Re Strombus gigas and other Pearls                   4/11/99
 
        The first International Pearl Conference was held in Honolulu,
Hawaii in
1994. I was involved because I was interested in pearls and the shells that
produce them and the Conference Chairman, Dr. Richard Fassler (State
Aquaculture Development Program) asked me to prepare an exhibit on Pearls of
the World.  I was a former staff member of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in
Honolulu and got the Museum and the Hawaiian Malacological Society to
cooperate
on an exhibit on pearls and pearly shells from around the world.  This
involved
museum staff, HMS members, my husband, Tom Burch, my daughter, Janthina
DuSavage (who lives 3,000 miles away), and had material from museums,
laboratories, and businesses involved with pearls from many parts of the
world.  In addition to pearls from marine Pearl Oysters and freshwater
mussels,
some of the dealers had Strombus “pearls” which are gorgeous pink concretions,
which are not really pearls.   Strombus “pearls” have a beautiful texture
which
is different from that seen in pearls from nacreous bivalves, gastropods, or
Nautilus.  Other dealers had abalone pearls–wonderfully flamboyant nacreous
objects from California and New Zealand.  
        It depends where the irritant lands (or is inserted) on or in the soft
layer forming the pearl.  Cultured pearls start from a form prepared usually
from a freshwater pearl mussel that is inserted into the pearl oyster or
mussel.  The ancient Chinese made images of Buddha and other Gods, etc. by
inserting a carving between the mantle and the shell which became covered with
pearly nacre.  We have collected Pinna (which have a nacreous layer) that had
covered an Eulimid gastropod with a “pearlizing” layer of nacre and have seen
photos of a fish entombed in nacre.
        I wrote a series of articles on Pearls and Pearly Shells in the
Hawaiian
Shell News but that is no longer published in hard copy and I don’t think that
copies are available now.  I’m presently writing a book on pearls and pearly
shells resulting, in large part, from information I received from people at
that conference.
                Aloha, 
                Beatrice Burch
                Research Associate, Bishop Museum
 
..
Thomas A. Burch, MD & Beatrice L. Burch
P.O. Box 309, Kailua, Hawaii, USA 96734
Phone: 808-262-7465  FAX: 808-263-6408
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