01
The Pearl of the Middle East – Qatar
The Qatar 2022 World Cup has begun, and the eyes of the world are focused on The State of Qatar. This World Cup is the first time to be held in the Gulf region of the Middle East, the first to be held in the northern hemisphere winter, and the most expensive World Cup ever (costing $229 billion)! I am very glad that in the past few years, through the painful memories of "the national football team took me to know the mysterious small country", the editor has quite "feelings" for Qatar.
▲ Source: Qatar Tourism Authority
As the game progresses, the rise of Asian teams has become a global hot spot! Japan's 2-1 upset against Germany and Saudi Arabia's 2-1 victory over Argentina give Asian teams two hard-won wins! And the opponents are all the favourites to win the World Cup!
The opening of the World Cup has immersed human beings across races, time and space, and classes in the carnival and passion brought by the world's No. 1 sport, and the world has entered a temporary tranquility. When you go through the World Cup, turn over the history of Qatar - the border between desert and sea, the construction of energy and banknote capabilities, and begin to outline the simplest prototype of the country in your mind, you continue to delve deeper, the sea washes the desert, and the pearl of the Middle East begins to shine!
For a long time, Qatar has given the impression that it "has mines at home", ignoring its other identity - a major exporter of pearls.
▲ Qatar National Museum (Source: Qatar Tourism Authority)
Before the discovery of oil and gas, Qatar's main national income came from the export of Gulf pearls. In the Gulf, which has a history of pearl harvesting for more than 7,000 years, Gulf pearls have traded to India, Persia and the Ottoman Empire, as well as Europe and North America, and once conquered the royal aristocracy. One of the centers of pearl collection in the Gulf is Qatar.
▲ Historically, Qatar used dhows for pearl diving, fishing and transporting goods (Source: Qatar Tourism Authority)
Pearls are an inseparable part of Qatar's history and culture. The Persian Gulf has low latitudes, high temperatures, clear water, abundant sunlight, and less river disturbance in an environment that is extremely conducive to carbonate sedimentation. This natural advantage has resulted in high yields and high quality of Qatari pearls. For thousands of years, pearl divers have dived like this, boarded boats, and obtained that brilliant pearl among thousands of oysters, day after day.
02
Those things about saltwater pearls
For Qatar, seawater pearls are undoubtedly their outstanding representatives, today, Xiaobian will take you to talk about those things about saltwater pearls, before starting, let's get to know pearls...
The main component of pearls
Calcium carbonate CaCO3, pearl contains more than 91% inorganic components, about 2.5%-7% organic components and about 0.5%-2% water. Among them, the inorganic component is calcium carbonate, which mainly appears as aragonite of orthorhombic crystal system, and also contains more than ten trace elements such as K, Na, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Al, Cr, Sr, Pb, Ti, V, Ag, Co and so on. The organic component is mainly hard protein, in addition to taurine, ornithine and other non-protein hydrolysate amino acids. Pearls can be divided into freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls, which in turn can be subdivided into natural saltwater pearls and cultured saltwater pearls.
The International Jewellery and Gem Federation (CIBJO) defines a "natural (wild) pearl" as a pearl conceived in a mother oyster in a natural environment, with no artificial involvement. Cultured pearls are defined as the production of pearls by artificial implantation of pearl cores or mantles, and then cultured by the mother until the pearls are harvested. Cultured pearls entered the jewelry market in the 1920s, and before that they were natural pearls, scarce in production and expensive to obtain.
▲ Untreated pearls
Natural saltwater pearls
Natural saltwater pearls mainly include conch pearls, Merlot pearls, and abalone pearls. In addition, there are clamshell pearls, round clam pearls, nautilus pearls, etc.
【Conch Pearl】
Also known as the Konke pearl or queen's pearl, it is produced in the queen's phoenix snail
Conch beads are pink and orange, with concentric ring-shaped structures inside, and "flame-like" lines are common on the surface, and conch beads may fade when exposed to sunlight for a long time. Natural conch pearls currently grow only in the waters of Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda.
