Pearls don’t come from a grain of sand…

[@nathanoberg4389]

My grandmother (we called her Gram), found a full sized natural pearl that was white in color and had a perfect finish. She found the pearl in a can of oysters she bought at the grocery store. She loved it so much and thought it was so special that she brought it to a jeweler and had it set onto a gold ring. She wore the ring often, and we still have it to this day. She was a very special and very lovely woman.

[@MissEddieBlueKawaiiKrafts]

I love this story 🩵

[@cuntdork]

I've got an extremely similar story! My great grandfather found one when he was gathering oysters in the Rock River in Illinois. He had it turned into a little gold ring and it became a family heirloom which was passed down to me. I'm going to give it to one of my daughters one day when they are older.

[@tammyjohnson8150]

That is awesome! It’s not very often that the ocean gives up her secrets. What a wonderful family treasure.

[@kaishajones]

I call my grandma gram too ❤

[@kathyself8816]

I love this story about your Gram. My Granny left tons of pearls behind when she passed away. They're all costume jewelry, I believe, but Granny did love pearls, too.

[@businesszeus6864]

i used to work in a fancy fish store that had an incredible selection of oysters, and i would sometimes eat some with the boss. i actually found a natural pearl, and she told me it was the second time she’s ever seen it. i still have it, it’s very small and not very round, mostly matte white but about 1/3 of it actually has the classic pearl finish. it’s basically worth nothing, but i keep it in a tiny glass jar to show it off to everyone that comes to my house lol

[@pilarq7886]

Easy to wire wrap *pretty side up or half of it pretty side up and wear as bracelet or ring so u can SEE IT ON YOU. Enjoy it on special occasions and conversation piece. Wire wrap it on existing CZ bracelet or silver ring.

[@harringt100]

​@@pilarq7886 It honestly doesn't sound like the pearl is all that pretty.

[@john-perrybentley2649]

Epic.

[@ooo-gh1nm]

Make sure you give people the info about how rare they are. Will def get some ears listening

[@wj1915]

Tell the people where you live so we can they can get it

[@CynthiaDelFava]

The type of cultured pearl that starts with a large bead is a MUCH less valuable pearl. The highest grade cultured pearl is made by inserrting a small piece of mollusk mantle tissue. This type of pearl is all pearl because the mantle tissue is absorbed into the pearl. This can grow to be a very valuable pearl. But in both cases there's no guarantee that it will result in a round blemish free pearl. There are many different grades of cultured pearl. The more layers of nacre (pearl) the more valuable it is. Even a pearl started with a bead can be valuable if it has a thick layer of nacre.

[@Cassie-Nova-]

Thank you I was wondering this!!

[@surething2.0]

In ALL cases it's value is based on the dummy or dummies that'll pay for this mess. The vanity of ppl at the expense of living things has surpassed the level of absurdity I didn't think can be reached!

[@debshreebasu8137]

Okayyyy. Thanks for the information

[@angryeliteultragree6329]

Think about it this way. It is a pretty rock. It holds no value other than what you give it. And what it can be backed by.

[@nickwilliams2415]

Cynthia. Thank you.

[@KhanArtist3]

I dont understand why people gotta say "this isnt true this is what happens" when they are wrong, natural pearls can be formed by any foreign object inside a bivalve be that sand, part of a shell or something else, pearls are made when something gets inside the shell and the natural immune respone is to cover it in the same material that makes the shell so that it cant injure the soft insides, pearls are incredibly rare though for the reasons stated in the video, they are great at keeping things out

[@kankudevikothari5522]

Oysters are filter feeders, they are very good at keeping the sand out, it's the parasites or any large foreign object (like a small shard or something).

[@KhanArtist3]

@@kankudevikothari5522 nope as I said sand too, it's rare, like incredibly rare for it to be sand, but can be, especially larger chunks of sand, rather than fine silty sand. But it's more common to be shell parasites or something that would irritate the oyster/bivalve

[@paulinemegson8519]

Actually any intrusion into the mantle tissue WILL create a pearl, be it a speck of grit(or sand) or an artificially introduced glass bead as a nucleus in a pearl culture farm. Pearls are the response of several species of bivalve mollusks to an irritant in the mantle(the organ that also secretes the shell. The idea is that the animal coats the irritant with lots of smooth coats of “nacre” , the same stuff that lines the shells(otherwise known as mother of pearl) so that it cant injure the delicate tissues. Natural pearls are almost never perfectly spherical, and often come in weird shapes known as “baroque pearls” because the nucleus is rarely perfectly round. Cultured pearls use a small, perfectly round glass bead inserted into the mantle , which the mollusk(not usually an oyster….usually a pearl shell mollusk)then coats with nacre. They also sometimes use shaped inserts to get specific shapes

[@DarkCrystal777]

Facts! In zoology, when I learned about how nacre makes the shells, it blew my mind. To think that the macre is liquid secretions that harden to form such a beautiful natural sheen is just fascinating! Even giant conch shells are created from years of the same process. Layers and layers of nacre over time. Incredible.

