The ancient Greeks also thought that pearls should be a part of the wedding experience, believing that they would help ensure marital bliss and prevent newlywed brides from crying; pearls were considered “the wedding gem”.  During the period of the Crusades, we find that pearls were the gift of many a gallant knight returning from the Middle East, bestowed upon his “Fair Lady” for her wedding day.  By the 14th and 15th centuries, pearls and love were inseparable, and some believed that they would bring love; pearls were at the height of “wedding fashion” with royal weddings in the House of Burgundy taking place in a veritable “sea of pearls.”  Distort all accounts document that virtually everyone from the bride herself to her male guests were adorned in glistening pearls.

From Queen Elizabeth I to our modern Queen Elizabeth II, the tradition has continued through the centuries.  At the beginning of the 20th century, pearls were as much a nuptial gem in the in the United States as diamonds are today; pearls accounted for over 75% of jewelry sales in the US at the turn of the century.  Today, the tradition of bestowing pearls upon the bride for a wedding day, often by the father of the bride, or by the groom himself, continues as it has for hundreds of years.  And what better symbol for the bridal couple: the Pearl, like love, takes time to grow, and it must survive unforeseen difficulties and challenges if it is to become something rare and beautiful.

black pearls

By the sixth century, the allure of the Pearl is undiminished.  According to Islamic mystics, Pearl was the first creation of God, and for Muslims the Pearl is a special gift to the world from God.  For this reason, Muslims hold a natural black pearls in very high regard and often avoid cultured pearls altogether.

We find the great prophet Mohammed commenting on the pearls beauty and value in the wonderful imagery to used in the Koran, the sacred book of Islam.  For Mohamed’s followers, it would not have been possible to imagine greater rewards than those he describes to followers of Islam when describing Paradise: “the stones are pearls jacinths; the fruits of the trees are pearls and emeralds; and each person admitted to the delights of the celestial Kingdom is provided with a tent of black pearls, jacinths, and emeralds; is crowned with pearls of incomparable luster, and is attended by beautiful maidens resembling hidden pearls.”  Today, Muslims around the world continue to value black pearls highly, and find pearls ranked among their most cherished possessions.

We also find in the Jewish literature the wonderful rabbinic next story of Abraham and his wife Sarah entering the land of Egypt.  Sheer Abraham, when confronted by customs collectors, is willing to part with all of his valuable possessions — even pearls — to protect Sarah, whose love he places at an even higher value.  The value of pearls, we see in this story, is second only to love, the most valuable of all things.

By the beginning of the first century, we begin to see references to pearls in Christian writings.  Starting in the New Testament, with a book of Matthew, the kingdom of heaven is likened by Jesus to a single Pearl of great value — “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking a goodly pearls; grew, when he had found one Pearl of great price, wind and sold all he had, and bought at.”  Later in Matthew we are told, “give not that which is wholly unto the dogs, neither cast he your pearls before swine.”  The 12 gates of heaven — the “Pearly Gates” — we read about in Revelations: “and twelve gates were 12 pearls; every several gate was one Pearl; and the street of this city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”

black pearls

We don’t know exactly when or where the Pearl was discovered, but it is likely that it was long before recorded history, probably by someone searching for food, possibly a member of an ancient fish eating people.  Whatever the case there is little doubt that the Pearl was highly valued from the very first, for a beauty as unique as its origin.

Unlike diamonds and most colored gemstones, its beauty is there for all to behold from the very first moment.  It needs no enhancement: it needs no cutting or polishing.  A fine Pearl has a depth and lustrousness that seems to actually glow from within.  Imagine how it must had seemed to an ancient people when one of their clan, perhaps while he or shucking and mussel, discovered a shimmering, round, glowing Pearl!  In an age when people were shipped the forces and elements of other things, imagine not only does surprise, but the awe and mystery that must have surrounded the moment.  Imagine what must have gone through their minds when they beheld this natural beauty, coming as a gift from a living creature, radiating a lustrousness that must have seemed nothing less than a living spirit.

