Pearls are a valuable gemstone and come in a number of sizes. This is a list of the biggest pearls.
Pearls are a valuable gemstone and come in a number of sizes. This is a list of the biggest pearls.
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as a conulariid. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate (mainly aragonite or a mixture of aragonite and calcite) [1] in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearl can occur.
The finest quality of natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable. The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as natural pearls. Cultured or farmed pearls from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up the majority of those currently sold. Whether wild or cultured, gem-quality pearls are almost always nacreous and iridescent, like the interior of the shell that produces them. However, almost all species of shelled mollusks are capable of producing pearls (technically "calcareous concretions") of lesser shine or less spherical shape.
There is a lot of myth and legend surrounding some of these pearls. The Pearl of Lao Tzu for a long time thought to be the largest pearl, but claims about its size and much of its history were found to be fabricated by a conman by the name of Victor Barbish. [2] Other pearls like the Centaur Pearl, most likely the largest gem pearl at 856.58 carats (171.316 g), have just recently emerged from private collections. [3]
| Name | Origin | Date | Color | Carat | Weight | Height | Length | Width | Notes | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centaur Pearl | 2000 | White [lower-alpha 1] | 856.58 carats (171.316 g) | 114.3 mm (4.50 in) | 48.51 mm (1.910 in) [lower-alpha 2] | [lower-alpha 3] | [3] | |||
| Burma Pearl | 2000 | White | 845 carats (169.0 g) | [3] | ||||||
| Abalone pearl |  United States | May 31, 2010 | White | 718.50 carats (143.700 g) | 14 cm (5.5 in) | 8 cm (3.1 in) | 4 cm (1.6 in) | [lower-alpha 4] | [4] | |
| Pearl of Asia |  Oman | 1628 | White | 605 carats (121.0 g) | [lower-alpha 5] | [5] | ||||
| Arco Valley Pearl | White [lower-alpha 6] | 575 carats (115.0 g) | 79 mm (3.1 in) | 41 mm (1.6 in) | 34 mm (1.3 in) | [lower-alpha 7] | [6] | |||
| Hope Pearl | White [lower-alpha 8] | 450 carats (90 g) [lower-alpha 9] | 50.8 mm (2.00 in) | 30.32 to 36.38 mm (1.194 to 1.432 in) [lower-alpha 10] | [lower-alpha 11] | [7] | ||||
| La Peregrina pearl |  Panama | 1513 [lower-alpha 12] | White | 50.56 carats (10.112 g) [lower-alpha 13] [lower-alpha 14] | 17.35 mm (0.683 in) | 17.90 mm (0.705 in) | 5.50 mm (0.217 in) | [lower-alpha 15] | [9] [10] | |
| Giga Pearl |  Philippines | White [lower-alpha 16] | 27.65 kg (61.0 lb) | 393.7 mm (15.5 in) [11] | 228.6 mm (9 in) [12] | 209.5 mm (8.25 in) [13] | [lower-alpha 17] | [14] | ||
| Pearl of Lao Tzu | Philippines | 1934 | White | 127,574 pearl grains | 6.4 kg (14 lb) | 24 cm (9.4 in) | 24 cm (9.4 in) | 24 cm (9.4 in) | [lower-alpha 18] | [2] |
| Pearl of Puerto | Philippines | 1996 | White | 34 kg (75 lb) | 67 cm (26 in) | 30 cm (12 in) | [15] | |||
| Sleeping Lion |  China | 1765 | White | 119 grams (4.2 oz) | 6.858 cm (2.700 in) | [lower-alpha 19] | [16] |
The carat (ct) is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg, which is used for measuring gemstones and pearls. The current definition, sometimes known as the metric carat, was adopted in 1907 at the Fourth General Conference on Weights and Measures, and soon afterwards in many countries around the world. The carat is divisible into 100 points of 2 mg. Other subdivisions, and slightly different mass values, have been used in the past in different locations.
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can occur. The finest quality of natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable.