[@hemlocktea6643]

And how much does the price go down considering it's not a big natural pearl and is now a bead of glass with a pearl coating? I bet it's still way too expensive considering the tiny amount of effort foe each "pearl"

[@thesongbird2383]

Pauline - Thanks for the very interesting information. 👍💜

[@myalias2812]

Fascinating! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. So basically a non oyster has a foreign object- man made glass bead - forced into its tissue which causes discomfort so they can rip off the public. They remove it, & insert another one & the poor mollusk spends it's life a slave.

[@myalias2812]

​@@DarkCrystal777another fascinating fact ... thanks for sharing

[@Mr.NobodyOfficial]

Irritants besides parasites can still get inside pearl oysters. Yes, while they do manually insert irritants in order to form pearls, anything that gets inside the oyster is considered an irritant and will form a pearl, even shell damage can form pearls.

[@meganwynn372]

... not regretting that ive never eaten raw oysters now so much. XD

[@mikurowl4473]

The music creates the feeling of watching not video about pearls but a video reviewing cows.

[@galinamutum2347]

Lmao yeah 😂

[@mtrichie111]

Banjo

[@VeryBlackMirror]

Hahahaha 😂

[@judycolfack8504]

Yes

[@localarsonist4484]

LMFAOOOO

[@mika67cres]

I found all the comments interesting and even more informative then the video. I'm glad I was able to view both. Thanks

[@florencemccann6030]

Me too 😀

[@user-rc7ld1db8v]

I worked in a jewelry store. People would come in and show off their pearl jewelry. If they had worn them regularly for a year or more, they almost always had the nacre rubbed off. They were really wearing a dull clam shell bead that used to be "a pearl." A bead , 1 year in an oyster, creates about .2 millimeters thickness, the rest is a fresh-water shell from the Mississippi river.

[@tlojewelrylove]

Wow, that's not a thick layer of nacre at all! I can see why it could wear off quickly. I'm guessing the "nucleus" in the video is a clam bead? It's interesting how nature has the "ability" to create such beauty.

[@biosparkles9442]

Kamoka don't use nuclei from Mississippi clams, they craft their own nuclei from their own oysters

[@vivianeb90]

Yeah, my pearls even flaked off, so I thought it's a fake pearl. Was quite upset to get swindled. ☹️ And this guy sells them for 100s of dollars after only 1 year.

[@stingyfloopy]

That’s so annoying. People will sell them for well over 100 just to barely get a few uses out of it? Talk about a scam in the industry!! Please do a full video talking about this! I’m seriously shocked and upset

[@bcaye]

That's why my pearls are special occasion only. If I go somewhere with you and my pearls are on, you are very special to me!

[@TnT_F0X]

They used to use grains of sand... well pebbles and it used to take many years for a close to round pearl, not one. With modern techniques we can make perfect spheres from mother of pearl and just stick them in. The first designer pearls were made from Ceramic and were often tiny statues of Buddha that they had the oysters coat. Honestly that sounds cooler, I want me a tiny pearl Bobby Hill.

[@EmEm78]

Would he have a tiny purse?

[@TnT_F0X]

@@EmEm78 no, but his pose will be mid tiny purse kick.

[@ReleasedHollow]

This just reminds me that there's a reboot to King of the Hill happening where Bobby is now a chef in a fusion restaurant.

[@TnT_F0X]

@@ReleasedHollow Yup, I got all my fingers crossed that Episode 1 starts with Cotton and Junichiro showing up at Hank's door. Cotton faked his death, moved to Japan and lived with his Japanese love... but since she passed he decided to move back to Texas to see what Hank, Good Hank, and Hank's Wife are up to... and Junichiro is duty bound to ensure his father's safe travel... since hes in his 90's now. I can hear the opening lines now... 'You aint seeing a Ghost... I faked my death!' Junichiro and Hank simultaneously: B-WAHH

[@shyamalganguly3598]

They used grain of sand instead of the modern nucleus to put inside the body of an oyster and the oyster so treated felt a pain for such foreign object in the body and secret a juicy substance around the object which ultimately became perl and this is exactly similar to the process of natural formation of mother of pearl but synthetic ones are different from pure pearls!

[@ArchivedFox]

...so pearls are just spray painted beads? It's the equivalent of gold plating something. I can see why ppl mislead us about the grain of sand.

[@recoveringsoul755]

Coated with mother of pearl It's why real pearls are so expensive

[@AloisAgos]

More like mucus covered beads.

[@witchhazel4135]

So, I guess the choice is either a coated parasite, or a coated bead.

[@lanqianbi]

the coat can be very thick

[@recoveringsoul755]

@@lanqianbi the longer it's in the oyster the bigger it would be. Or they start with a smaller or bigger bead

[@assuredaviation9116]

Tahitians pride themselves in their exceptionally rare and beautiful black pearls. I’m part Tahitians myself and have seen them firsthand, they’re used in js about anything in Tahiti. From art, to jewellery, to decorations. It’s imbedded in the culture

[@tlojewelrylove]

They are beautiful. I bought a pair of Tahitian pearl earrings but sadly I had to return them because of a manufacturing defect (the pearl was attached crooked). They are very pretty though.

