Tina Manley posted:
"I guess that's why pearls are so expensive!"
The way I understand it, many "pearls" start right here in Minnesota
(or Illinois or Ohio). Native clams (the ones with thick shells) are
harvested from our streams and rivers, and perfect spheres are made from
these shells. These spheres are then placed inside a "pearl" oyster, and
said oyster adds a few microns of its own nacre to the implanted sphere.
Result is a near-instant "pearl." (OK, maybe it takes six months.) Also
perfectly spherical, of a specific size, etc. Pearls formed around a sand
grain (back in the old days) rarely were as perfect, and the process took
years.
Dean
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