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| Monday, 15-Nov-2010 09:16 |
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Pearl Jewelry - The Story of Pearl Hunters
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As long as pearl jewelry have been known to people, they have been a highly sought commodity for their beauty. It's only in recent times however that the industry has taken the hunt for the perfect pearl to a whole different level. Today, the shiny orbs that we see on in display in jewelry stores have actually almost always been grown in farms.
That's a far cry from the dangerous extraction and collection methods used before the invention of modern technology. In the past, not more than 100 years ago, the only way to retrieve pearls was by diving in lakes, floods and the ocean to pick them up, one at the time. The unfortunate divers who'se job it was to do this, were often poor and lured by the relative large sums they could get. The diver would sometimes have to dive as deep as 100 feet on one single breath of air. In order to preserve air and to stay submerged the longest, the divers would hold on to heavy stones on the way down.
Naturally, this dangerous activity was reserved for the desperate or the powerless - in many cases slaves or extremely poor peasents. Today, this method is all but obsolete in most places of the world. The cheaper cultured pearls have become popular and are many times the only pearls available to the consumer.
There are however still a few isolated areas that practice this old art of pearl diving. Some of the finest natural pearl speciments come from the gulf of Bahrain. Here, divers still risk their health to retrieve what are considered the top of the crop in the world. In fact, Bahrain wants no part of the sale of cultured pearls, banned from trade. Bahrain is one of the few places on earth that does an active job in trying to preserve the natural habitat and waters from pollution.
It's an interesting story and one that continues to fascinate buyers around the world. Somehow, the beauty of the pearl grows when it's been retrieved from the depth of the ocean.
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| Monday, 15-Nov-2010 09:14 |
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Buying Pearl Jewelry Without Being Ripped Off
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Buying pearl jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you're considering a gift of pearl jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here's some information to help you get the best quality pearl jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.
Pearls
Natural or real pearls are made by oysters and other mollusks. Cultured pearls also are grown by mollusks, but with human intervention; that is, an irritant introduced into the shells causes a pearl to grow. Imitation pearls are man-made with glass, plastic, or organic materials.
Because natural pearls are very rare, most pearls used in jewelry are either cultured or imitation pearls. Cultured pearls, because they are made by oysters or mollusks, usually are more expensive than imitation pears. A cultured pearl's value is largely based on its size, usually stated in millimeters, and the quality of its nacre coating, which give it luster. Jewelers should tell your if the pearls are cultured or imitation. Some black, bronze, gold, purple, blue and orange pearls, whether natural or cultured, occur that way in nature; some, however, are dyed through various processes. Jewelers should tell you whether the colored pearls are naturally colored, dyed or irradiated.
Clams, oysters, mussels and many other mollusks with limy shells are known to produce pearls. But very few kinds yield gem pearls of jeweler's quality. The pearl is an abnormal growth of mother-of-pearl, or nacre, imbedded in the soft bodies of these shellfish. It is built up, layer upon layer, in the same way as nacre is added to the lining of the growing shell and always has the same color and luster. For example, over the country, hundreds of good-sized pearls are found each year in the oysters we eat. Unfortunately these have no commercial value regardless of whether they have been cooked or not because they are dull opaque white or purple like the shell of the parent oyster. In recent times almost all pearls of gem quality come from the oriental pearl oyster which has a bright shimmering translucent nacre.
A pearl starts growing when some irritating foreign substance such as a sand grain, bit of mud, parasite or other object becomes lodged in the shell-producing gland called the mantle. Pearls formed in the soft flesh where nacre can be added on all sides are most likely to be spherical and the most highly prized. By far the great majority are flattened or variously distorted and have little value. Size, color, luster and freedom from flaws are other essential qualities. Unlike other gems, such as diamonds, pearls have an average life of only about 50 years. In time the small amount of water in a pearl's make-up is lost and its surface cracks. Because they are mostly lime, necklaces which are worn often are injured by the acid secretions of the human skin.
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| Tuesday, 9-Nov-2010 06:07 |
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Pearl Jewelry - The Story of Pearl Hunters
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|
As long as pearl jewelry have been known to people, they have been a highly sought commodity for their beauty. It's only in recent times however that the industry has taken the hunt for the perfect pearl to a whole different level. Today, the shiny orbs that we see on in display in jewelry stores have actually almost always been grown in farms.
That's a far cry from the dangerous extraction and collection methods used before the invention of modern technology. In the past, not more than 100 years ago, the only way to retrieve pearls was by diving in lakes, floods and the ocean to pick them up, one at the time. The unfortunate divers who'se job it was to do this, were often poor and lured by the relative large sums they could get. The diver would sometimes have to dive as deep as 100 feet on one single breath of air. In order to preserve air and to stay submerged the longest, the divers would hold on to heavy stones on the way down.
Naturally, this dangerous activity was reserved for the desperate or the powerless - in many cases slaves or extremely poor peasents. Today, this method is all but obsolete in most places of the world. The cheaper cultured pearls have become popular and are many times the only pearls available to the consumer.