▲ Queen Phoenix Snail
【Merlot Pearl】
It is produced in the Merlot sea snail, also known as coconut snail
Merlot pearls range in color from orange to intense orange, yellowish to yellow and colorless with flame-like structure, and may fade after long-term exposure to sunlight. Produced in Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia and China.
▲ Merlot sea snail
【Abalone Pearl】
Abalone pearls, produced in abalone
The baobei is an oval half-faced shell with 3~5 high-protruding exhaust holes, and the inner wall is nacre with strong vignetting. The color of the abalone pearl is similar to the color of the abalone shell, and the concentric ring structure is visible inside. Natural abalone pearls are found in Australia, New Zealand, California and Mexico.
▲ Abalone shells
Cultured saltwater pearls
Cultured pearls refer to calcium carbonate secretions formed in various types of molluscs in freshwater or saltwater waters, and its formation process is the same as that of natural pearls, except that this process requires human intervention. Cultured pearls are further divided into marine cultured pearls and freshwater cultured pearls according to the environment in which they were formed. There are three main types of cultured pearls, Akoya, South Sea and Tahitian pearls.
【Akoya Pearl】
Mother-of-pearl is a mother-of-pearl oyster from Mars, also known as Hepu mother-of-pearl or Akoya shell
Akoya pearl color is common white, light yellow and pink, in addition to silver-gray, gray-blue true hemp, the size is usually 4-8mm, 8-9mm less, 9-10mm rare mainly distributed in China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, India and other subtropical areas of the coast, the mainland is mainly distributed in Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan provinces.
▲ Martensii mother-of-pearl oyster
▲ Bella, which is the highest rating for Akoya pearls in the GUILD grading system, represents the highest level of overall pearl quality
▲ Hanadama, in the GUILD grading system, flower beads are a high-quality rating for Akoya
【Nanyang Pearl】
White butterfly oysters, also known as large mother-of-pearl oysters, are divided into golden-lipped oysters and silver-lipped oysters according to the color of the shell
The golden-lipped shell has a golden-yellow or yellow-brown halo and mainly produces golden-yellow pearls, namely the South Sea Golden Pearl Silver Lip. The shell has a silvery-white halo, mainly producing silver-white pearls, that is, South Sea white pearls. Nanyang pearls have a strong luster and have a good shape, few blemishes and a large particle size, up to 20 mm in diameter. It is mainly produced in coastal countries in the South Pacific Ocean, such as Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Tahiti of the Polynesian Islands, India, Thailand, etc. Australia accounts for more than 50% of total production.
▲ Golden-lipped oysters and golden pearls
▲ Nanyang white pearl jewelry
【Tahitian Pearl】
Black butterfly shells are slightly smaller than white butterfly shells (mother-of-pearl shells) and have a black or black-brown shell surface
The pearl colors are black, dark green, light silver-black, gray, and the peacock green color is the most precious. Visible round, oval and special-shaped, pearl diameter 8-18mm, up to 27mm, more than 90% of black pearls from Tahiti (Tahiti), so also called Tahitian black pearl.
▲ Black butterfly shell
▲ Tahitian black pearl
The quality of pearls
In the market transaction, the quality of pearls directly affects its final price, and comprehensive judgment should be made when purchasing.
There are two main categories of pearl quality evaluation, the first is the quality evaluation of pearl layer pearls, including freshwater pearls, Akoya pearls, Tahitian black pearls, South Sea gold pearls and Australian white pearls; The second category is the quality evaluation of pearls without a bead layer, including conch pearls, Merlot pearls and abalone pearls, because these pearls do not have a bead layer, so the evaluation does not need to consider the factor of bead thickness, but to consider their special flame pattern or halo strength.
▲ There are pearl layers of pearls, from left to right:
Freshwater pearl, freshwater pearl, Akoya pearl, Tahitian black pearl, South Sea gold pearl, Australian white pearl
The quality of pearls depends mainly on size, shape, color (body color and tinge color), luster, surface finish, and bead thickness, which is measured by specialized instruments such as X-ray microphotographic equipment.