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3) with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name sapphire is derived from the Latin word sapphirus, itself from the Greek word sappheiros (σάπφειρος), which referred to lapis lazuli. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called rubies rather than sapphires. Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) – sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, such as infrared optical components, high-durability windows, wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and very thin electronic wafers, which are used as the insulating substrates of special-purpose solid-state electronics such as integrated circuits and GaN-based blue LEDs. Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary. A sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years.
Ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires. Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems, alongside amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and diamond. The word ruby comes from ruber, Latin for red. The color of a ruby is due to the element chromium.
Aragonite is a carbonate mineral and one of the three most common naturally occurring crystal forms of calcium carbonate, the others being calcite and vaterite. It is formed by biological and physical processes, including precipitation from marine and freshwater environments.
Bivalvia, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bivalves have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs, like the radula and the odontophore. The class includes the clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, and numerous other families that live in saltwater, as well as a number of families that live in freshwater. The majority are filter feeders. The gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment, where they are relatively safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces. Some bivalves, such as the scallops and file shells, can swim. Shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances.
Nacre, also known as mother of pearl, is an organic–inorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Oolite or oölite is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 millimetres; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites. The term oolith can refer to oolite or individual ooids.
Cultured pearls are pearls which are formed within a cultured pearl sac with human intervention in the interior of productive living molluscs in a variety of conditions depending upon the mollusc and the goals. Having the same material as natural pearls, cultured pearls can be cultivated in seawater or freshwater bodies. Over 95% of the pearls available on the market are cultured pearls.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is a nonprofit institute based in Carlsbad, California. It is dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and the jewelry arts. Founded in 1931, GIA's mission is to protect buyers and sellers of gemstones by setting and maintaining the standards used to evaluate gemstone quality. The institute does so through research, gem identification, diamond grading services, and a variety of educational programs. Through its library and subject experts, GIA acts as a resource of gem and jewelry information for the trade, the public and media outlets.
Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the absence of a visible shell.
Unionida is a monophyletic order of freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs. The order includes most of the larger freshwater mussels, including the freshwater pearl mussels. The most common families are the Unionidae and the Margaritiferidae. All have in common a larval stage that is temporarily parasitic on fish, nacreous shells, high in organic matter, that may crack upon drying out, and siphons too short to permit the animal to live deeply buried in sediment.
Cultured freshwater pearls are pearls that are farmed and created using freshwater mussels. These pearls are produced in Japan and the United States on a limited scale, but are now almost exclusively produced in China. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission requires that farmed freshwater pearls be referred to as "freshwater cultured pearls" in commerce. Quality of cultured freshwater pearls is evaluated through a grading system of a series of A values, based on luster, shape, surface, colour and matching.
Ammolite is an opal-like organic gemstone found primarily along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of North America. It is made of the fossilized shells of ammonites, which in turn are composed primarily of aragonite, the same mineral contained in nacre, with a microstructure inherited from the shell. It is one of few biogenic gemstones; others include amber and pearl. In 1981, ammolite was given official gemstone status by the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), the same year commercial mining of ammolite began. It was designated the official gemstone of the City of Lethbridge, Alberta in 2007.
The Tahitian pearl is an organic gem formed from the black lip oyster. These pearls derive their name from the fact that they are primarily cultivated around the islands of French Polynesia, around Tahiti.
The La Peregrina pearl is one of the most famous pearls in the world. Its owners include the Spanish monarchs, the history of the pearl spans almost 500 years and recently belonged to actress Elizabeth Taylor. The jewel is now in private ownership.
Pink diamond is a type of diamond that has pink color. The source of their pink color is greatly debated in the gemological world but it is most commonly attributed to plastic deformation that these diamonds undergo during their formation.
The Abernethy pearl, also known as the Little Willie pearl, is a 43.60-grain (2.825 g) freshwater pearl named after William Abernethy (1925–2021), who discovered it in Perth, Scotland, in the River Tay in 1967. It is also known as Bill's pearl.
