Natural pearls of Bahrain!

[pkinnew]

All I can say is WOW! I could just gaze at those pearls for hours. A truly fabulous collection!

 

[CathyKeshi]

So beautiful; thanks for sharing!

 

[Gulf_pearls]

Thank you all for your comments im glad you all liked them, i try my best to show the true colors of the pearls.

This is the black pearl which i shown before, Placed it with other pearls to show how beautiful it is (Without flash)

Same pearl (With flash)

Another side (With flash)

Photo of another batch of pearls.

 

[pattye]

Fascinating how different the pearls look as the lighting changes~

 

[Icyjade]

Thanks for sharing. How big are the pearls in the pics? The central pearl in the last pic looks really big (and gorgeous of course)!

 

[hbyrne]

Wow! Love the gorgeous goldy tones. Thank you for sharing them.

 

[Gulf_pearls]

Fascinating how different the pearls look as the lighting changes~

Exactly what i wanted to show thank you for your comment.

Thanks for sharing. How big are the pearls in the pics? The central pearl in the last pic looks really big (and gorgeous of course)!

Thanks! too bad I don't recall how big was that pearl.

Wow! Love the gorgeous goldy tones. Thank you for sharing them.

You're very welcome, i will try my best to show the most of what i have.

 

[Gulf_pearls]

This is a big one, i always loved this pearl because it was very big compared to what we usually find and pretty heavy as well.

(Sorry for the chapped hands, you know how sea salts and opening oysters everyday makes your hand)

 

[Isi]

Hello Gulf pearls,
Thank you for your instructive pictures !
What is the percentage of black/dark pearls you find in Pinctada Radiata compared to white/clear ones ?
Are the dark ones more valuable, all other parameters being equal ?

 

[Orient]

Well we mostly go to Sitra, but some of the pearls are bought, as for the picture its all from Sitra.

We did get a certificate for many pearls in case we wanted to sell them.

Thanks Gulf_pearls. Interesting to know Sitra was the source. Fits with what I have heard from other Bahraini divers over the years. They also said the dredged entrance to what used to be Manama port infront of Bab Al-Bahrain produced nice naturals several years ago but now the all the development that has probably ceased as a source and it would be quite difficult to dive there anyway! Good luck with the search.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Gulf Pearls!
Thank you so much for your photos of your pearl finds! I would love to know more about this occupation of yours. Are you a native of Bahrain? How did you get started?

I have known that there are people out there still collecting pearls from the Gulf, but you are the first to come here. My grandfather sponsored a pearling dhow in the PG for a number of years. He developed and lived on Uma Sabaan island for decades. Your collection of colors is very similar to his in color range . I remember one bright purple ill-shaped seed pearl amongst all the colors. Though it may have been black with purple overtones.

I am curious though about the seed pearls. It was my interpretation of my grandfather's experience that a high percentage of the oysters had tiny pearls whether they had a bigger pearl or not. He also had learned, or was of the mind to say that the fresh water springs around Bahrain contributed to the high ratio of pearls per x number of oysters. If I am off-base about either of these ideas, I would like to know.

So that means I would be SO interested in your general knowledge of pearling in the gulf. Like how many oysters have something, even seed pearls, in them for each one with a pearl of 5mm or more? Do you use scuba equipment? About how deep must you go on average? What is your process after you collect the oysters? I don't think I am asking for any propitiatory information and do not mean to, so I hope you have the time and are inclined to answer questions about how you do it, on a forum like this. But, if you could, it would be invaluable information for all the pearl scholars on this forum!

 

[Gulf_pearls]

Hi Gulf Pearls!
Thank you so much for your photos of your pearl finds! I would love to know more about this occupation of yours. Are you a native of Bahrain? How did you get started?

