Impress your friends with 10 quirky facts about pearls
The majority of people love pearls. It seems that most women have, at one point in their life, gone through a "pearl phase". Whether it was the pearl necklace that you "borrowed" from your mother or the fake pearl earrings you bought with your allowance because you HAD to have them. Although we have all seen pearls and we know that they come from oysters, there are many fun facts about pearls that you may not know.
Here is a list of quirky pearl facts to entertain your guests at your next dinner party:
- The pearl is the official birthstone for the month of June. The sun signs, Gemini and Cancer, also deem the pearl their birthstone.
- Margarita, the Latin form of the Greek name "Margarites", means "pearl". (This name in Spanish, signifies "daisy flower".)
- The most famous pearl in the world is "La Peregrina". This pearl is in the shape of a pear and as big as a pigeon's egg. Today this pearl's is Elizabeth Taylor.
- Pearls are actually quite soft and score between 2.5 and 4.5 on the Mohs scale. This scale, ranging from 1 to 10, is used to measure mineral hardness. Diamonds score a ten.
- There are several legends and myths as regards to pearls. The Greeks believed pearls to be tears from the gods and that wearing pearls stopped brides from crying and facilitated marital bliss. In the early Chinese culture it was said that when dragons fought, pearls fell from the sky.
- For thousands and thousands of years, natural pearls (involving no human intervention) have been harvested in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Manaar (in the Indian Ocean) as well as the Persian Gulf.
- Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-1994) and Elizabeth Taylor (aka Liz Taylor, born 1932) are famous women who love their pearls.
- Jeweller Pierre Cartier used a $100 in cash and a double strand natural pearl necklace to purchase his New York based company's headquarters on Fifth Avenue. The year was 1927 and the necklace was estimated to be worth $1 million. This same piece of pearl jewellery was auctioned 40 years later for a mere $157,000.
- Love, money, protection and luck are believed to come to the wearer of cultured pearls.
- Pearls were used as medicine by the Chinese for many, many years.
So, now that you have some fun and interesting tidbits about pearls to share, be sure to visit Adamo to view the vast selection of pearl jewellery: pearl earrings, pearl necklaces and pearl bracelets.
References:
http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/pearl.htm
http://www.thepearlmarket.com/pearl-history.htm
http://www.articlealley.com/article_1408474_34.html