[Tidbits] The queen of gems

It was told that one day in the distant future after WW III decimated
the planet as well as all of mankind a male monkey looked at a female
monkey and said: So? You want to start this thing all over again? In
a bit of a different spirit… I say to you… So? You want to start
this thing all over again?

That said…

THE QUEEN OF GEMS

For centuries she has defied all efforts to relegate her importance
below the level of her spouse: The Diamond.

Most gems are of mineral composition. Ah… but The Queen of Gems…
she is of organic origin. She is a miracle of nature. She is the
result of a foreign invasion into the being of a living entity. She
is the result of protectionism in it most lustrous form. She is the
Pearl.

A grain of sand… a small organism even… enters into the shell of
a mollusk which protects itself by secreting layer upon layer of
aragonite… a crystalline form of calcium carbonate over the
irritant. Countless stratum form… exceedingly thin and
translucent… through which light passes and is reflected by each
aragonite layer… creating a play of light and the beautiful luster
and iridescence of the pearl as we know it.

Cultured pearls however did not appear till around 1921 when a
Japanese team led by Dr. Mikimoto–after years of experimental
work–developed the technique. The culling of natural pearls has not
changed much over the past 2000 years as recorded by such figures as
Marco Polo and Jean-Babtiste Tavernier.

Then there’s unit of weight measurement for pearls: The Momme. This
is not to be confused with The Mommy which may be considered to be a
pearl of a person but not the measurement of a pearl. The Momme is a
unit of measurement that dates back to the Japanese for centuries. One
Momme --for those who want to know these things–is equal to 1/1000
kan and one kan is equal to 8.28 pounds or 3.75 kilograms.
Therefore… 1 momme is equal to 3.75 grams and 1 Mommy has no equal
at all.

Want more stuff? The English word pearl originated (via French perle)
from the Latin word perla. It is used to translate the Hebrew word
??? ??? of the Old Testament, mar-gar-ee-tare, which means pearl in
Greek (the English name Margaret originated from the Greek word for
pearl).

And a quick aside: Hindu tradition describes the sacred Nine Pearls
which were first documented in the Garuda Purana, one of the books of
the Hindu mythology. Ayurveda contains references to pearl powder as
a stimulant of digestion and to treat mental ailments.

Which brings us–by way of my now famous segue–to Mary Queen of
Scots who is shown in a portrait wearing a strand of black pearls…
presumably Tahitian Black Pearls which are the finest black pearls
around.

If you can believe such a thing… and by the sheerest of
coincidences of course… I have an image of another strand of
Tahitian Black Pearls of great value. It is a 17 inch strand of 29
graduated natural color black cultured pearls measuring from about
16.9 to 13.0MM ending in a platinum and diamond pave-set sphere
clasp. Value… back in 2001… was $175, 000 which is worth about
$212,000 today. Wanna see? Go. Take a look. You know where. And if
you don’t… read on.

For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… click it… and you will see represented on
our pages a Tahitian Cultured Black Pearl Necklace.

And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark

It was told that one day in the distant future after WW III
decimated the planet as well as all of mankind a male monkey looked
at a female monkey and said: So? You want to start this thing all
over again? In a bit of a different spirit... I say to you... So?
You want to start this thing all over again? 

What about future gems… in space? Can you imagine a future gem
among billions of galaxies x billions of stars presently known which
would put all Earth gems to shame?