When it comes to pearls, what first comes to mind for treasure fans?
Pure and immaculate white pearls ☝
Luxurious eye-catching gold pearls ☝
Understated noble black pearl ☝
No! No! No! What Bao Jie wants to introduce today is not these common pearls, but the following ten varieties that you may have never seen before.
1. Orangutan clam pearl
The mother of this pearl is the orangutan sea chrysanthemum clam, which is simply a kind of clam, yes! Clams of toads, produced in North America, scientific name: Spondylus regius.
☝ Pictured above is the orangutan clam.
☝ Above is a pearl of orangutan clams, white, pale orange, red, and with flame-like patterns.
2. Imperial Tang Crown Snail Pearl
The mother of this pearl is the imperial Tang crown snail, because of the shape of the Tang Dynasty crown hat and named, length and height can reach 5 to 40 cm, distributed in Malaysia, Indonesia, the South China Sea, Taiwan and other places, is one of the four famous snails, belongs to the precious conch.
☝ The picture above is the Imperial Tang Crown Snail.
☝ The picture above is a ring made from the shell of the Imperial Tang Crown Snail.
☝ The picture above is the Imperial Tang Crown Snail Pearl, which is white, light yellow, pale pink in color, with obvious flame-like patterns.
3. Heavenly King Red Spiral Pearl
The King Officinalis is a predatory conch that lives in subtropics and tropics, also known as Florida Maconx. In the Mayan culture, the snail could be used to place paint or be made into a horn. In modern Florida, it is made into a hammer or cup.
☝ Pictured above is the King's Red Spiral.
☝ The picture above is the Heavenly King Red Spiral Pearl, which varies in color from light to dark, and is very similar to Kong Kezhu, but it is not a kind of snail.
4. Black Flag River Clam Pearl
It is also a kind of clam, produced in the southern coast of China, and also distributed in Japan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Polynesia, and the east coast of Africa.
☝ Pictured above is the Black Flag River Clam.
☝ The picture above is the black flag river clam pearl, very black, very black, very black, not like the Tahitian black pearl with halo, just simple black.
5. Large red spiral pearl
This snail is characterized by heavy shell, high spiral tower, smooth screw shaft, and coral, growing in Taiwan, tropical Indo-Pacific.
☝ The picture above is a large red spiral and a large red spiral pearl, which is white, pink, and dark in color.
6. Panama pearl mother-of-pearl
Panamanian mother-of-pearl is a type of mother-of-pearl that can be cultured on a large scale, producing pearls called Mexican black pearls.
☝ Above are Panamanian pearls and Panamanian pearls, with black, peacock green, and sky blue.
7. Merlot beads
Finally, there is a snail that does not look ugly! Its scientific name is Melo melo, and it is produced in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific Ocean.
☝ Pictured above is Melo melo.
☝ The picture above is Merlot beads, commonly known as "Dragon Ball", the color is orange, orange, yellow, yellowish brown and nearly white, although there is no pearl, but with a characteristic porcelain luster and flame pattern, different shapes, the more rounded the more valuable.
☝In 2007, Christie's Hong Kong Autumn Auction, a 91.29 carat Merlot bead, fell the hammer price of up to 125,000 US dollars, equivalent to nearly 836,000 yuan, which shows its preciousness.
8. Empress Phoenix Snail Pearl
The famous Kong Kezhu's mother is the Empress Phoenix Snail! The name sounds expensive! It is a large conch that can grow to 15 to 31 cm and is found from North to Central America on the west coast of the Atlantic.
☝ Pictured above is the Empress Phoenix Snail.
☝ The picture above is a Kong ke bead, between pink and red in color, with flame-like patterns and brilliance. In addition to pink, Kong Kezhu also has white, brown, and orange, but it is very rare.
☝ The picture above is a Kong ke bead without a flame pattern.
☝ The picture above is an ornament of Kong Kezhu, and its fresh appearance is unique among pearls!
9. Scaly pearls
Treasure fans must be familiar with the brick, but what is the scale? It is a species of brick with several rows of large scales, living in coral reefs in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, and can grow to about 40 centimeters.
☝ Pictured above is a scaly brick.
☝ The picture above is a scaly pearl, which is slightly easier to buy than a Merlot bead, the color is white or pale, there is a flame-like pattern, the appearance is extremely plain, large and round.
10. Abalone pearls
Eating abalone and eating pearls? Don't believe it! It's true! Although abalone is abundant around the world, in general, they do not give birth to pearls. Only a very few people will grow into pearls because they have foreign bodies in the digestive system and cannot digest them.
☝ Pictured above is the shell of an abalone.
☝ Above are abalone pearls, like opals, with bright colors and shapes. Very few can grow symmetrically, most of them are trumpet-shaped or shark teeth- and 8 species of abalone are known to produce pearls.
Baojie · supplement
In addition to the above ten, there are very few people who have seen the following types.
1. Shoot rib mother pearls
Ribbed mother of pearl beetles are named after the radial ribs on the surface of the shell, and Panamanian pearl shells are both Pinctada, which is more distributed in Hainan, China, and is known locally as "LianBei", which is edible and can also be used to detect heavy metal contamination.
☝ Pictured above is a projectile of ribbed mother-of-pearl.
☝ The picture above is the pearl it produces.
2. Nautilus pearls
The Nautilus is mainly produced in the waters of the Indian Ocean and is a very domineering conch.
☝ The picture above is the Nautilus, but Bao Jie thinks it looks more like a red stewed prawn, hahaha.
☝ Pictured above is a Nautilus pearl, very rare.
3. Flower cloth sea fan clam pearl
The flower cloth sea fan clam is a family of sea fan clams, which have many genera and species, which are to put it bluntly, the kind of scallops that everyone often eats.
☝ Pictured above is a flower cloth sea fan clam.
☝ The picture above is a flower cloth sea fan clam pearl, with different shades of color, some of which can grow particularly purple; the shape is also special-shaped, round, and has a beautiful pattern.
4. Sawtooth oyster pearls
Serrated oysters belong to the oyster family, with thick and firm shells, sharp ridges, and spines protruding from the ridges, distributed along the western Pacific coast.
☝ Pictured above is a sawtooth oyster.
☝ Pictured above is a sawtooth oyster pearl. In fact, rather than saying that sawtooth oysters produce pearls, it is better to say that oysters can produce pearls in this group, and the colors are white, pink, black and so on.