In the pearl family, there is a pink figure, petite and charming, mysterious legend, that is, Kong Kezhu (also known as conch beads)! Kong Ke Zhu is a seawater pearl that naturally forms in the body of the Queen Phoenix snail.
Queen Phoenix Snail and Natural Kong Ke Beads
The preciousness of Kong Kezhu
About 50,000 conchs can only get a usable Conker pearl, and of only 2,000-3,000 Conker pearls found each year, up to 20%-30% of The Conker pearls can be used for jewelry processing. In other words, less than 900 or so Concor pearls around the world can be made into brilliant jewelry every year. So the price is expensive, and the price is sky-high! This conch lives only in the Caribbean Sea.
Because of its remote and mysterious origin, it was not until the Victorian period that the shells of Kong Ke beads were used in jewelry. It was only during the Art Nouveau period that jewelry with The Kong ke beads as an element began to appear.
Embossed ornament of the Queen Phoenix Snail (left) Art Nouveau Kongke bead necklace (right)
Harry Winston, Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Mikimoto, these famous jewelry brands have all launched fine jewelry from Kong Kezhu. The king of pearls, mikimoto, has created a series for Kong Kezhu, making Kong Kezhu famous in Japan.
Catier Conk bead bracelet, harry winston conk bead earrings, mikimoto conk bead brooch, tiffany & co. conk bead pendant
Why is the production of natural wild Kong ke beads so scarce?
First of all, because it is a natural pearl, from the growth of the queen phoenix snail to the formation of the pearl, it is carried out in a natural environment, it can be said that every pearl is a "beautiful accident".
Secondly, the queen conch lives only in the Caribbean, and its snail meat is the ingredient of the locals, and fishermen only find Kong Kezhu when they take the snail meat. In recent years, due to overfishing, the number of queen phoenix snails has decreased year by year, and it has been classified as an endangered wildlife, with strict restrictions on its fishing activities, so there are fewer Kong ke beads that can be obtained.
How to identify true and false Kong Ke beads?
Since Kong Ke Zhu is so rare, how to distinguish between true and false Kong Ke Zhu? Many friends may be most worried about how to distinguish between true and false when buying jewelry. In the case of Kongke beads, each true Kongke bead has a characteristic surface growth pattern (such as a flame pattern), some of which are more obvious, and some of which need to be magnified and observed.
In addition, the common fake kong ke beads in the market now are usually polished by the conch shell, although they can be very close to the kong ke beads in color, but the structural texture of the circle formed by the conch shell is difficult to remove, which is the most obvious feature of distinguishing the true and false kong ke beads.
Are there any artificially farmed Kong ke beads?
Some media said that Kong Kezhu has successfully achieved artificial breeding. In 2009, researchers at the Coastal Research Institute of the Port Branch of the Atlantic University in Florida, USA, began to study the cultivation of conch beads, and researchers at the Coastal Research Institute conducted experiments on artificially cultured pearls on about 50 conchs, and after two and a half years of breeding, they successfully obtained about 200 artificially cultured conch beads, and about 80% of the parent conchs successfully survived.
Although the current technology for cultivating conch beads has been successfully developed, it has not yet been put into large-scale production. Even if farmed conch beads are successfully put on the market in the future, professional researchers believe that they will not have a greater impact on the price of natural conch beads.
How to evaluate the quality of Kong Kezhu?
The quality of Kong ke beads mainly depends on the size, shape, color, flame pattern and number of calcium spots on the surface of the pearl.
size
Most of the beads are very small, only the size of a grain of rice, and 1 to 3 carat beads are often used in jewelry, while larger than 5 carats are very rare.
shape
Common are near-oval, teardrop-shaped, near-round, and irregular shapes. Natural pearls are often irregular in shape, and this need not be too harsh, after all, each natural pearl is precious and unique.
color
It is generally light pink to dark pink, and is commonly orange pink, brown pink, yellow and red. Among them, pink and orange pink are the most popular colors.
The color of the Kong ke beads is related to the size and maturity of the queen phoenix snail. The Queen Phoenix snail takes 3-4 years to mature, about 18 cm long. Its average lifespan is 20-30 years, up to more than 30 centimeters. In general, the longer the conch grows, the more mature the conch, and the redder the color inside, it is possible to form a gem-grade Kong ke bead.
Flame pattern
The flame pattern of Kong Ke beads is caused by the inner cross-arranged aragonite structure, which rotates in the sunlight, and has a flame-like texture accompanied by silk luster, such as flowing color, showing a unique delicacy and femininity. The best Flame Pattern of Kong Ke Beads is clearly visible on the entire surface of the pearl, but such pearls are very rare.
Surface calcium spots
The surface of natural Kongke beads sometimes has white spots, often appearing at both ends of the pearl, known in the industry as "calcium spots". When a small amount of calcium dots appear at both ends of the pearl, it has little effect on the appearance, but when the calcium dots appear in a large area on the surface of the pearl, it will affect the beauty of the Kong Ke beads.
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