▲ X-ray microphotographic equipment is used to identify and measure the thickness of the bead layer
GUILD gemologists grade pearls
01
size
The size of a pearl is expressed in terms of diameter, and different types of pearls vary in diameter. The larger and rarer the diameter of the same kind of pearl, the higher the value.
▲ Pearls of different diameters
02
shape
The most common shape of pearls is round, followed by teardrop, button, oval and baroque (irregular) shapes. For round pearls, the higher the roundness, the better the quality. Other shapes of pearls look at symmetry, the higher the degree of symmetry, the better the quality.
▲ Pearls of different shapes
03
color
Because of the different types of mother-of-pearl, the color of pearls will also vary. The color of pearls has two aspects – body color and tinge color.
1) Body color refers to the color of the nacre itself, which is the color produced by the selective absorption of white light, and does not change when the pearl is turned.
Pearls are particularly rich in color, and the GUILD laboratory also grades pearls.
▲ Cultured pearls of different colors
GUILD gemologists color and grade pearls
2) Overtone is the color produced on the surface of pearls due to optical effects such as reflection and interference of nacre. The color palette is like a translucent halo floating on top of the pearl's body color, and the color and intensity of the color change as the pearl is turned.
▲ Halo of nacre on the surface of black butterfly shell
Companion colors are divided into warm colors and cool colors, the common color of warm colors is pink, and the common color of cool colors is green. When two or more color shades appear on the surface of a pearl, it is called orient.
▲ Left: green and pink color of South Sea white pearl, right photo: green and pink color of Tahitian pearl
04
luster
The luster of pearls is related to the thickness of the nacre and the quality of the beads. The stronger the luster on the surface of the pearl, the more precious the pearl is and the higher the price.
The luster of pearls is divided into four grades:
- Very good (very good)
-Good
-Fair (General)
-poor
▲ Pearls with different lusters
05
Finish
Naturally produced pearls usually have a small number of imperfections on their surface, although the fewer blemishes a pearl, the better the quality.
There are four grades of surface finish:
-Very good (near immaculate)
-Good
-Fair
-Poor (many flaws)
▲ Pearls with different surface finishes
06
Bead layer thickness
For different types of pearls, the thickness of the bead layer is also different, and the standards and requirements for them in the laboratory are also different.
Akoya has a short growth cycle, so the bead layer is thinner than other species, usually 0.2-0.5 mm. Akoya is also one of the types of pearls that are most sensitive to the thickness of the bead layer, because too thin a bead layer will not only affect the beauty of the Akoya pearl, but also affect the durability of the pearl. In general, Akoya pearls have a bead thickness greater than 0.4mm and are of better quality.
South Seas, Tahitian and nucleated cultured pearls have longer culturing cycles and thicker beads, typically 0.8-3 mm. Generally speaking, the thickness of the bead layer is greater than 1mm, and the quality is guaranteed.
The comprehensive development of the pearl industry, the establishment and publicity of identification standards are also an indispensable part. Standards are an important tool for consumers to move from "knowing" to "knowing" to "aesthetic". The promotion of the colored gemstone industry by commercial names such as Wharton Green, Red Gold Bead, Saint Maria and Jedi Spinel first introduced by GUILD has been proven by the market many times.
▲ Cross-sections of different pearls, from left to right: akoya, Nanyang golden pearl, Tahitian pearl, freshwater seedless cultured pearl and Edison pearl
▲ GUILD Gem Lab pearl test report main certificate sample
▲ GUILD Gem Lab pearl test report with certified sample
Qataris have a deep affection for pearls, and Al Janoub Stadium, one of the World Cup venues, was inspired by pearl culture.
▲ The stadium is based on traditional dhows and pearl diving boats, inspired by the ripples left by fishermen and pearl divers when sailing on the sea, reflecting the city's maritime tradition and historical characteristics (Source: Cartel Tourism Office)
The pearl of the Middle East - Qatar, energy is bestowed, pearls are cultured. Qatar 2022 World Cup, let fans and tourists feel the collision of Middle Eastern culture and football, so that more people to believe in the "World Cup", believe that football can heal the wounds in the beacon, and can see the dream of chasing in the run.