Pearl Basics

A step down from a diamond, at least in the hierarchy of the court, a pearl is the queen of gems. Some cultures highly value them. Historians speculate that one reason Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 B.C. was to get his hands on freshwater pearls.They were popular jewels before 1892, when Mikimoto Kokichi, a Japanese pearl farmer, invented the cultured pearl, inserting semi-globular mother-of-pearl beads into pearl oysters and inducing them to form half pearls around the beads. Natural or cultured, pearls by the 20th century were both glamorous and fun. Flappers wore long ropes of them and Coco Chanel used them in her clothing designs.They're a little fussy though. They should be kept away from perfume and other chemicals. They should be cleaned annually and wiped with a soft cloth after wearing. So remember: When you're scouring the tub, wear your diamonds.--Leslie Earnest

PEARL BASICS
Types and sizes

• Biwa: Forms in the freshwater of Lake Biwa, Japan
• Blister: Attached to the inside of the shell as it grows
• Freshwater: From mollusks, resembling puffed rice
• Seed: Tiny, used in Victorian jewelry

Questions to ask

• Does it have luster, an "inner light?" It should.
• How is it shaped? Perfectly round is most valuable, though some prized pearls are very irregular.
• Is the color evenly dispersed?
• On a necklace, is the strand tightly strung? You want to see the pearls, not the knots between them.

Sources: Mikimoto America; rawpearls.com.au

Vermeer's Pearls

From Timothy Brook’s Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World (Bloomsbury, $27.95), comes some interesting pearl trivia. Did you know that in no fewer than eight of his pictures, Vermeer paints women wearing pearl earrings? He also paints on the pearls shapes and outlines hinting at the contours of the rooms the women inhabit. Brook writes, "No pearl is more striking than the one in the Girl with the Pearl Earring (the painting pictured at left). On the surface of that large pearl...we see reflected her collar, her turban, the window that illuminates her off to the left, and, indistinctly, the room where she sits. Look closely at one of Vermeer’s pearls, and his ghostly studio floats into view."

Cindy McCain's Pearls

I know that talking about candidates' wives's style is a bit like talking about football player's uniforms, but since I love pearls I had to comment. Last night, while watching coverage of the primaries, I couldn't help but notice Cindy McCain's pearls. Yeah, there are other interesting things to write about her, such as how she was a rodeo queen, overcame drug addiction, or how she serves as chair of her family's huge corporation. But they don't belong in a pearl blog, so spare me. I want to talk about her style, which is eye-poppingly gorgeous. I especially love the triple strand white pearl necklace, pictured with the electric blue suit, and the gobstopper-size white pearl necklace, pictured with the black dress, that she wore to recent events. I've know www.moonriverpearls.com, www.americanpearl.com and www.bluenile.com have similar styles...I think I'll go shopping while I mull over who I'm going to vote for.