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Slraep
Guest
Yes, that's right, a crab pearl! Read all about it...
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=ad465bf747b0148f
Slraep
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=ad465bf747b0148f
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Valeria101
Guest
Isn't it strange that no exhaustive record of pearl producing species has been attempted? 
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Valeria101
Guest
Not me... I was hoping those would not be mentioned, or at least not before there is some proof that reeds, snakes and clouds produce objects that are accepted as 'pearls' in common applications.
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Slraep
Guest
Valeria101 said:
Steve, I can't believe you won't do it.
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jshepherd
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2004
- Messages
- 6,164
How is it two separate "gemologists" who have no education in pearls get so much press in a single week.
We have the jeweler who created a Matlinesque hubbub over a near-worthless quahog found in a plate of steamed clams with a $25,000 valuation, and now a gemologist (who clearly never took a 'pearls' course) telling this poor lady that somehow a stone crab really did produce a pearl in its claw.
A pearl in a crab? What is it, a nacreous pearl or a non-nacreous calcareous concreation?! WAIT! It cannot be either! That only happens in mollusks and gastropods. What other kind of pearl is there? Wait! There is no other kind of pearl. So if it is neither of those, how can it be a pearl?!
I think someone needs to contact Elisabeth Strack because a rewrite of 'Pearls' is in order! Pearls from crustaceans! Who would have thought?
I actually think the editors that publish these stories are just as much to blame. It would only take one telephone call or email to a real pearl expert to tell them that the purple pearl had little to no value, and a crab pearl does not exist. I mean even milk has calcium. I guess cows should be able to produce pearls too!
I like the lady's story about someone losing a pearl and a crab eatting it. That is pretty funny actually. Ever seen a crab open his mouth that wide? That still is not as crazy as a stone crab pearl.
Allen Green, with Green Jewelers in Bay City, you were kidding, right? If you read this forum or find this thread would you chime in?
We have the jeweler who created a Matlinesque hubbub over a near-worthless quahog found in a plate of steamed clams with a $25,000 valuation, and now a gemologist (who clearly never took a 'pearls' course) telling this poor lady that somehow a stone crab really did produce a pearl in its claw.
A pearl in a crab? What is it, a nacreous pearl or a non-nacreous calcareous concreation?! WAIT! It cannot be either! That only happens in mollusks and gastropods. What other kind of pearl is there? Wait! There is no other kind of pearl. So if it is neither of those, how can it be a pearl?!
I think someone needs to contact Elisabeth Strack because a rewrite of 'Pearls' is in order! Pearls from crustaceans! Who would have thought?
I actually think the editors that publish these stories are just as much to blame. It would only take one telephone call or email to a real pearl expert to tell them that the purple pearl had little to no value, and a crab pearl does not exist. I mean even milk has calcium. I guess cows should be able to produce pearls too!
I like the lady's story about someone losing a pearl and a crab eatting it. That is pretty funny actually. Ever seen a crab open his mouth that wide?
That still is not as crazy as a stone crab pearl.Allen Green, with Green Jewelers in Bay City, you were kidding, right? If you read this forum or find this thread would you chime in?
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Slraep
Guest
jshepherd said:I like the lady's story about someone losing a pearl and a crab eatting it. That is pretty funny actually. Ever seen a crab open his mouth that wide?
It's a chitin pearl, of course! A little overgrown lump of chitin. How attractive. Blehh.
I think that in order to really, really explain it properly, we would need the input(okay, imagination) of a certain long time member who suddenly disappeared from the forum one day just about a year ago who's name starts with Z.
Here is a good tonic to to take when one reads about silly gemmologists spreading disinformation or just reading news stories about bezoars in general. It's a recipe whipped up by the famous Nicholas Culpeper in 1653, and oddy it requires pearls, crabs and bezoars:
"Take of Pearls prepared, Crab's eyes, red Coral, white Amber Hart's-horn, oriental Bezoar, of each half an ounce, powder of the black tops of Crab's claws, the weight of them all, beat them into powder, which may be made into balls with jelly, and the skins which our vipers have cast off, warily dried and kept for use". Culpeper remarks that "four, or five, or six grains is excellently good in a fever to be taken in any cordial, for it cheers the heart and vital spirits exceedingly, and makes them impregnable".
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Slraep
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jshepherd said:
Boy, Matlins sure has revised that $25,000 USD evaluation she gave!! Went down substantially.
Newest(today's) evaluation here:
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/NEWS02/801070334/1003/NEWS02
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smetzler said:
Steve, I knew you could do it!
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GemGeek
Guest
The divine from the bovine...I'd love to see a Cow Pearl!
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Slraep
Guest
GemGeek said:The divine from the bovine...I'd love to see a Cow Pearl!