[@Slla-th5vt]

How can it be exceptionally rare but also used in everything?

[@tonyb7748]

I have a pearl from 1644 that was found in 1986 on a wedding band. Real pearls do exist and are amazingly heavy and can be round when given enough time. The pearl im talkng about came to my family from the coastline of Hick's bay Australia during a Alexander Exquemelin raid find.

[@halcyon3116]

😮😮😮😮that's amazing

[@tonyb7748]

@@halcyon3116 Thak you but it was mostly probability than luck or enterpise. Just happened to be born in the same family.

[@DK.448]

😎

[@ultraviolettas]

imagine all the history that pearl has seen

[@tonyb7748]

@@ultraviolettas I wonder the same when it comes to mind. Thank you for the comment.

[@taniasalu2405]

Australian here- big pearls are rare. Normal sized ones are available in every jewelry shop. And in the seas around Broome, the pearl industry makes its money on natural pearls, enough that several companies have become very wealthy. What would be more accurate to say is pearls are rare in some seas but common in other parts of the world such as northern Australia and southern Japan.

[@wpjohn91]

Used to be common in the med and persian gulf. Cleopatra once disolved and swallowed the largest pearl in egypt to make a point

[@taniasalu2405]

@@wpjohn91 it's rumoured the La Pelegrina pearl, once owned by Elizabeth Taylor, was the pair to that long-consumed earring of Cleopatra's. If true, a totally cool historical association.

[@Baptized_in_Fire.]

Yes. My parents got several pearls from eating oysters at restaurants before I was born. I grew up assuming it wasn't super common or super rare, but somewhere in between. I'm in Texas, btw.

[@ulalaFrugilega]

@@Baptized_in_Fire.must be so nice to find a pearl!

[@Yvanehtnioj2000]

@@wpjohn91that’s Roman logic for you 😂😂

[@Sargent_Jo]

Imagine minding you own business just to have some scientist picking at your one and only ball 😭

[@U-Moto]

Hahaha 😂

[@vickiephilpitt7697]

😯😄😅😂☺️👍

[@sherimorgan7107]

And taking it 🤣

[@Makaneek5060]

😔

[@bumlookercheekymonkey3985]

If that scientist is Harley Quinn pick away baby 💦

[@Kent-mb8gp]

Pearls can come from a grain of sand, so like most of these info videos, it starts off wrong. While sand can be an irritant, it is more typically organic material or parasites that initiate the formation of pearls. But sand is still one of the causes.

[@letmeexplain1816]

Yes, I agree with you, too.

[@varun2250]

"Pearls are benign unless you ask the Oyester" One of my favourite quotes of all time.

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

"What's wrong with being drunk?" "Ask a glass of water."

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

in other words, there's no shame in using fake pearls, since real pearls are 99% artificial anyway.

[@PepesFanGirl]

Yep that was my takeaway. Was just looking to buy a necklace not long ago

[@TimothiusRycard]

You pay for the nacre coating, like paying for designer branding

[@katharina...]

Real pearls are not artificial, they are made entirely inside oyster shells, and because it's very difficult to find natural pearls that have nearly perfect shape and size, they are super expensive. Cultured pearls, which is what they talked about in this short, are much more affordable, but still quite beautiful.

[@bleehh]

Fake pearls also don't come from probing living creatures, so go ahead.

[@marydidyouknow5826]

​@@bleehhThey also aren't nearly as pretty.

[@wyzasukitan]

My big sister absolutely LOVES pearls, she inherited my mom’s wedding pearls and we always give her pearls for Christmas. I was going to send this to her til you mentioned parasites …I think I will just leave her in blissful ignorance actually (I’m glad to know tho, I think the process is really cool!)

[@tracylalonde4972]

That's my absolute favorite also. I used to tell my dad that one day I wanted a real set of them when I got married. My parents bought them for me as a wedding gift. I hope my daughter wears them one day.

[@princesskileyrae]

It's okay to not kill her adult Santa Claus 🥰 My nana loved pearls too. I think this would have made her sad. I'm a science nerd so it would have killed me not to tell her lol. Now I have soooooo many more questions about pearls after this video. Of what is the bead aka nucleus comprised? How long have they been culturing pearls? How do the different colors happen? So fascinating...

[@PepesFanGirl]

Good call Sometimes we don't need to know how ev works 😅. I have to admit I'm disappointed too. Lost my Pearl's to a fire and have yet to replace them.

[@PepesFanGirl]

So have they been making cultured Pearl's for hundreds of years? I know women have worn them for some time now. So where did they get those 1800s Pearl's?

[@jasondashney]

If it would bother her, then you’re doing the right thing but by not saying anything. Good for you

[@heretoserve5023]

!... just imagine the SENSE OF RELIEF the oyster would experience after having the foreign object removed!!

[@waffleattack3347]

I'm never buying pearls again!

[@jacquelinemariesart]

Yes I believe this process causes the oyster a lot pain

[@bohanxu6125]

Oyster doesn't have brain. It has ganglia, which is much much simpler than a proper brain that a mosquito, flies, cockroach, or crab has.

