TAHITIAN PEARLS

The term "Tahitian pearl" is a somewhat of a misnomer, as this particular pearl variety is not actually from Tahiti. Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, which is located east of Australia, in the South Pacific. Although Tahiti is the namesake for the "Tahitian pearl," most pearl culturing farms are found on other islands in the territory west of Tahiti, or in the Tuamotu Archipelago island chain east of Tahiti. Kokichi Mikimoto and Ryukyu Pearls began marketing the "Tahitian Black Pearl" in the early 1900s. Prior to this, Okinawa Japan was the only source of black-lipped cultured pearls.

Tuamotu Pearls

The tiny atoll of Hikueru, located in the center of the Tuamotu atoll chain, has been at the center of the Tahitian pearl industry for over a century. The Tuamotu Archipelago was first discovered in 1521, by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, but the island chain was officially claimed as French territory by navigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville, in 1768.

Hikueru was a natural breeding ground for the "black-lipped" oyster, host to the famous "black pearl." In Jack London's book "South Sea Tales," he recounts the 1903 cyclone that devastated the area, wiping out the pearling industry. In the book he wrote of Hikueru's pearls: "Mapuhi has found a pearl, such a pearl. Never was there one like it ever fished up in Hikueru, nor in all the Paumotus, nor in all the world."

The Tuamotu Archipelago island chain, situated 300 km east of Tahiti, consists of 78 circular reef lagoons or atolls. Chains of low islets called motu, which barley protrude above sea level, and are linked by sandbars, surround these atoll lagoons. Fakarava, Rangiroa, Manihi and Tikehau are the main pearl atolls, having motus that are dotted with 'pearl farms’, which are little more than tiny bungalows perched on stilts over the water.

The cultured Tahitian pearl industry got its start in the early 1960s, when Japanese Akoya-style pearl cultivation was tried on the black-lipped oyster. Cultured pearl farming was first attempted on Hikueru in the Tuamotu islands, and Bora Bora in French Polynesia by Jean-Marie Dormand, considered the "father" of cultured black pearl farming. The first privately owned pearl farm was started on the atoll of Manihi, in 1966.

French Polynesia Pearls

The primary sources for pearl farming in the 'Leeward Islands' of French Polynesia are Tahaa, Huahine and Raiatea, some 200 km northwest of Tahiti. Raiatea is the second largest of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. Huahine is two separated islands connected by a sandspit. The big island to the north is known as "Big Huahine" and Little Huahine.

Pearl farms are scattered throughout the many shallow lagoons that surround the islands, dotted with vanilla plantations. Tahaa's Poerani, Motu, and Vaipoe pearl farms are open for public tours.

The Pinctada Margaritifera "Black-Lipped" Oyster

Tahitian Pearls are found in a mollusk that is native to the islands of French Polynesia. This bivalve mollusk is called the "black-lipped" oyster, or Pinctada Margaritiferai. The outside edges of the oyster shell and edges of the mantle are black in color. The black-lipped oyster is found in a wide geographic area from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of California and can grow to 12 inches in length.

In nature, the black-lipped oyster can live up to 30 years; grow up to a foot in diameter and weigh up to 1 pound. During its pearl producing years (ages 3 to 7), the black-lipped oyster is usually between 6 and 8 inches in diameter. Throughout their life, they are removed from the water every few months to be washed clean of any algae growth. Mantel obtained from a few sacrificial oysters is used for implantation in the remainder. After implantation, the oysters are suspended from keep nets to protect them from predators, while the pearls are formed.

Black-lipped oyster pearls are unique because of their natural dark colors. This mollusk secrets a dark colored pigment during the nacre building phase. Most Tahitian "black pearls" are not actually black, but are actually silver, gray, or charcoal. Pure black pearls are extremely rare. Many black pearls get their coloring through artificial means, using either radiation or dye (French Dying) to "enhance" their color. French Dying can produce an extremely durable finish that can penetrate deep into the nacre. The most valuable "black" pearls have what is known as a "peacock green" overtone or color component.

Chocolate Pearls

So called "Chocolate Pearls" are a created or 'enhanced' by modifying the natural pearl's "melanin pigment" color using proprietary techniques developed by companies such as Ballerina Pearl Company of New York, and Shanghai Gems S.A of Geneva. Chocolate pearls have an unusual copper, bronze, or rust-brown color with strong iridescent overtones. With legitimate chocolate pearls, no dyes or coloring agents are used to create the color, and the price can be very expensive when compared with other Tahitian varieties.

Dyed "chocolate pearls" would fall under a lesser category as a "treated" pearl, justifying a significantly lower price. According to the GIA, the 'chocolate' color is obtained using a bleaching process and heating applied to fancy-colored Tahitian pearls. The process can be identified by characteristic fluorescence, trace-element composition, and unique spectroscopic signature.

Tahitian pearls characteristics

Tahitian pearls come in a range of colors including gray, blue, green, brown and black. Tahitian pearls’ excellent luster sometimes approached a metallic sheen and are achieve by mostly natural means (some light buffing may occur) and they range in size from 8mm – 14mm At harvesting about 40$ are spherical in shape (round, near-round) with 20% falling into the symmetrical shape (oval, button & drop). Bodycolor is either black, brown or gray with or without hues of blue to green, purple or yellowish green. Overtones can be rosé, green or blue. Peacock is a trade name of green gray to blue gray Tahitian cultured pearls. Aubergine is the trade name used for dark grayish purple Tahitian cultured pearls and finally, pistachio is used for yellowish-green to greenish-yellow Tahitian cultured pearls.

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