I have known that there are people out there still collecting pearls from the Gulf, but you are the first to come here. My grandfather sponsored a pearling dhow in the PG for a number of years. He developed and lived on Uma Sabaan island for decades. Your collection of colors is very similar to his in color range . I remember one bright purple ill-shaped seed pearl amongst all the colors. Though it may have been black with purple overtones.

I am curious though about the seed pearls. It was my interpretation of my grandfather's experience that a high percentage of the oysters had tiny pearls whether they had a bigger pearl or not. He also had learned, or was of the mind to say that the fresh water springs around Bahrain contributed to the high ratio of pearls per x number of oysters. If I am off-base about either of these ideas, I would like to know.

So that means I would be SO interested in your general knowledge of pearling in the gulf. Like how many oysters have something, even seed pearls, in them for each one with a pearl of 5mm or more? Do you use scuba equipment? About how deep must you go on average? What is your process after you collect the oysters? I don't think I am asking for any propitiatory information and do not mean to, so I hope you have the time and are inclined to answer questions about how you do it, on a forum like this. But, if you could, it would be invaluable information for all the pearl scholars on this forum!

Hi Rare Pearl, sorry for the very late respond.

I am a native Bahraini man, I started since i was young this is my father and his ancestor's profession.

Thats very nice to know that your grandfather was here in our country knowing every bit of our pearl diving history.

Its kinda true about what your grandfather said, but you can never tell where exactly do you get a high ratio of pearls, seed pearls show up all the time and sometimes show up but very few when spending a half day collecting them. Every diver tries to measure the ratio of different areas and water conditions but to me it was always the same, sometimes we get the unexpected from an unexpected site.

How many oysters? its difficult to say, sometimes we get a lot of oysters and find nothing, and sometimes we get a few of them but find a really pretty pearl. So i don't know how this is calculated but in my opinion its a matter of luck to be honest.

Each one? if we find anything in each pearl we would be rich as hell lol, even if they were seed pearls, 5mm is a common size to find but you get to find smaller sizes more of course, and we call them sugar grains.

Yes, i do use scuba equipment. on average i go to 3 meter deep. but sometimes to 6. after collecting we either open them on the boat or keep them until we get back and then open them.

Thanks for asking and i would be glad to answer all of your questions. glad to see someone very interested in what we do as a profession.

 

[pattye]

Gulf Pearls,

Thank you very much for sharing such interesting information!

 

[CathyKeshi]

Gulf Pearls, I would also like to thank you very much for sharing so much information about your diving and pearl profession. It is very fascinating to me ... much appreciated!

 

[Caitlin]

I thank you too! And thank you for your photos and answers- they are much appreciated.

How often do you go out pearling? Do you go in one season or month more than another? Do you think you could take photos on the boats? And more photos of the pearls in the oyster?

In other words, I hope you will visit here often and maybe share photos of all your pearls here, and tell us stories about finding them. Ever have adventures with the weather, or found a pearl under unusual circumstances?

I don't mean to sound demanding- I just hope you are willing and able to write more about your adventures. You have an eager audience here.

One more thing. Can you put up single photos of your biggest pearls and give their exact measurements along with a description of the colors and overtones? They are unusual enough to merit separate treatment so students can compare and contrast.

Do you have family stories about how your family got started finding pearls? Did you ever learn any of the old sailing songs? Do you keep or even learn about any of the old customs about pearls?

Please feel free to answer when and how you please, I am just indicating the range of my/our interest in this subject, should you be inclined. You seem to write English very well, I hope you enjoy writing in English about PG pearls, because you are about the only one doing so and we really want to learn more.

 

[Gulf_pearls]

Gulf Pearls,

Thank you very much for sharing such interesting information!

Gulf Pearls, I would also like to thank you very much for sharing so much information about your diving and pearl profession. It is very fascinating to me ... much appreciated!

You're very welcome, thank you for keeping up with my posts and will hopefully soon post more.

 

[Gulf_pearls]

I thank you too! And thank you for your photos and answers- they are much appreciated.

