Cultured Pearl History

Nature, Art, Science and Good Fortune are all necessary to create a cultured pearl.

Some cultured pearls are even rarer than a flawless diamond.

The birthstone of the month of June is the pearl.

In Roman mythology Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, enters the world from a seashell. Like a pearl.

The pearl is traditionally the gift of Love. It's also the symbol of health and longevity, often associated with purity, wisdom and other virtues.

For thousands of years pearls have inspired poets and artists all over the world.

"A pearl" is often used to describe anything precious, the best and most valued. Even in today's dictionary.

A Fabulous Past in Fashion

Mythology and artifacts show clearly how important pearls were to different cultures and religions all over the world. Many of the ancient Greeks considered pearls "the rarest, most precious resource in the world".

The Roman general Vitellus sold one of his mother's pearl earrings and paid for a military campaign. By the first century B.C.E., Rome's elite were covering themselves and sometimes their couches, in pearls. The Emperor Caligula even gave his horse a pearl necklace.

It is said that Cleopatra wagered with Mark Anthony that she could afford to consume the wealth of most nations at a single supper. She took one of her large pearl earrings (worth a fortune), dropped it in her goblet of wine or more likely vinegar and drank it when the pearl dissolved. 

From antiquity through the Middle Ages, the passion for pearls spread throughout Europe. Knights used to wear them into battle for protection.

Men have worn pearls for centuries. In the mid-1500s, bracelets, bandoliers, necklaces and embroidered clothing were the fashion. Swashbuckling Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake often wore single pear-shaped pearl earrings. 

Throughout the centuries, portraits of monarchs and dignitaries frequently showed them resplendent in pearl jewelry and pearl-ornamented garments.

In New York in 1916 the jeweler Cartier was asked to trade a large, double-strand necklace of natural pearls for a mansion on Fifth Avenue. He agreed. His showroom is still there. Today, some of the most famous jewels in the world are pearls, now state treasures or owned by royalty, fortunate heirs or celebrities.

Famous Women and Their Pearls*

A few of the original Pearl Girls – Cleopatra, Queen Isabella of Spain, Catherine de Medici, Catherine the Great, the Empress Josephine (wife of Napoleon Bonaparte), Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth I, Josephine Baker, Coco Chanel, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Eartha Kitt, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, The Princess of Wales (Lady Diana Spencer), almost every American First Lady, Nicole Kidman, Madonna, and you know who.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer (cir. 1665)

 Print This Document

LIKE