Pearls by Angela Carol

Black Pearls

Tahitian pearls are more commonly known as “black” pearls.  They are some of the most valued pearls in the world.  The Tahitian or black pearl can only be found in the black lipped oyster off the Polynesian islands and take their Tahitian name from the most popular island in the area.   The Tahitian black pearl is not even cultivated in Tahiti but found across the waters in the South Sea Islands.  This is in no way to be confused with the South Sea pearls that are found in the South Seas though.

The pearls that are known as black pearls are not really black at all but more of a collection of rainbow colors that give it its dark appearance.  They are usually colors of eggplant or dark green with iridescent colors around it. The rarity of this pearl comes from the fact that it can never be massed produced as other pearls can be.  One of the reasons that the Tahitian black pearl is rare is because of the difficulty in growing them.  The oyster that produces them has a tendency to reject the foreign object that is used to stimulate the pearls growth making the black pearl hard to cultivate.  The rarity of finding a natural black pearl is extremely high.

When the discovery of the Pacific Islands occurred in the late 1700’s, there was a massive rush of people invading the waters of the islands looking for all of the riches that had been reported there.  Traders and explorers soon depleted the waters of their riches, things like mother of pearl, turtle shell and sandalwood.  Pearls were of course also taken away in droves.  There were two islands that suffered the most and they were Gambier and Tuamotu.  They waters were depleted nearly to the point of their extinction when the French took control of the islands.  When that happened they made sure that there were regulations made and more importantly followed to help protect the waters and its riches.  These regulations gave the waters time to repopulate the oyster beds.

During the 20th century with the cultivation of pearls the black pearl was once again allowed to flourish.  Tahitian pearls take anywhere from two to three years to grow and can only grow in warm waters.  Compared to other types of pearl farms, the Tahitian pearl farms are much smaller.  That is because the amount of the black lipped oyster is smaller than other pearl growing oysters that are cultivated.  A black pearl producing oyster can be cultivated up to four times before it dies.  There is always great care when removing any pearls from these oysters so as not to damage them so the oyster stays healthy and may produce again.

As said before the colors of the Tahitian pearl are not really black at all. The beautiful colors of this rare pearl range from eggplant and greens, to the highly valued peacock coloring and also cobalt blues, with a range of greens in between.  The Tahitian pearl is found in the same shapes as other pearls, round, semi round, drop, button, ringed, and baroque. Finding a black pearl is a wonder and investing in these amazing pearls can be an investment that is well made.

There are legends about black pearls from different cultures in history.  Egyptian people valued their pearls immensely and were buried with them.  In Rome pearls were a status of wealth.  During the Dark Ages brave warriors would wear or take pearls into battle with them with the belief that the pearl would protect them in battle. However you look at it the pearl has been around for many years and it is still highly valued.