[@sandrahassan42]

Horrible, just leave the oysters alone, I’d never buy pearls😢

[@tristanblake5349]

I once found a small, natural black pearl inside a mussel

[@TheThora17]

😲

[@sherimorgan7107]

I found a gun metal colored one once. It was small and wonky but I loved it

[@rahulvinodpatil]

Did you see Capt Jack Sparrow?

[@A.777-p8m]

You found a cultured parasite, 😆... According to the video!

[@RASTAGOOB]

They painted it black

[@julieaskingforafriend]

These are also saltwater pearls, which are "cultured" predominantly in the South Pacific. Freshwater pearls, which are lumpy and any shape imaginable, come from mussels. There's a freshwater pearl farm in Missouri.

[@ww4575]

So pearls aren’t even pearls they’re pearl plated beads.

[@TotallyAGoblin]

Pearl plated plastic

[@ImUnderYourFloorboards]

​@@TotallyAGoblinthey're actually made of recycled shell! Usually mussel shells :)

[@TheThora17]

Right?!

[@ianbelletti6241]

The vast majority are. Large natural pearls take years to develope. It takes years just to get the natural pearl to the size seen en the video. That's why they culture pearls with a nucleus close to the size they want to retrieve.

[@olavwilhelm6843]

have you not been listening .... natural pearl...cultured pearl

[@ChristopherKeillor-m9d]

Natural pearls might be rare, but that's what makes them valuable in the more perfect makes them even more valuable. A cultured pearl / fake pearl should never be anywhere near as expensive

[@meganwynn372]

All round pearls are going to be cultured. Its the speacial texture on those beads that causes it be coated with mother of pearl evenly. I think it may take 5 to 10 years to get the kind of round ones we saw at the beginning.

[@timgalivan2846]

I live in Louisiana and have found enough pearls in my oysters to know his numbers are off. I've even found them in no-shell fried oysters. It's more common than people think

[@kawaiilette2462]

agreed. I live in a beach town in south eastern NC. I've found quite a few hidden in my dinner before, and im not that lucky lol

[@TheFakeyCakeMaker]

Yeah I remember a girl I worked with had beautiful necklace it was a shell and had pearls set in it, she told me her boyfriend was a fisherman and found those pearls in mussels while fishing.

[@Lacroix999]

There are companies that sell oysters that have a pearl in every one of them preserved in alcohol for you to harvest at home yourself and make into a pearl necklace. If his numbers were correct, most of these companies selling these products would be out of business because they wouldn’t have pearls in them and the majority of most would be a miss and they’d just sell empty oysters… yet they don’t.

[@DreadEnder]

Perhaps your in an area where the parasites are common in the oyster’s population.

[@tinybrownbird]

​@@Lacroix999Those are farmed pearls and not naturally formed, though

[@thefrozencombustion]

Once I found a natural pearl in an oyster, I was eating raw on the half shell. It was tiny but biting down on it scared me half to death.

[@Mi..Mi..]

Lucky you bit it instead of swallowing

[@SSebstan]

Finding something soft in hard food 👍 Finding something hard in soft food 😱

[@Crokatec]

Then you got a $3000 medical bill for breaking your tooth

[@MickeyGee73]

You bit into a raw oyster? I'm only gonna slide those suckers right down.. 😅

[@Hinarushi]

Imagine ingesting one of those nasty looking parasites when eating raw seafood ✋️🥲

[@KJ-jq9pq]

I have often found pearls in oysters and occasionally in abalone. Very small. Abalone pearls are prettier, lighter coloured.

[@brucelytle1144]

I found an abalone pearl once. About 3/8 x 1/4 inch in size. It was a beautiful ⚫️

[@책잘읽어주는누나]

My family and I went to Las Vegas a few years back, and for my 13th birthday, we decided to try out this store where you could open some pearl oysters which were supposed to have one pear in each. We opened two, and in the second one, there were TWO pearls, not one. The shopkeeper was extremely surprised because she said the company was only allowed to put one nucleus in per oyster, so one of them must be a natural pearl. We made the first one into a necklace and kept the twin pearls. Such a fun experience.

[@Aliciaek]

Too much perfection is no longer highly valued. Mikimoto made them with sand and it took a long time before they formed. With this new method it is just balls covered with the mother-of-pearl shell. therefore I prefer the Mikimoto.

[@ritamontoya-ur6kt]

I owned a lot of mikimoto pedals. When my daughter graduated from college, I gave her the whole collection. I hope she understands how special they are.

[@CCryogen]

There's an artist that buys perfectly round opals (Turquoise. Sorry) and has oysters grow black pearl coating around them. He then drills out a design that reveals the shiny gem inside the Pearl.

[@chichangwu]

are the parasites still encased inside the pearls? aint that a bit dangerous?

[@flosamuu]

@@chichangwu they're encased to kill them. A year trapped inside a pearl means its no longer dangerous

[@lordofnaps6159]

​@@chichangwu No, the opal is in place of the parasite and even if it was the parasite would be long dead.

