Large Red Natural Pearls around Japan Circa 1200 AD???

[National Pearl]

We recently received a question from a gentelmen who is writing an article for a magazine, concerning Marco Polo's book claim (written in 1299 AD) to have found large red pearls being harvested around Cipangu (Japan). Does anyone know if the occurence of large natural red pearls has ever been historically confirmed near Japan or elsewhere in the region?

Thanks!

[jshepherd]

Marco Polo claimed to have seen Japan, but most historians believe that to be a Polo-tale. If there is any truth in his finding red pearls near Japan, the only oyster that could have produced them would have been the Taira-gai (Window Pane), which has been known to produce pearls that have red and brown bodycolors. These have been found in the Gulf of Arima.

[jshepherd]

According to Strack they can get as deep as strawberry. I do not think Marco Polo distinguished the depth of color of his supposed finds. Many "ugly" naturals were still collected, as they were pearls. Size could have been very relative - and he was a story teller.

Can you think of anything else (historically) in that area that could be deemed as red? The local Pectinidae were white.

[jshepherd]

I agree that placuna were low-luster, unappealing gems for the most part. But you have to admit that there were exceptions, and the pearls were collected extensively for medicinal purposes.

Btw, the Japanese collected and prized Abalones more than a thousand years ago.

[jshepherd]

Kunz mentioned the choicest held ornamental value, but most used in medicines or "in the mouths of the dead".

What it comes down to is that there is nothing else that could be described as red in the area! I personally do not believe the Polo story. But what I am saying is that this is the only feasible explanation if it were true.

[National Pearl]

Jeremy:

Thanks for all the info. I'll summarize all this information for our site visitor and also provide a link to this thread in case he has any follow-up questions. it would be good for him to ask directly, as my knowledge in this area is marginal and information has a tendency to get distorted when passed by word of mouth.

Thanks again,

[jshepherd]

If you are referring to Mr. Edwards from the Smithsonian, you need not bother. He has the information.

[National Pearl]

Yes, it was Mr. Edwards. Thanks. Saved me a lot of "cut and paste" time.

[Valeria101]

[oups. sorry... still learning the posting handles here]


Thank you for the details!

Any chance a major gem lab could get their hands on and report on these? Thinking of AGTA-GTC, say. 'Rare' and 'pearls' get so few times on the same page these days, that any example can only do good...


.

[Slraep]

Speaking of the placuna sella, here are some beautiful pics from the Femorale website. Shows the lovely reddish colour of the external shell from China. The others are kindda ghostly looking. Can anyone find and post a pic of some inside mop?

http://www.femorale.com.br/search/index.asp

[Valeria101]

Can anyone find and post a pic of some inside mop?

Google helping: Placuna Sella Inside and some ghosts ('Capiz shells', the outer shell of the windowpane oyster, placuna placenta). For sale too.

More about the 'ghosts' in an article from the MSL: HERE...



The same sources mentions Placuna pearls:

"The window pane shell Placuna placenta (Linnaeus, 1758) (Fig. 1) is a bivalve with a very translucent shell that was used traditionally in windows in Asia and, more recently, for shell-craft items (Fig. 3). It also produces pearls that are exploited commercially (Dharmaraj et al., 2004)." Ha!

That artile cited does mention pearl production, but does not exactly give you an address where to look for Windowpane pearls. LINK. Now I'm curious!

[smetzler]

A partial post that became insinuated into the 'white abalone pearl' thread, just to add the image here:

"These from http://www.muschelshop.de in Germany. I'd be as happy with a window as with a pearl for the sake of curiosity."

Steve
Seattle

[PARAS BHAKTI PEARL CO]

If anyone is interested in photos of pearls from placuna placenta please contact me.

[Caitlin]

Is there some reason you can't post photos? This is an educational site, not primarily for advertising something for sale, which is actually a "no no", though we allow some leeway to those who have really unusual pearls- as long as we can learn something useful, or see something very rare.

We had someone pushing placunas before, who turned out to be a fake. I know you are not a fake, but most of us have not seen the real thing, yet, and this is too good an opportunity to pass up.

[jshepherd]

Yes, please post pictures!