How often do you go out pearling? Do you go in one season or month more than another? Do you think you could take photos on the boats? And more photos of the pearls in the oyster?

In other words, I hope you will visit here often and maybe share photos of all your pearls here, and tell us stories about finding them. Ever have adventures with the weather, or found a pearl under unusual circumstances?

I don't mean to sound demanding- I just hope you are willing and able to write more about your adventures. You have an eager audience here.

One more thing. Can you put up single photos of your biggest pearls and give their exact measurements along with a description of the colors and overtones? They are unusual enough to merit separate treatment so students can compare and contrast.

Do you have family stories about how your family got started finding pearls? Did you ever learn any of the old sailing songs? Do you keep or even learn about any of the old customs about pearls?

Please feel free to answer when and how you please, I am just indicating the range of my/our interest in this subject, should you be inclined. You seem to write English very well, I hope you enjoy writing in English about PG pearls, because you are about the only one doing so and we really want to learn more.

You're very welcome, in fact we love people get interested in our profession and talk about it more because we're very proud of it and hopefully will get the right attention, i also love to share information and learn new things about pearling so if any of you can give any ideas or information that might help my profession in any way would love to hear it.

I go every day. we go pearling whenever the weather tells us way to go, there is no specific season.

We don't usually take photos on the boat but fortunately i have some old photos which was taken by a journalist who wanted to write an article about pearl diving, it was featured on a magazine and surprisingly i was on the cover of the mag lol.

This is me getting on board.


Here you can see im holding the net which used to collect oysters in it, then get on board emptying it, dive again and collect more.


And of course the front cover of the mag, i was opening a few oysters hopefully to get a nice pearl for him to show it in the picture, but didn't find one and he chose to put this one.


With the weather, no. but i remember sometimes we see the pearl even before we collect the oyster from the surface, and shockingly you see it very big due to the water effect so i get excited, remove one of my gloves, put it in the glove and throw it with the others so i could find it later on. then i open it and show off in front of my family and friends. but as i said it appeared bigger in the water but when i opened it, it was smaller.


I posted this earlier but this is the biggest pearl i ever found it was too heavy and big, nice lustre but doesn't show in the picture, not round of course but the biggest. too bad i don't know the exact measurements or the weight of it, i found it long time ago and sold it. back in the day when i found it i remember people who buy and sell pearls were speaking about it all over the island which some of them was searching for it buy asking in the market about the owner of it.

Well if you ask about wearing or singing songs of the old days, we don't do that but we do know them all and we have museums in Bahrain that collects tools and clothes or anything that resembles the old time pearl diving.

I might write English very well but do not speak it very well haha i don't understand everything, i didn't understand what is PG. see?

Im glad to find people who are interested, and would love to try and answer every question about pearl diving.

or if there's anything worth a share, will definitely try to share it with you guys.

 

[BAS]

Wonderful pictures! You are a star! Thank you for sharing this with us and the more pictures, the better. We never tire of pictures.

 

[CathyKeshi]

Gulf Pearls, you've definitely found a place where your pearl diving adventures and culture are endlessly interesting for us ... many thanks for what you've shared. I know I'd love to see and read whatever you'd like to share, with THANKS!

 

[Gulf_pearls]

Wonderful pictures! You are a star! Thank you for sharing this with us and the more pictures, the better. We never tire of pictures.

Gulf Pearls, you've definitely found a place where your pearl diving adventures and culture are endlessly interesting for us ... many thanks for what you've shared. I know I'd love to see and read whatever you'd like to share, with THANKS!

Thank you so much for the encouragement, never knew that you all were into stories more than the pearls themselves lol.

i am very happy to know that you all like what you see and read! hey if someone visits Bahrain don't forget that ill be there for you and can be under my hospitality, will even take you to a pearl diving trip with us to let you experience pearl diving if you like to taste the adventure.

Does anyone here dive for pearls by any chance?