[@zitronienchen]

Do You know the name of the artist? It sounds interesting I want to look it up

[@CCryogen]

@@chichangwu 🤨

[@cloudylemonvibezz]

imagine a giant alien takes you from your home to give you a kidney stone, then the alien puts you back in your home for a year, the takes you again to remove your kidney stone and wear it as jewelry. thx for the 15k likes :3

[@troyperdew6771]

We are not alien and words like these steer people away from truth when he is showing you what people or what you call aliens do

[@javinshki17000]

feels good man

[@Totallyreallyreal]

Dude I made a comment similar to this on a different video short.😂😂😂

[@forrealitsme4438]

@@Totallyreallyreal and I think I saw it

[@Gafafsg]

If an alien gave me a kidney stone I would hunt it down. Not okay.

[@ratinyourspaghetti8499]

It’s kinda nice how stories that have the male love interest find the most perfect pearl. It makes it all the more special after learning natural pearls are so rare to find. Imagine finding such a pearl before cultured pearl farming was a thing. If someone were to give me a pearl like that I’d say yes.

[@tonydabaloney]

I ate some oysters in Nags Head,NC and bit down on a pearl. Ot cracked two teeth. The restaurant called a dentist and had him meet us the next day ,Sunday and fixed me up. Nice of them and my wife still has the pearl, a potatoes shaped one about the size of a Tic Tac.

[@RPKD88]

Karma hey

[@pseudonym745]

​@@RPKD88👍😂

[@Mariam-anyways]

I can't understand if this is good or bad teeth are precious and so are pearls 😂

[@bloodline9475]

When you went to the toilet, did you hear the bouncing clanking sound as you passed the remnants out?!! 😝😝😝

[@infiniteinspiration1628]

So sorry that happened to you 😢❤

[@kenea3226]

And Polynesians and Australian indigenous peoples (in the NT) have been farming cultured pearls for at least 1000 years.

[@arilguyguyon8093]

I guess my pearl set of jewels as a graduation gift by my dad is real they are not that well shaped and the color is not pure and they are tiny bought from Palawan, thanksfor the infos. , love natural pearls.

[@Vassi_Drakonov]

I bet it felt like a big relief for the mollusks when pearl farmers extract pearl from them, because pearls are basically irritants for them.

[@ammywolf1777]

Though I'm pretty sure they'd put a new one right after, or not too long after

[@nk6122]

These poor oysters/mollusks 😢

[@tingting7558]

Feeling bad for a mollusk is the same as feeling bad for a seaweed.

[@waffleattack3347]

​@@tingting7558I do feel bad for plants 😭

[@betsywoolbright8059]

​@@tingting7558if it can respond to stimuli, it's alive. All life is sacred

[@theblackpearl3880]

How were pearls done before culturing? Were the natural pearls that were perfect, just extremely rare and very expensive?

[@Bluelabel1010]

They were just extremely rare. A couple large perfect pearls a thousand years ago could be worth millions of dollars in todays money.

[@jbear9]

Natural pearls were indeed wildly expensive but people have also been culturing them for a very long time.

[@trout512]

Queen Cleopatra proved she was obscenely rich by crushing a single pearl from her earrings into a glass of vinegar, waiting for it to dissolve completely from the acid, and drinking it. It allegedly impressed the heck out of Marc Antony. That's how rare high quality, large, natural pearls are.

[@GogiRegion]

I think clam fishing was more common in the past, so while it was definitely rarer, the opportunity to find them was higher than today.

[@mariatorres9789]

​@@trout512I thought she dissolved it into wine?

[@Brassroses]

Look, I'm not going to say that the price isn't artificially inflated, like most luxury goods, but its not quite that simple either. There are different grades of pearl, and some of them are more expensive because they take longer to make. The big bead they show here is a shortcut, but leaving a smaller bead for a longer time will cause more layers of the natural pearl to form. Even then, as many folks have pointed out, its not a guarantee they will form smooth, and the closer they are to the desired shape and color, the more they are worth. Even the ones shown here Natural are much sturdier than any random painted glass or plastic bead that you get from a craft store, and my nature of the time, material and labor cost, will be more expensive than the painted ones.

[@watamatafoyu]

The most expensive pearl is one that somebody pays too much for and isn't even real.

[@CrumbySoulsol]

So if I understand this right…The natural pearl is basically the underwater equavillent of the mosquito encased in amber, but instead of tree sap & a bug it’s a parasite and oyster shell. Neat!

[@alfredtameifuna8928]

This is Tahiti. In the Cook Islands they have the most beautiful organic pearls on the planet...

[@marymacdonald2379]

Very true. My biggest regret is not buying a pair of green pearl earrings in a shop on Rarotonga for $300, 15 years ago. They were slightly less than 1 cm. diameter and glowed.

[@leesteal4458]

Has anyone ever read, "The Pearl?" It's an excellent book.

[@tinahickman6300]

Yes it was written by John Steinbeck the Pulizer Prize & Nobel Prize winning author who wrote Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.

