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| Friday, 12-Nov-2010 08:44 |
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Pearl Jewelry - The Story of Pearl Hunters
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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.
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| Friday, 12-Nov-2010 08:41 |
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Buying Pearl Jewelry Without Being Ripped Off
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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.
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| Friday, 12-Nov-2010 00:54 |
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Pearl Jewelry - The Story of Pearl Hunters
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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.
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| Friday, 12-Nov-2010 00:48 |
Email | Share | | Bookmark |
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Buying Pearl Jewelry Without Being Ripped Off
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|
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.
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| Thursday, 12-Nov-2009 01:34 |
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Hoping to thaw the credit freeze
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Hoping to thaw the credit freeze that has chilled the economy, the Bush administration sent banks an unmistakable message to put aside fears and open loan windows for cash-starved businesses and consumers who have pulled back on spending.
'What we're trying to do is get freshwater pearlbanks to do that they are supposed to do, which is support the system that we have in America. And banks exist to lend money', White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
While there are limits to Washington's power to affect banks behavior, the White House decided it was time to use its bully pulpit.
'They (regulators) will be pearl necklace watching very closely, and they're working with the banks', Ms Perino said.
Washington has pumped money and confidence-building measures into the system over recent weeks to get lending, the lifeblood of the credit-dependent American economy, flowing freely again and to combat the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
So far, though, it has not worked. While the crucial and much-watched short-term lending rate called the London Interbank pearl earrings Offered Rate, or Libor, has come down, it remains at elevated levels.
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| Thursday, 12-Nov-2009 01:32 |
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the Fed is expected to announce
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On Wednesday, the Fed is expected to announce a rate cut, and Wall Street is looking for a drop in the fed funds rate by half a point to 1 per cent.
At the centre of the administration's efforts to thaw credit is the US$700 billion (S$1.05 trillion) financial bailout plan pearl necklace approved by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush this month.
Under that law's authority, the administration is doling out US$250 billion to banks in return for partial ownership.
The Treasury Department, which is overseeing the massive capital injection program along with the rest of the bailout, will pearl earringspour US$125 billion into nine of the country's largest banks, which account for 50 per cent of all US deposits.
Mr Anthony Ryan, Treasury's acting undersecretary for domestic finance, said the first payments went out Tuesday. An freshwater pearl additional US$125 billion will start flowing to other banks within days, he said.
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| Thursday, 12-Nov-2009 01:31 |
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As these banks and institutions
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As these banks and institutions are reinforced and supported with taxpayer funds, they must meet their responsibility to lend, and support the American people and the US economy', Mr Ryan told the annual meeting of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
'It is in a strengthened pearl necklace institution's best financial interest to increase lending once it has received government funding.'
Democratic Rep Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, asked the banks getting the US$125 billion to freshwater pearl jewelry detail what they are paying their executives and employees, including bonuses.
'I question the appropriateness of depleting the capital that taxpayers just injected into the bank through the payment of billions of dollars in bonuses, especially after one of the financial industry's worst years on record', Mr Waxman said.
The infusion of federal pearl necklacemoney is to rebuild banks' battered capital reserves so the institutions would feel comfortable resuming more normal lending practices.
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| Thursday, 12-Nov-2009 01:31 |
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There is little federal officials
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That confidence was undercut somewhat when reports surfaced that bankers might use the money to buy other banks.
Indeed, the government freshwater pearl approved PNC Financial Services Group to receive US$7.7 billion in return for company stock on Friday and, at the same time, PNC said it was acquiring National City for US$5.58 billion.
There is little federal officials can do about it. There is no language in the bailout bill that specifically obligates banks pearl necklace receiving money to increase their loans.
Officials had argued that attaching strings to the capital-infusion program would discourage financial institutions from participating.
'The way that banks make pearl necklace money is by lending money,' Ms Perino said. 'And so they have every incentive to move forward and start using this money.
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| Thursday, 12-Nov-2009 01:27 |
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Other credit-loosening efforts have included
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# A Federal Reserve programme, begun Monday, to buy the short-term debt of businesses, known as commercial paper.
# Temporary guarantees by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) of new issues of bank debt, fully protecting the pearl necklace money, for a fee, even if the institution fails.
# Emergency loans from the Fed for financial institutions and even other types of companies. The Fed has been tapping this Depression-era authority repeatedly to be a lender of last resort.
# New temporary federal guarantees to assets held in money market mutual funds as of Sept 19, but not since then.
# A temporary increase in the freshwater pearl cap on deposit insurance from US$100,000 to US$250,000 on interest-bearing accounts, and unlimited deposit insurance for noninterest-bearing accounts, which small businesses often use to cover payrolls and other expenses and which frequently exceed US$250,000.
# The Fed's half-point reduction in its target interest rate on Oct 8, done in conjunction with rate cuts by other central banks around the world.
Meanwhile, layoffs continue. Whirlpool freshwater pearl said on Tuesday it will cut 5,000 jobs. That is on top of other recent layoffs of thousands of workers by Xerox, drug maker Merck and financial services firm National City.
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