It is not difficult to believe that the Black Pearl was truly the first gem — something beautiful, rare, and highly prized.  To ancient peoples you believed that inanimate objects possessed special powers that could be transmitted to the owner or wearer, a Black Pearls — coming from a living sea creature and exhibiting an inner glow suggestive of life itself — must surely have seemed a treasure more powerful and more valuable than all else!

The illustrious history of the Pearl is unparalleled.  Today’s Brookstone for June, the Black Pearl has a history more ancient, more fascinating, more spiritual, and more regal than any other gem.  The portrait collections of the world’s great museums most vividly illustrate the unrivaled reverence and prestige reserved for the Black Pearl.  Here, as one’s pearls through the generations, we can see that in every age, history’s most illustrious men and women chose to be adorned in pearls for the images they wished to leave to prosperity.  What good more dramatically high light the allure of the Pearl then seeing that from among all of their riches, the Black Pearl was the gem of choice.

The world’s greatest literature has extolled the value and virtue of the Black Pearl.  We find it in most ancient of Chinese books; in the ancient sacred books of the Hindus; a Bible; the Talmud; the Koran; Dante; Shakespeare; in the writings of the greatest Roman historian, Pliny, from whom we have learned so much about the gems of the world and the police surrounding them up to that time.

Tahitian black pearls

Not withstanding these losses, most New World Black pearls arrived safely in Spain to be placed in the royal treasury or in the hands of private dealers. Seville became the center of Pearl market, a position in Venice had claimed in previous centuries.  One sailor wrote that girls from the West in East were so abundant in Seville “that they were sold in a heat in that India House…  Just as if there were some kind of seed.”

Saville even surpassed Lisbon, which, through the opening of new trade routes around the Cape of Good Hope, controlled the main Black Pearl sources in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mannar.  Jewelers, Pearl drillers, merchants, and investors thronged the streets of Seville.  Through them, New World pearls were shipped everywhere in Europe and even to Asia.

This was the dawn of the European age of pearls pearls became an obsession among the elite, the height of fashion, and symbols of wealth and power.  Without serious competition from other gems — sophisticated faceting techniques for precious stones were not developed until the mid-17th century — Black pearls were unique and unrivaled.  Pearl producing areas from the New World, Persia, and India all had legends of entrepreneurs or divers who became enormously wealthy from finding a single Pearl.  This gold rush mentality extended to consumers.  In 16th-century Europe, and rich to buy the loot of the age of discovery, conspicuous consumption rose to unprecedented heights.

Portraits of European royalty at this time display a wealth of pearls in dress and jewelry.  The portrait of Isabel de Valois, third wife of Philip of Spain, by a Lonzo Sanchez, shows her wearing large round pearls and rubies in her headdress, necklace, and else, and a long her bodice and shoulders.  Black Pearls are also stitched to her caller and the top of her dress.  In a portrait in Florence Catherine the queen of France in the mid-16th century, is shown with the round white pearls embroidered on her dress in addition to a Pearl headdress, necklace, and earrings.  In numerous portraits of queen Elizabeth of England, and the men and women of her court, the site of pearls is overwhelming.  Although some of these were probably European freshwater pearls or Marine pearls from the Persian Gulf, others were undoubtably American Black pearls, seized in the Caribbean by loyal English pirates and delivered to their revered queen.

Some of the most famous American pearls acquired their own names and histories. La Peregrina, a large pear shaped white Pearl, was collected in Panamá and acquired an astonishing history of ownership.  The Charles II Pearl was found in 1691 and was said to closely match La Peregrina in size and beauty.  Another Panamanian Pearl called La Huerfana or The Orphan — so named because it was found a loose in the shell beds and not in a Pearl oyster — also became part of the Spanish royal jewels.  Noted for its large size, beautiful luster, and perfect shape, La Huerfana was briefly owned by Isabel de Bobadilla, daughter of the man who sent Columbus back to Spain and irons.