[@lanswyfte]

Yes--- it's one of the few assigned books I actually read in high school, and went back to read it again years later because I liked it.

[@chrislickteig5986]

Has anyone taught you to spell lol

[@ArchimedesPie]

Steinbeck, yes, I used to read vociferously as a teenager in the 80s and 90s. Out of the habit now, too busy, but it used to bring me so much pleasure...

[@annabellehodgson4145]

​@@chrislickteig5986 typos. We all can't be perfect Christopher, jeez.

[@ptyxx]

That is the equivalent of a copper bar covered in a thin layer of gold and sold as a gold bar

[@jbear9]

It would be more like if you put the copper back in the ground and gold covered it on its own. It's also why cultured pearls are far cheaper than natural pearls.

[@imaginefinding]

Thats why gold plated copper are cheaper, just like how these pearls are cheaper compared to a natural one

[@MarkTravis-l6g]

Yeah if you could only get the gold by sticking it in a certain place in a certain animal then put it back in the ocean for an entire year. It's not really comparable at all when you think about it. The value is related to the time it takes.

[@biggusy25]

No it isn't, it's the equivalent of a gold-plated necklace being sold as a gold-plated necklace.. unless you can't read the word 'cultured' in the description.. then that's on you.

[@Darwidx]

And it's literally what copper is in natural state, a small value metal covered in great vallue metal, pearls are literal trash covered in great vallue flegma.

[@flyingcheff]

It's amazing how many "experts " and/or people that are presenting themselves as knowledgeable are perpetuating the myth of sand as the antagonist for a pearls creation. Thank you!

[@jacobhargiss9909]

I found a pearl in an oyster I bought once a couple years back. About the size of a grain of rice, almost the shape of a tear drop. Whish I hadnt lost it.

[@The_Dawg_father]

Note to self, do not reincarnate as a clam.

[@Sweetpeapotter]

That’s funny

[@manicplanet5223]

This is actually really cool and I didn’t know that natural pearls are due to a parasite getting past the oysters filtering

[@josephcooksley3219]

I only ever found one Green lip Muscel Pearl ... It was quite strange ... I grilled the muscels bread crumbs garlic yum I was about 3mm in size ... perfectly round . It was blue green in colour ... It was a shock to find it in the Muscel ...

[@CardinalMoments]

My daughter wanted pearls for her senior highschool photos but she is quite the unique young woman and didn't care for my great grandmas perfectly round and matched strand. I started searching for something different to suit her and came across pearls formed into shapes of different styles and some that are hand carved by an artist. I ordered them in the shape of stars and a hand carved one from a lovely artist as a finishing bead at the clasp and had them hand knotted and set into her very own and gave them to her for her birthday. I felt so proud when she wore them for the pictures because my daughter wont wear anything on her body that she doesn't like so I knew she loved them. I just wanted her to feel beautiful and like herself to mark the occasion even if they aren't worth much to anyone else.

[@BS-dq1kz]

That’s sweet.

[@barbarosac7157]

Good for you... 🙏👌

[@coolestkidontheblock111]

Stars were a great choice! Star shaped accessories are currently very popular in fashion among gen z!

[@J.A.huscher]

That's really sweet

[@Bobdylan12121]

​@@coolestkidontheblock111 Found the Ai bot.

[@stonedsasquatch]

If it was solely parasite caused there would be many more pearls found. The reason they are so rare is they are filter feeders so it takes a special situation to cause it

[@MatchaCocoaDog]

Seeing that parasite invade the oyster makes me rethink eating oysters!!! OMFG!!!

[@marliokono6292]

Yeah, I’m really preferring the sand story rather than parasite story

[@CComments-h1n]

What happens is your leave the nucleus for longer than a year? What is the nucleus made from? Can you put in different shapes? Would be wild to see letter, or stars, or diamond shape pearls

[@silverfox9004]

The only answer I know is that the nucleus is made of recycled oyster shell. Pearls can also be in different shapes, I'm not sure if anyone has purposely tried to make something other than a sphere but the ones that turn out to be different shapes I love

[@Pərfectchāøs]

They should put a tiny knife shape and get a tiny pearl knife

[@aminaabuhatab8049]

​@@silverfox9004I have a pearl necklace with tiny oblong pearls, and other things where the pearls are kinda semi spherical, like the top of a mushroom. So I guess there are other shapes.

[@silverfox9004]

@@aminaabuhatab8049 from what I can tell, those shapes occur when the pearl thickness is created unevenly. the core was a sphere, but luck made it into another shape

[@audradonthaveone6708]

I have watched oyster opening lives on T T and they can add different shapes.

[@lucaria6164]

So natural pearls are just coffins of the parasite?

[@greenmtnmellie]

And the wealthy ladies & gents wearing pearls back before culturing were wearing beads full of parasites around ... 🪱

[@lightingthief4482]

Not entirely. It is pretty much a coating over whatever object that somehow got past their shells, including foreign objects like....sand.

[@thelnepoet1]

I was like, so people are paying for a parasite, but I like your comment better! Real pearls are forever known as parasite coffins to me. 😂

[@Shoulderpads-mcgee]

I mean figs are just wasp coffins too then, eh?