There are however still a few isolated areas that practice this old art of pearl diving. Some of the finest natural pearl speciments come from the gulf of Bahrain. Here, divers still risk their health to retrieve what are considered the top of the crop in the world. In fact, Bahrain wants no part of the sale of cultured pearls, banned from trade. Bahrain is one of the few places on earth that does an active job in trying to preserve the natural habitat and waters from pollution.
It's an interesting story and one that continues to fascinate buyers around the world. Somehow, the beauty of the pearl grows when it's been retrieved from the depth of the ocean.
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| Tuesday, 9-Nov-2010 06:02 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
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Buying Pearl Jewelry Without Being Ripped Off
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|
Buying pearl jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing. Whether you're considering a gift of pearl jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here's some information to help you get the best quality pearl jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.
Pearls
Natural or real pearls are made by oysters and other mollusks. Cultured pearls also are grown by mollusks, but with human intervention; that is, an irritant introduced into the shells causes a pearl to grow. Imitation pearls are man-made with glass, plastic, or organic materials.
Because natural pearls are very rare, most pearls used in jewelry are either cultured or imitation pearls. Cultured pearls, because they are made by oysters or mollusks, usually are more expensive than imitation pears. A cultured pearl's value is largely based on its size, usually stated in millimeters, and the quality of its nacre coating, which give it luster. Jewelers should tell your if the pearls are cultured or imitation. Some black, bronze, gold, purple, blue and orange pearls, whether natural or cultured, occur that way in nature; some, however, are dyed through various processes. Jewelers should tell you whether the colored pearls are naturally colored, dyed or irradiated.
Clams, oysters, mussels and many other mollusks with limy shells are known to produce pearls. But very few kinds yield gem pearls of jeweler's quality. The pearl is an abnormal growth of mother-of-pearl, or nacre, imbedded in the soft bodies of these shellfish. It is built up, layer upon layer, in the same way as nacre is added to the lining of the growing shell and always has the same color and luster. For example, over the country, hundreds of good-sized pearls are found each year in the oysters we eat. Unfortunately these have no commercial value regardless of whether they have been cooked or not because they are dull opaque white or purple like the shell of the parent oyster. In recent times almost all pearls of gem quality come from the oriental pearl oyster which has a bright shimmering translucent nacre.
A pearl starts growing when some irritating foreign substance such as a sand grain, bit of mud, parasite or other object becomes lodged in the shell-producing gland called the mantle. Pearls formed in the soft flesh where nacre can be added on all sides are most likely to be spherical and the most highly prized. By far the great majority are flattened or variously distorted and have little value. Size, color, luster and freedom from flaws are other essential qualities. Unlike other gems, such as diamonds, pearls have an average life of only about 50 years. In time the small amount of water in a pearl's make-up is lost and its surface cracks. Because they are mostly lime, necklaces which are worn often are injured by the acid secretions of the human skin.
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| Monday, 16-Nov-2009 07:32 |
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The AllAfrica Foundation
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AllAfrica Global Media, a multi-media content service provider and the largest electronic distributor of African pearl jewelry news and information worldwide, operates the most popular Africa destination on the Internet, allAfrica.com, serving over 11 million monthly page views (over 65 million 'hits' a month). In 2003, the site was nominated for the second year in a cultured pearl jewelry row as Best News Site of the year by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, alongside the news sites of the BBC, MSNBC and Google. AllAfrica operates from offices in Lagos, Johannesburg and Washington, DC.
In three years of operation, AllAfrica has become widely regarded as the source-of-record for news and information about Africa. It has created a global swing machines voice and a revenue stream for over 100 African news organizations and developed a pioneering technology system to democratize access to sophisticated tools and unlock the power of the Internet for development.
The AllAfrica Foundation, a wholesale pearl jewelry tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization registered in Mauritius and the District of Columbia, was founded for three purposes: to focus global public and policy attention on critical issues for African development; to support the growth akoya pearl jewelry of independent African media; and to provide skills and training for African journalists. The freshwater pearl Foundation maintains SustainableAfrica.org and PeaceAfrica.net as "digital commons" on development and peace issues, providing information and connecting groups and individuals with shared concerns and activities.
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| Monday, 16-Nov-2009 07:30 |
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The AllAfrica Foundation plans to launch
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The web site itself, which has grown without benefit of marketing, serves more than 11 million monthly page views and has a searchable archive that surpasses 600,000 articles and documents. Over freshwater pearl 14,000 other web sites carry AllAfrica's constantly updating headline modules or otherwise link to the site. In addition, AllAfrica hosts SustainableAfrica freshwater pearl.org, a site funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation to provide a digital commons for issues of development and the environment.