Hi GemGeek,
Calculus bovis divina---it's an ingredient in Chinese medicine. Commonly known as cow gallstones. Triple Blehhhck.
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GemGeek
Guest
Slraep said:
Blehhhck is right!
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Slraep
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CEO said:
Chitlin? A chitlin pearl? Hehehehehehhheheh, that's phat!
Oh yes pigs do. It's just that the pearl is found IN the chitlins.
http://www.bezoarmustikapearls.com/pig.html
Carry on....
Yes Sir/Ma' am.
Slraep
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Slraep
Guest
Hah!! Pliny The Elder had something to say about crab pearls. They are apparently found in a different part of the crab and not in the claw like the one found by the woman in the article. And if you should find such a pearl and suffer from from any kind of urinary disorder, then you are doubly lucky!
Thanks to Farlang
http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/agricola_textbook_of_mineralogy/page_158
"Two hemispherical stones are found in the head of the river crab which some people set in jewelry. These produce abundant urine when taken internally."
Slraep
Thanks to Farlang
http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/agricola_textbook_of_mineralogy/page_158
"Two hemispherical stones are found in the head of the river crab which some people set in jewelry. These produce abundant urine when taken internally."
Slraep
SteveM
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2007
- Messages
- 1,753
I am having as much fun with this as anyone but a complementary point of view deserves to be presented…
Beauty is the quest, and there is beauty to be discovered in the broader world of 'pearls' just as there is a surfeit of ugliness (and fraud) in the nacreous realm. And as pointed out elsewhere, commonly-recognized oyster and conch pearls are only two of the nine sacred pearls of the Garuda Purana. And remember that conch (and melo-melo, giant clam, quahog, etc), while commonly accepted as pearls, are non-nacreous and more accurately classified as bezoars. Even nacreous abalone, from a univalve, does not satisfy some modern-day purists' definition of a pearl.
The Indonesian website previously linked in this thread is a serious and professional company with whom I have dealt. In first browsing through their myriad offerings over one year ago there were, among the chaff or purely spiritual offerings, items of striking beauty. In a weak moment, I actually purchased a polished Nagasari Tree pearl from this page. At the time, just one of the four pictured 'pearls' remained, and it happened to be my favorite (shown below in Seattle today with the grain of fossilized tree sap provided as nourishment for its 96-year-old spirit, Yana—as well as a sacred Muslim talisman of fortune thrown in at no extra charge!). The seller has not been able to replace the pearl to date, as evidenced by the continuing 'sold out' status. He has also responded lucidly to questions arising from skepticism on my earlier thread. Additionally, this source seems to be the end-all authority on the controversial coconut pearl, a pearl whose purported existence is given noteworthy page space in Strack.
This forum knows that my wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed discovering the natural wonders of pearls in recent months. Yet we can honestly say that our Nagasari Tree pearl is among our most prized possessions.
So show me a genuine crab 'pearl' of striking beauty and uniqueness, and will probably have to consider it…
Steve
Beauty is the quest, and there is beauty to be discovered in the broader world of 'pearls' just as there is a surfeit of ugliness (and fraud) in the nacreous realm. And as pointed out elsewhere, commonly-recognized oyster and conch pearls are only two of the nine sacred pearls of the Garuda Purana. And remember that conch (and melo-melo, giant clam, quahog, etc), while commonly accepted as pearls, are non-nacreous and more accurately classified as bezoars. Even nacreous abalone, from a univalve, does not satisfy some modern-day purists' definition of a pearl.
The Indonesian website previously linked in this thread is a serious and professional company with whom I have dealt. In first browsing through their myriad offerings over one year ago there were, among the chaff or purely spiritual offerings, items of striking beauty. In a weak moment, I actually purchased a polished Nagasari Tree pearl from this page. At the time, just one of the four pictured 'pearls' remained, and it happened to be my favorite (shown below in Seattle today with the grain of fossilized tree sap provided as nourishment for its 96-year-old spirit, Yana—as well as a sacred Muslim talisman of fortune thrown in at no extra charge!). The seller has not been able to replace the pearl to date, as evidenced by the continuing 'sold out' status. He has also responded lucidly to questions arising from skepticism on my earlier thread. Additionally, this source seems to be the end-all authority on the controversial coconut pearl, a pearl whose purported existence is given noteworthy page space in Strack.
This forum knows that my wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed discovering the natural wonders of pearls in recent months. Yet we can honestly say that our Nagasari Tree pearl is among our most prized possessions.
So show me a genuine crab 'pearl' of striking beauty and uniqueness, and will probably have to consider it…
Steve
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I checked out the bezoar/mustika pearls site. I don't have any idea what any of those things are supposed to be! Especially the dragon pearls. And this site is supposed to be one of the more legitimate sites selling these types of things? How strange.
Nicole
Nicole