[@nlevy4163]

WhT??​@@Shoulderpads-mcgee

[@ozel]

My great grandfather was trading with natural pearls , it stopped after they started making cultured pearls. But the pearls made him wealthy and even after 4 generations we are still have some of what he left.

[@Bagginsdogma]

I wish my family was smart enough to have had some type of business in the past 😂

[@AuLily1]

I nearly broke a tooth on a tiny pearl that came in a jar of shucked oysters. I was amazed it managed its way through the processing process and cooking. Yet there it was. Not looking anything like I'd expect. It was a mottled white.

[@Acme12345]

I never knew that, thanks mate from Australia

[@4justmyopinion]

I love ALL pearls. Thanks for the information.

[@Z.A.M.1359]

The bead thing makes the inside of chipped and disolved pearls make so much more sense!

[@shelbywilder7321]

The cultured ones they harvest have “natural” layers made by the ocean and those will only start to tarnish over multiple decades of time. But, there are fake pearls used in inexpensive jewlrey, they use plastic white beads that are spray painted a pearl finish, and those chip quickly and easily.

[@OhSkyeLanta]

I kinda love how even after the parasites evolved to get past the filter, clam evolution went “ok, you got past defense 1. So we’ll just encapsulate you, how do you like them apples?”

[@reganmoore435]

must be lucky I found a pearl in an oyster, and it is miss shaped but has a hint of purple shine to it

[@st.charlesstreet9876]

Always wanted to know! At Sea World in Mission Bay they would have Women Japanese divers go down with a plastic cup and bring one up with an ouster in it and you take it to the visitor shop and they would open it and then appraise the pearl. They gave you the option to upgrade to one of their other pearls on display. After the poor appraisal I was about to get my wallet out to get my girlfriend a better high quality jewelry piece. She then pushed my hand back down and said this pearl is perfect if it came from me and wanted the setting put on. That was my first and last time a sweet person ever did a loving gesture like that.❤

[@manamichan100]

GO BACK TO HER

[@st.charlesstreet9876]

@@manamichan100 😂 30 years ago! But just a very small tribute to anyone, anytime doesn’t hurt. ❤️🙂

[@meowinde]

​@@manamichan100lol

[@sherriefisher9009]

They are beautiful though

[@judymora3550]

Finally a video where they don't kill the oister by cutting the shell in 2 and very educative by the way, thanks!👏👏👏👏

[@Deadpool4president]

Natural pearls are considerably less appealing now that I know a parasite was involved

[@East_Coast_Toasty_Boy]

Basically the carcass of a parasite. LOL

[@yogibear1853]

Considering they’re so rare at least that means there aren’t an abundance of those parasites though. And it’s a pretty way to remove a freeloader lol

[@LordNecron]

On the other side, the pearl existing is a sign that the oyster managed to KILL the parasite.

[@MiScusi69]

No, it happens when the oyster kills the parasite, so it's like a trophy

[@ghoulishgoober3122]

That's metal as fuck​@@MiScusi69

[@iamonlyme4me]

A "small" bead. Lol.

[@slickrick343]

Wouldn't say that 1:10000 figure for is true. I've found many over the years and I aint that lucky

[@teddymagcawas1332]

Natural pearl is more heavier than cultured pearl😊..and bounce higher at same high levels..compare it when you have them❤

[@Sarahyoutubeaddict]

Most informative, shame natural shapes don't seem to be valued ?

[@serenanorris7251]

I have a natural pearl i was eating fried oysters, and biting into it, it is tiny and irregular.

[@funnyvideos-jx3dc]

Thank you for explaining. Now i know exactly how pearls comes out from that thing

[@baplotnik]

no you don't

[@Urolling]

I got a natural pearl a few times, most were cream, one pink, and one that was a beautiful black with a blue shine. They're so pretty.

[@Off-gridchic]

Thank you for this tutorial it was very informative.

[@dianalindeman1644]

Educational. In the twentieth century when I was growing up, I had a book that showed the nacre culture process. The photo showed tiny Buddha images on the inner shell that had been covered in nacre.

[@goldmaskfiend]

The oyster resistance is approaching

[@xanthophobia9977]

They will fight back.

[@harenrussel]

Stunning black 🖤🖤🖤 pearls ...my people treasure 😍

[@lilvampire7439]

Imagine someone putting a big ass bead under one side of your tongue

[@6feetunderpants]

I imagine there are freaks who like to put ass beads in their mouth. Or did you mean "big-ass bead"?

[@michaelmccoy1794]

I would just spit it out...😊

[@ThatMemerDude89]

Tongue piercing

[@tingting7558]

Imagine living your whole life filtering scum out of the ocean.

[@joesmith2505]

Back in the mid 1980s I worked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium at the in house food service for visitors called the Portola Cafe. The Aquarium also did guest banquets. The Portala Cafe staff were tasked with doing the food prep for the banquets. I was given the responsability to shuck 500 oysters. I found 2 natural pearls, about the size of BBs. Took me all day to shuck those freaking oysters. I have no idea where those pearls are now.

