Nautilus pearl

[CLICLASP]

........... there is a common object known near Australia as le coque de perle, which is carved from the central whirl where the shell is quite white....

I would like very much to see a pict. of a coq de perle ounce

[Jnorris]

I have seen a number of miscalls on Tridacna pearls coming from the swiss lab (ssef) and a few from Gubelin. On these certs the labs referred to the tridacna as Nautilus repertus. Conformation by (GIA)on any pearl being sold as nautilus is advised.

Best Regards.
Jeremy

[Nathan Reed]

Here is a peeled nautilus shell showing the osmina core

Very nice! Is it just my imagination or is the nautilus shell on page 111 of Strack peeled as well? Whether it is or not, it is so striking that a quick trip to Dresden to see it would be in order.

[CortezPearls]

Any creature capable of producing shell is also capable of producing "pearls" (or calcium concretions). Cephalopods like the Nautilus are indeed rare (and rarer every year) so finding a pearl in one (let alone two!!!) is much better than finding a sunken ship loaded with treasure.

This is the ultimate freak of Nature...I would love to see those pearls...

[Valeria101]

Pictures still welcome?

CLICK for Nautilus pearls (and more)

[smetzler]

Pictures still welcome?

CLICK for Nautilus pearls (and more)

Yes, thanks! Great link, and some truly great pearls. Nautilus examples have exceptionally fine porcelain-esque surfaces, contradicting reported photos in Elisabeth Strack's presentation at Tucson last week showing Nautilus pearls of nacreous composition.

[Jnorris]

This is a good example of pearls from Tridacna squamosa being represented as Nautilus pearls. Like Strack I believe that Nautilus pearls will be of a nacreous composition there by mirroring the interior of the shell.

[GemGeek]

I have to agree with Jeremy. There is discussion, even among labs, that these are being mis-identified. There hasn't been a single pearl found in the flesh of a nautilus. They are always found on their own and almost all are non-nacreaous. This may be going before the lab harmonization committee for research and that may be why no one wants to make an official declaration. Very interesting.

[effisk]

I have to agree with Jeremy. There is discussion, even among labs, that these are being mis-identified. There hasn't been a single pearl found in the flesh of a nautilus. They are always found on their own and almost all are non-nacreaous. This may be going before the lab harmonization committee for research and that may be why no one wants to make an official declaration. Very interesting.

The GIA lab in Thailand (Ken Scarratt) has certified 4 pearls as nautilus pearls, one of them being from the paper nautilus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_(animal)
(I'm not 100% sure of that info but T. Stern can probably confirm?)

It would be bold from the GIA to certify such pearls as nautilus pearls without strong proof.

[GemGeek]

The paper nautilus pearl would certainly be nacreous. Maybe that is the photo that Elisabeth Strack showed? Such a mystery.

[smetzler]

The paper nautilus pearl would certainly be nacreous. Maybe that is the photo that Elisabeth Strack showed? Such a mystery.

In which case, we're back where we started, according to the background available on this site (bold face is mine):

The Paper Nautilus or Argonaut, Argonauta argo, is a Cephalopod mollusc that lives a pelagic existence in the tropics and subtropics. Despite its name, the shell of the Paper Nautilus is not made from paper; the shell is "paper thin" (i.e., very fragile) and constructed of calcium carbonate (like most seashells) only by the female of the species and only for purposes of protecting her eggs. Additionally, the Paper Nautilus is not a nautilus at all, but rather is a member of the order Octopoda (which includes the octopusses) and family Argonautidae

[GemGeek]

You're right!

[Slraep]

A sea argonaut! Cute! An octopus that makes an egg case(the shell) to protect its larvae from predators and U.V. rays. The octopus uses the bubbles formed around the eggs to control boyancey and to act like a rudder. How fascinating is that?

Yup, it's really more of an octopus than a nautilus. Can an octopus that makes a paper thin egg case of a shell, also make a roundish concretion? Does anyone know if the egg case is at all nacreous? If so, how nacreous? Are the supposed "pearls" being found within the paper thin egg case? or in the octopus' head or something?

What a cool crib it has.

Slraep

[Slraep]

Looks like it has a shiny porcelaneous interior, but not nacreous. Hard to tell as I do not have one of these shells in my collection. If the interior of the shell is not nacreous and it might, maybe, possibly, by a long shot, be able to make an Argonauta a. concretion, the concretion wouldn't have any iridescent nacre. By contrast, any concretion coming from the Nautilus p. would have highly iridescent nacre.

http://www.specimenshells.net/2938.htm

[pearlshooter]

I know this is a very old thread but I wanted to add some info about the nautilus pearl.
I found this site because I wanted to see if there was any news on a pearl that went to auction last week. This thread came up in google.
I photograph jewellery and photographed all of the pearls in the latest pearl auction in Dubai. One was this one shown here. To my understanding there are only 3 known nautilus pearls. 2 in private collections and this one. It has a watery looking nacre with tiger stripes that you can only see under a light. Not easy to photograph. This is a pic I did to show friends the size against my finger. The price estimate was in the millions but how many I do not know.
I expect the other nautilus pearl mentioned here may be made from the shell?? I would like to know more. Rare as they come for sure but how many have been found and discarded or remain in the bottom draw because people don't know what it is?? Imagine!