About Me

Name: whoyg773
Biography
Loading...

Create Your Own Blog Find Other Townhall Blogs

Comments

Blog Roll

 

Pearl Jewelry - The Story of Pearl Hunters

Posted by whoyg773 on Monday, November 15, 2010 3:05:48 AM
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.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Buying Pearl Jewelry Without Being Ripped Off

Posted by whoyg773 on Monday, November 15, 2010 3:02:13 AM
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.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Buying Pearl Jewelry Without Being Ripped Off

Posted by whoyg773 on Saturday, November 06, 2010 2:26:30 AM
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.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Menkerios conferred

Posted by whoyg773 on Monday, November 09, 2009 8:10:09 PM
He said Mr. Ban, who announced last week that he would set up the commission to investigate the crackdown by security forces on 28 September in Conakry, the capital, “with a view to determining the shell pearl strand accountability of those involved,” intended to deploy the it as soon as possible, adding that it should be able to complete its work within a month once it is in the field.

While in the region, Mr. Menkerios conferred with Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, head of the National Council for pearl beads Democracy and Development (NCDD), which seized power in December after the death of then president Lansana Conté; African Union (AU) Chairman Jean Ping; Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission President Mohamed ibn Chambas; ECOWAS mediator President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso; and Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua.

“Both President Dadis Camara and his Government… welcomed the establishment of the commission of enquiry and promised that they were going to cooperate with it fully, including facilitating freshwater pearl jewlelry its work,” he said. “They expressed this in writing in a letter that they shall do so.”

Mr. Compaoré believes “the very fact that it is deployed and the work that this commission will do will positively contribute to peace and longer-term reconciliation inside the country,” he added, stressing the “tremendous expectation” by the victims, the opposition and the public in Guinea.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

climate change agreement

Posted by whoyg773 on Monday, November 09, 2009 8:09:47 PM
As a result, adaptation to climate change is vital tourism, according to Mr. Lipman. Poorer nations must be pearl strand provided with the necessary technology and financing “to create jobs, not just helping foreign tourists have a good time.”

Nations are expected to ‘seal the deal’ on a new climate change agreement – intended to go into effect after the first coral necklace commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012 – this December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Along with emissions reductions targets by industrialized nations, helping developing countries adapt to global warming’s effects is also a large component of the pact set to be reached in the Danish capital.

Tourism has reached a crossroads, but Mr. Lipman voiced optimism that the industry will rise to the climate pearl strand wholesale challenge. In the face of the oil crisis and hijackings of previous decades, tourism “found ways to respond and overcome it. There is no reason why it can’t adopt now.”

Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

For their part

Posted by whoyg773 on Monday, November 09, 2009 8:09:23 PM
The UNWTO official recommends that people travel responsibly. “You can choose what you do and how you do it,” he said, calling on travellers to opt to stay in resorts that are identifiably trying to reduce akoya pearl their carbon footprints and to offset their flights by buying carbon credits.

For their part, governments must not consider taxes on travelling as a “cash cow” and must also not “cynically impose pearl strand heavy taxes just so they can detract people from flying,” he said.

Climate-induced environmental changes – including water availability, biodiversity, and coastal erosion – will have an impact on tourism, according to a report produced last year by UNWTO, along with the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

For example, changes in agricultural production could hurt wine tourism, while increases in temperature are forecasted to shell pearl strand hurt ski resorts in the European Alps, Eastern and Western North America, Australia and Japan.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Lipman underscored

Posted by whoyg773 on Monday, November 09, 2009 8:08:52 PM
As a result, “anything which affects the industry has a big spin-off effect on the economy,” he said, pointing to the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom where the akoya pearl “biggest hit came from the reduction in tourism revenues.”

Developing countries, Mr. Lipman underscored, are often “unspoiled and undeveloped,” pointing the way towards a new form of ‘green’ tourism.

The industry accounts for 5 per cent of global annual greenhouse gas emissions, most of which can be pinned on air, car, rail and other forms of transportation.

Air transport, in particular, has freshwater pearl been targeted for its emissions, but, like other sectors, it has the potential to become more sustainable through implementation of more efficient engines and experimenting with biofuels, among others, Mr. Lipman said.

“You can’t walk to the Maldives,” he said. “We want more planes flying, not less.”

The solution, Mr. Lipman cultured pearl jewelry stressed, does not lie in curtailing long-haul flights which could hurt the economies of developing nations which rely heavily on tourism for income.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive

Nearly one third of the $735

Posted by whoyg773 on Monday, November 09, 2009 8:08:34 PM
Tourism is what “fuels the economy and drives people” in poor countries, Geoffrey Lipman, Assistant Secretary-General of the UNWTO, told the UN News Centre.

Nearly one third of the $735 billion shell pearl strand generated by tourism in 2006 went to developing nations, with the industry serving as one of the major export sectors for poor countries.

From 2000-2007, international tourism, the main source of foreign exchange in nearly all of the States classed as least cultured pearl developed countries (LDCs), recorded 110 per cent growth in these nations.

Although many people look at tourism as a “sort of flippant activity,” they often do not realize that the bread pearl industry constitutes 5 per cent of economies, having a catalytic effect on a further 5 per cent, Mr. Lipman noted.
Email ItEmail It | Print ItPrint It | CommentsComments (0) | TrackbacksTrackbacks (0) | Flag as offensiveFlag as Offensive
« Previous1Next »