[@AdventureIndiana]

So, an oyster can produce more than one pearl? I thought the oyster was killed in removing the pearl. Seems like they could remove, put in another bead and go again. I wonder how many pearls an oyster could make? What is their life span. Hmmmm

[@FebbieG]

I think it depends on the species and extraction method?

[@nevaehlumiere5418]

I have watched a lot of videos from China where they go and find humongous oysters with perhaps 10 pearls in each oyster. Sometimes each Pearl is a different color so you can have 10 different colored pearls in one oyster. These are just growing naturally in the shallows of the waters. The Chinese folks end up eating the oysters… So where do the pearls come from since they are not cultured?

[@NEKOM4TA]

Now I need a hole documentary on oyster pearls

[@cm-yu6gu]

Me too

[@robertjaramillo6346]

Whole*

[@EbonKim]

You're wrong, you're only describing the Anakin Skywalker strain of oysters.

[@seyodys]

please explain this to me, I'm intrigued

[@BIONGAFT_PHIGHTING]

bro imagine some aliens taking one of your tonsil stones and valuing it

[@naziajesmin7621]

Thanks for showing & teaching me!!!😊

[@frankmacleod2565]

I have a nice pearl I found in an abalone once

[@dontage815]

Saying it's a small bead is like having someone shove a grapefruit in your throat

[@rileyfarrar5230]

One time I was eating oysters and one had a pretty large natural pearl under the shell

[@Toki-Ralte]

perfect and easy to understand explanation.. thanks!!

[@jdelgren9927]

I found a natural pearl in a can of oysters i bit into it and thought i broke my tooth 😅

[@rachelisrael8987]

Thank you for the information... I'm not okay with pearls anymore 😕

[@Daydream_N]

I mean it's better from when they used to kill every oyster for pearls

[@rachelisrael8987]

@@Daydream_N I get that, but it's so icky to use something else's immune system to create jewelry

[@MariaMaria-sr8zg]

It's probably something that won't effect your life whatsoever. Meaning unless you were a pearl aficionado,but somehow missed its history, it isn't anything that will change your life even though now you feel differently.

[@rachelisrael8987]

@@MariaMaria-sr8zg I actually love pearls, not an aficionado by any means, but was looking for a matching set for my daughter (to match mine) on her next birthday. I won't be doing that. That to the side, when enough people decide they won't participate, things change. That how consumer culture works. It's why companies strive for labels like responsibly resourced/environmentally sustainable/organic/fair trade and so on 🫶🏽😉

[@wilville3752]

@@rachelisrael8987it’s basically a plant it’s not conscious. (Ik it’s an animal but It can’t think) also isn’t amber literally the exact same thing but for plantd

[@williamstamper442]

Most sensible and accurate short video ive seen in months. Its almost like us thinkers kinda already knew this but didnt know the process. Once explained to us then it all makes sense.

[@NobaahD]

Thank you for this lesson, I was always told it was sand. We learn something new every day!

[@Mazhypic]

What’s the nucleus made out of? Is it organic or is it just platsic? Are those pearls just man-made balls with a little shiny stuff outside of them?

[@quailypoes]

Kind of makes them seem way less appealing and valuable, huh? I've seen people saying the bead is made of 'recycled' oyster shell, but can't help wondering if it's held together with a plastic binder. Either way... pearls are suddenly a lot less appealing 😭

[@insertname3977]

​@quailypoes This short was misleading. Oysters will produce larger pearls if the irritant is left for longer periods (it also can be sand/grit/etc unlike what the poster said). Man made pearls like the ones shown are far cheaper than wild grown pearls of the same size and colour.

[@adoration20]

When I was a little kid I always asked everyone how pearls are born and never ever did anyone knew the answer. They just didnt care tho.

[@tomkurowski8443]

Yea. That's actually really disturbing.

[@evabrommer2290]

So, natural pearls are actually just parasites!?😱 Wow.. All of a sudden pearls don't look so fancy anymore....👀🎭

[@sailajachandrasekaran6057]

My grandmother told me this from what she heard from her brother who used to work in the ocean (for collecting petroleum) - when it rains, the oyster opens quickly and gets only a single drop of rainwater. Then, its fluids and saliva keeps coating the raindrop for thousands of years. After millennium we go to extract the pearl formed in the mouth of the oyster. This means every single real pearl ever extracted is made with rainwater from thousands of years ago 😮😮😮.

[@martinheath5947]

In an oyster farm no one can hear the screams

[@shahani6037]

If i crack open a natural pearl, will i see a parasite fossil??????

[@lotstodo]

I love pearls. My grandmother's pearls, which she passed on to me were dipped. DIPPED! Plastic balls with irresdesicent paint, which flaked off. My siblings often say, why don't you wear your inheritance? Because they are a pile of paint flakes. I got my own Akoya pearls, a few strings and earrings.

[@MikeG.666]

I love buying cultivated pearls and lab created gems. Cheaper and actually looks better. Something that would be $3000 is now suddenly $300.