| Ward got it wrong. So did Matlins and a few others.
I believe a lot of his evidence and the evidence of a few others at the time, came from pearls with peeling nacre. If nacre peels or comes apart at a conchioline layer, it appears as though there is a pearl in a pearl.
Their theory of pearl-nucleated pearls was proven wrong by Tom Moses (and I believe Ken Scarratt) at the New York GIA lab a few years ago with the help of Honora pearl. |