“Many Indians working in groups… leave the island of Cubagua… and go out in a dugout or boat early in the day to where they think they will find a large quantity of pearls.  There are they anchored the bow, in which one Indian remains, and he keeps the boat as still as he can.  The others and dived to the bottom.  After some time an Indian will return to the surface and deposit in the boat of oysters in which the pearls are found.  He rests a while, takes a bite to eat, and once more he enters the water to stay as long as he can, finally returning with more oysters.  Meanwhile the other Indians, all good swimmers, are doing likewise.  When night falls and they think it is time to rest a return home to the island and turn over the oysters to their masters majordomo.  Period. When he has many, he has them opened… sometimes when this sea is rougher than the Pearl Fisher would like, and also because naturally when a man is working underwater at a great depth, a diverse feat want to rise, it is only with difficulty that the worker can remain on the bottom any length of time.  Under such conditions the Indians used to large stones tied together with a quart, which they place over their shoulders, one on each side, and enter the water… and since the stones are heavy, the Indian can remain on the bottom.  When he wants to rise to the surface he merely dropped the stones.”

Working conditions were age dreamily harsh and mortality rates among divers were very high.  Diving bosses, known as Ranchero’s or patrons, employed teams of four to seven divers per new under the supervision of a majordomo.  They dived to depths of 8 fathoms (48 feet or 14.6 m).  A diver did not last long on a Pearl Coast, especially in the early years.  In 1515, Bartolomeo of Spain, after witnessing the injustices perpetrated against the natives, began a campaign for more than human treatment of the Indians in the gold mines and black pearl fisheries.

His efforts bore fruit in 1516 when Spanish crown, now in the hands of a new cane, Carlos, issued regulations governing pearling operations.  They restricted maximum hours of diving for black pearls per day, the maximum depth, and recommended minimum requirements for food and lodging.  These regulations were eight more often enough that further royal edicts were necessary.  One such edict imposed the death penalty on anyone forcing a free Indian to become a Pearl diver.

“Because report has been made to us that, owing to the pearl fisheries not having been conducted in a proper manner, deaths of many Indians and Negroes had ensued, we command that no free Indian be taken to that said fishery under pain of death, and that the bishop and the judge who shall be at Venezuela direct what shall seem to them most fit for the preservation of the slaves working in that said fishery, both Indians and Negroes and fat the deaths may cease.  If, however, it should appear to them that the risks of death cannot be avoided by the said Indians and Negroes, let the fishing of the said Earls cease, since we value much more highly (as is right) the preservation of their lives and the gain which may come to us from the black pearls.”

The Venezuelan pearls collected in the first half of the 16th century virtually flooded Renaissance Europe. By contemporary accounts, they were mostly small with a maximum weight of five carats, and came in a variety of colors in addition to pure white.  America became known as the land of Earls and pearls from cubagua were as well-known as culture pearls today.  One recent account estimated that “in all probability more black pearls were put into circulation between about 1515 and 1545, chiefly from the cubagua region, then over any comparable period of time either before or since.

The actual number of monetary value of the pearls exported from the Pearl post are difficult to estimate.  Numbers fluctuated from year to year as Pearl oyster beds became exhausted and new ones were found.  From 1513 to 1540, the Spanish crown’s share of pearls (20%, a royal fifth) at cubagua alone amounted to 2375 kg grams.  If this can be considered accurate, the total harvest would have been about 11,877 kg.  However, given the varieties of collecting and inaccuracies of reporting, this probably represents a serious underestimate.  If on average Venezuelan pearl weighed two grains, this weight would have represented over 118 million black pearls.  In terms of today’s market, this number of pearls would be worth several hundred million dollars.

At about the same time, with Columbus embroiled in politics, this former sailor Alonzo de Hojeda somehow obtained a Columbus’s map of the South American mainland and planned a return trip.  He was accompanied by the then known Italian Amerigo Vespucci, who represented Medici interests and whose the account of the voyage would later earn him the name of a continent. Hojeda returns to the Pearl Coast and landed on isla Margarita exploring Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao before moving on to Bahamas. He obtained about 150 pearls and 119 macros, approximately 27 k grams or 60 pounds, of pearls through barter and prepared to scale for Spain.  Ominously, Hojeda decided to ensure the success of his voyage by raiding the islands for slaves. Vespucci claimed that Hojeda stopped in to Bahamas lucayans before returning to Spain in the spring of 1500.  While this total profit from the pearls and lucuayan slaves was not great — only 502 ducats (approximately 2000 g of gold) — he was the first to link to these commodities.  This set a precedent that would be eagerly followed by many of his countrymen during the next decade.

