Cultured pearl Cultured pearl A cultured pearl is a pearl created by an oyster farmer under controlled conditions. Cultured pearls can be farmed using two very different groups of bivalve mollusk: the freshwater river mussels, and the saltwater pearl oysters. A pearl is formed when the mantle tissue is injured by a parasite, an attack of a fish or another event that damages the external fragile rim of the shell of a mollusk shell bivalve or gastropod. In response, the mantle tissue of the mollusk secretes nacre into the pearl sac, a cyst that forms during the healing process. Chemically speaking, this
Pearl of Kuwait Pearl of Kuwait The Pearl of Kuwait is a pearl that was bought in 2004 by its current owners, Bond Street, London jewellers Symbolic & Chase, and named the "Pearl of Kuwait" in recognition of the Persian Gulf waters in which many pearls have been found. It measures 258.12 grains (64.5 carats, 69.8 carats with its diamond cap) making it the third-largest (documented) well-formed natural pearl drop. In 2004, a large pearl named the Pearl of Kuwait was consigned by an undisclosed private family for auction at Christie's in London. The Pearl of Kuwait was part of the Pearls exhibition