AllAfrica has pioneered web services technology and applications, which the company says hold the promise of democratizing access to sophisticated technology tools and unlocking the power of the Internet for development. The AllAfrica technology team, through the non-profit AllAfrica Foundation, is working with African and international organizations and governments on a variety of initiatives, such as delivering health information through pearl jewelry wholesale community-based centers in rural areas, supporting the growth of small and medium-sized technology industries to create jobs and build local capacity, and, in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, providing an interactive freshwater pearl jewelry communications platform for an African network of conflict prevention groups.
The AllAfrica Foundation plans to pearl necklace launch, later this year, the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Fellowship. The program, which will provide opportunities pearl strand wholesale for African reporters to increase their skills and their networks of support, will honor the work of Hunter-Gault, an American journalist whose prize-laden career has included a strong commitment to the professional development of younger reporters, particularly women and Africans.
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| Monday, 16-Nov-2009 07:28 |
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The AllAfrica Foundation plans to launch
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The web site itself, which has grown without benefit of marketing, serves more than 11 million monthly page views and has a searchable archive that surpasses 600,000 articles and documents. Over 14,000 other web sites carry AllAfrica's constantly updating headline modules or pearl jewelry otherwise link to the site. In addition, AllAfrica hosts SustainableAfrica freshwater pearl.org, a site funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation to provide a digital commons for issues of development and the environment.
AllAfrica has pioneered web services technology and applications, which the company says hold the promise of democratizing access to sophisticated technology tools and unlocking the power of the Internet for development. The AllAfrica technology team, through the non-profit AllAfrica Foundation, is working with African and international organizations and governments on a variety of initiatives, such as delivering health information through pearl jewelry wholesale community-based centers in rural areas, supporting the pearl jewelry wholesale growth of small and medium-sized technology industries to create jobs and build local capacity, and, in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, providing an interactive communications platform for an African network of conflict prevention groups.
The AllAfrica Foundation plans to launch, later this year, the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Fellowship. The program, which will provide opportunities pearl strand wholesale for African reporters to increase their skills and their networks of support, will honor the work of Hunter-Gault, an American wholesale pearl earrings journalist whose prize-laden career has included a strong commitment to the professional development of younger reporters, particularly women and Africans.
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| Monday, 16-Nov-2009 07:27 |
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The AllAfrica Foundation,
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AllAfrica Global Media, a multi-media content service provider and the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide, operates the most popular Africa destination on the pearl jewelry Internet, allAfrica.com, serving over 11 million monthly page views (over 65 million 'hits' a month). In 2003, the site was nominated for the second year in a cultured pearl jewelry row as Best News Site of the year by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, alongside the news sites of the BBC, MSNBC and Google. AllAfrica operates from offices in Lagos, Johannesburg and Washington, DC.
In three years of operation, AllAfrica has become widely regarded as the source-of-record for news and information about Africa. It has created a global swing machines voice and a revenue stream for over 100 African news organizations and developed a pioneering technology system to democratize access to sophisticated tools and unlock the power of the Internet for development.
The AllAfrica Foundation, a pearl jewelry wholesale tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization registered in Mauritius and the District of Columbia, was founded for three purposes: to focus global public and policy attention on critical issues for African development; to support the growth akoya pearl jewelry of pearl necklace independent African media; and to provide skills and training for African journalists. The Foundation maintains SustainableAfrica.org and PeaceAfrica.net as "digital commons" on development and peace issues, providing information and connecting groups and individuals with shared concerns and activities.
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| Monday, 16-Nov-2009 07:24 |
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Lucas became Africare president
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The Foundation is readying the launch of HealthAfrica, an ambitious project to provide current news, extensive databases, educational materials, institutional linkages and a forum for discussing African christmas gifts health issues, especially HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. "HealthAfrica will use the reach and influence of allAfrica.com to force attention to naughty castles Africa's health emergency," says Tamela Hultman, AllAfrica's chief strategy and content officer, who is directing the initiative. "Policy makers everywhere need a constant stream of current information, and people across Africa - from HIV-positive widows in Swaziland to doctors in Nigeria - have told us that this effort is a missing piece of the puzzle for making their work successful. C. Payne, with his commitment to reversing the Aids pandemic, will be an incomparable ally for HealthAfrica."
Lucas, who was born in 1933 in Spring Hope, North Carolina, spent four years in the Air Force before earning a B.A. in history from the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore and a master's degree in government from the christmas jewelry American University cultured freshwater pearl School for International Studies. He joined the staff of the Peace Corps in 1962, just after its creation by President John F. Kennedy and served successively as assistant country director in Togo, country director in Niger, Africa Regional Director and director of the Office of Returned Volunteers. For his work in the Peace Corps, Lucas received the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service in 1967.
Lucas became Africare president in 1971, succeeding the founding president, William O. Kirker, M.D. Under Lucas' direction, Africare operated wholesale pearl jewelry more than 150 programs in christmas gift 26 nations, including civil-society development and governance, food security and agriculture, health and HIV/Aids, and emergency humanitarian response. In 2001, Lucas launched the HIV/Aids Service Corps to provide support for indigenous volunteers working on locally identified needs in the battle against the Aids epidemic.
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