The ensuing quest for black pearls expanded to cover the Pacific Coast of central America. Nunez Balboa of Spain explored Panamá in 1513, and upon reaching the Pacific Coast, encountered natives wearing pearls.  When asked about the source of these riches the chief responded that the best pearls came from Tararequi in the Gulf of Panamá, later called isla Perlas as word of Balboa’s discovery spread, other Spaniards headed for the Gulf of Panamá and returned with sac fold of pearls.  Like the black pearls from Venezuela, most Panamanian pearls were destined for Spain.

Together these explorations succeeded in exhausting but supply of American pearls that were in need of hands and available through trade.  As a result, the Pearl trade on the Pearl Coast seems to have slowed for a few years.  The next phase was the organization of Pearl harvesting ventures.  The earliest mention of Black Pearl under Spanish direction is found in a letter of 1509 from the keen to Nicholas Albano, governor of the newly established colony Hispaniola.  The letter discussed diving for pearls and the foundation of a small settlement established for that purpose on isla cubagua.  Most of the divers were probably lucuayan slaves brought from the Bahamas.  Because lucayans were accustomed to diving in search of conchs, their staple food, they fetched a high price from slave traders.  Demand for lucuayan Pearl divers was so high that by 1520, there were no lucayans left in the Bahamas.

In addition to its value as a gem of incomparable beauty and allure, for many centuries leading physicians believed pearls contains special curative abilities, especially for the eyes, diseases of the blood, and melancholy or depression.  Pearls were believed to possess the power to enable one to see into the future, and to interpret dreams.  By the 13th century they were believed to be effective for car obligations and diseases caused by depression.  Simply by swallowing a concoction containing a Pearl, one could cure eight variety of conditions.  Orders were also made of pearls, and applied it to the eyes because, according to one educated Castilian of that day, “they clear the site wonderfully, strengthened the nerves and dry a moisture which enters the eyes.”  One particular recipe from this.  Sounds tasty indeed, and was reported “most excellent for restoring for strength and almost for resuscitating could get” by its creator, a leading physician of that day:

Place pearls in a strong vinegar, lemon juice, spirits of vitriol, or sulfur, until they become good to bottom.  Note, care should be taken to cover the glass carefully lest the essence should escape.  Add more lemon juice, T. can’t the milky liquid that results, and add sugar to sweeten.  To each 4 ounces of this Pearl liquid, ad an ounce of Rosewater, an ounce of tincture of strawberries, and 2 ounces of cinnamon water.  Shake well and proceed to drink from 1 to one half ounces.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, drops of Pearl power makes in distilled water or given to cure in sanity and other elements in 1492, when Lorenzo, a famous ruler of Florence, Italy, was dying of the fever, he was given a similar concoction.  Reportedly, when asked by a friend to describe how it tasted, he replied, “as pleasant as anything can to a dying man.”  Apparently it did nothing to cure his fever; he died.

Perhaps we should not scoff, however.  Not many years ago the man who brought us the “culture Pearl” of the 20th century, when asked about his excellent health at the age of 94, commented, “I owe my fine health and long life to to pearls I have swallowed every morning of my life since I was 20.”

In Bahrain, whereby Law all pearls brought into the country must be natural, some cultured black pearls have been permitted by customs to enter the country — but strictly for use in medicinal preparations to treat cystitis, impotency, and eye problems!  And in China, for example, pulverized pearls are used in cosmetic creams purported to keep skin young looking.

The Romans used to works for Pearl.  If large and perfect the word unio was used, meaning unique.  Romans also used the word margaritae, indicating something cherished or of unusual value.  The name “Margret” in all forms, means Pearl.  Since Roman times it has come to be associated with the pearllike qualities of purity, spirituality, virtue, and chastity.

black pearls
Pearl, perle, Paarl, Perla

The word Pearl is similar in many languages.  This word, universally recognized today, probably came from the Roman word pirula meaning “tear shaped,” as were many of the natural pearls known to the Romans. The word pirula, spread throughout Europe with the spread of the Roman empire, and, as it was used to describe the shape of many natural freshwater pearls, probably came to replace the word unio to describe this natural beauty.