts with the light source as it is moved back and forth.

· It is the stone traditionally given at 55th wedding anniversaries. (Hmmm… if my husband and I live that long, one of us had better strike it rich to get one of these beautiful babies!)

· Another (alluring) name for the Alexandrite is “emerald by day, ruby by night.” Makes me think of covert identities and stories of romance and intrigue! Although my second thought was that it reminded me of a werewolf… you know, ‘human by day, werewolf by night’ hahaha.

· Alexandrite is one of the hardest minerals on the planet, (8.5 on the Mohs scale).

· Sometimes called, ‘the traveler’s stone,’ those who carried (or wore) an Alexandrite in their travels were said to be given a special ability to understand foreign languages and enhance their own intuition to quickly comprehend the ways of different cultures.

· (About me!) For the longest time, (I think I was five when I got it), I owned a trinket ring that featured a little, cushion-cut lavender-colored stone, and somehow I convinced myself that it was an Alexandrite and couldn’t bear to part with it because I thought I possessed my ACTUAL birthstone! (Yes, I’m a June-baby!) It wasn’t until later that I learned that the lovely little violet-lavender stone wasn’t even the color of a real Alexandrite at all. It was then that I knew I had to give up my fantasy. Still, I kept it in an old jewelry box and couldn’t bear to part with it until my early 20’s.