Cultured Pearls

Slowly and carefully, Erin drew the strand of cultured pearl jewelry through her fingers, admiring the play of light on each round pearl and the faint hint of rose and green gently reflecting from the nacre. Erin enjoyed the cool feel of the mother of pearl jewelry strand against warm fingers and neck as she joined the clasp. Never had Erin imagined that a necklace of pearls like this would ever make its way into her possession. Pearls were worn only on formal occasions and special dates when Erin could slip on that simple black dress that set off the luster perfectly. Erin felt absolutely beautiful while wearing the mother of pearl jewelry and found herself walking more uprightly with a springy step. Erin noted that others admired the pearls as they walked past on the street or while sitting in coffee shops. Sometimes Erin found herself absent mindedly playing with the strand as thoughts carried her away to warm waters. Erin thought it must be thrilling to actually discover the pearl that would bring thousands of dollars at the market. Erin wanted to find out more about how these lovely little specimens of beauty are formed and decided to visit an upscale jewelry shop several blocks from her apartment.

The next morning, after stopping off to grab a quick cup of coffee, Erin soon arrived at Le Magnifique Jewelry Shop which specializes in high quality jewelry, especially mother of pearl jewelry. Right away the manager approached who sported a dark tan set off by a white silk shirt underneath a jet black designer suit coat. As the manager approached, Erin couldn't help but smile because of the man's warm and engaging manner. The man was excited and happy to give her all the information Erin wanted to know about the growth and marketing of pearls. However, the manager went one step further by inviting Erin to accompany him on his yacht anchored at Sands Point. Erin was a bit hesitant at first, but the manager was convincing, and Erin was ready for an afternoon of sea breeze and to witness first-hand how pearls are harvested and where they are found. Erin relented and secretly reminded herself to watch this guy but try to have a good time as well.

During the ride in the manager's Ferrari to the marina, Erin learned that the manager's name is Tristan, and is the son of a long line of pearl sellers and harvesters. This is all Tristan had ever known, and took over the business when his father retired only eight years ago. Since then Tristan had managed to grow the business 15% by increasing marketing of the sophistication of cultured pearl jewelry. After ten minutes or so, Erin found herself quite relaxed and talking easily about love of the water and how exciting finally living in Sydney. Soon they arrived at the marina and walked out to a huge luxury yacht that looked brand new. The crystal blue waters sparkled like diamonds as the boat got underway and a lovely breeze blew from the south, filling the large sails and bringing with it a heavenly sweet scent from the shore line.

The hands on deck began to furl the sails and hoisted the anchor about 10 miles off shore. Divers began jumping overboard and swimming down deeper and deeper. It was several minutes before one or two appeared and swam over to the ladder on the side of the boat. Tristan reached over the side and took two very large mollusks from the diver. In seconds the knife pried open one of them to reveal a large black pearl inside. Erin gasped. After wiping off the pearl its luster began to glisten in the sunlight. How marvelous to just pluck beautiful gems from the sea so easily! "And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:21 KJV).

Tristan began to explain that pearls are graded much like coins, in that there are various levels of quality. Grades are according to size, color and luster. This particular pearl was jet black, and its luster was AAA, which is the best. Tristan also related to Erin that the rarest pearls are gold in color and are found in the warm waters of Polynesia, a place he personally finds the time to visit at least twice a year on the yacht. Erin was mesmerized not only by the pearls, but by Tristan's expertise about mother of pearl jewelry. Tristan too was fascinated when first introduced to the trade by his father as a young boy. Gradually Tristan learned to grade pearls by viewing them under a magnifying glass, saving only the best for cultured pearl jewelry to sell in the shop.

By the end of the afternoon, Erin was reeling from everything learned and was eager to return to the shop to view all the other types and colors of pearls heard about that day. In fact, as Erin was getting ready to depart the shop upon their return, Tristan produced a very small box and said not to open it until she got home. Quickly she went back to her apartment and tore open the wrap around the gift. Inside she found two black cultured pearl jewelry earrings with small diamond studs at the top. A small note was inside which said "You made this afternoon even more beautiful than the jewelry I sell. Tristan." Right then and there, Erin decided to learn the trade Tristan would always be close by.

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