Black Pearls Vs. White Pearls

Pearls come in many colors.

Both white pearls and black pearls are produced by pearl oysters. When a small object irritates the interior of a pearl oyster, the oyster begins secreting a substance called nacre. The nacre forms around the object of irritation, eventually creating a pearl.

Features

Pearls may be many colors, ranging from white and black to gold, pink, gray, blue, green and purple. Pearls come in a variety of shapes but the roundest ones are the most highly prized. All pearls are valued for their deep luster.

Production

Pearls may be naturally occurring or cultured. Cultured pearls are produced by oysters. However, in this case, oysters are purposely implanted with an object of irritation in order to stimulate pearl production. Cultured pearls are somewhat less expensive than naturally occurring pearls. White pearls are produced by white pearl oysters and black pearls are produced by black pearl oysters.

Significance

Black pearls used to be far more rare than white pearls. This is because black pearl oysters rarely produce pearls at all. With the advent of pearl culturing, black pearls became more widely available.

Types

Black pearls are generally Tahitian pearls, which are found in the South Pacific. White pearl types include the South Sea pearl and the Akoya pearl.

History

Kokichi Mikimoto, Tokichi Nishikawa and Tatsuhei Mise each independently experimented with pearl culturing at the turn of the 19th century. All three sought to patent the process. However, Mikimoto eventually won out. Culturing has made black pearls attainable by the general public.

References

• The History of Pearls
• Polynesian Black Pearls
• A Brief History of Pearls

Resources

• Pearls in Human History
• Black Pearl History
• A History of Pearls