pearl

thumb|Georgian seed pearl gold ring

AI overview

A pearl is a lustrous gem formed inside an oyster or other shellfish when an irritant becomes coated with layers of a shiny substance called nacre. Pearls have been valued throughout history for jewelry and decoration, making them culturally and economically significant gems.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

In the Vinony graph

Within Vinony's link graph, pearl is referenced by 1,451 other articles, and connects out to Myanmar, gemstone and Gastropoda.

It sits within the topics Bivalves and humans, Gastropods and humans and Gemstones.

Its subject is documented across 107 Wikipedia language editions.

Key facts

Mineral.name: Pearl
Mineral.image: Various pearls.jpg
Mineral.imagesize: 210px
Mineral.alt: Various pearls
Mineral.caption: Various pearls
Mineral.category: Carbonate mineral, protein
Mineral.formula: Calcium carbonate, CaCO3 Conchiolin
Mineral.strunz: 05.8
Mineral.color: White, pink, silver, cream, brown, green, blue, black, yellow, orange, red, gold, purple, iridescent
Mineral.system: Orthorhombic
Mineral.cleavage: None
Mineral.fracture: Uneven, various
Mineral.mohs: 2.5–4.5
Mineral.streak: White
Mineral.gravity: 2.60–2.85
Mineral.refractive: Common pearl: 1.52-1.66 Black pearl: 1.53-1.69
Mineral.birefringence: 0.156
Mineral.pleochroism: Absent

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image: Various pearls.jpg

Show 3 more facts

Commons category: Pearls
Commons gallery: Pearl
MCN code: 7101.10.00

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~44 min read

Encyclopedic overview

34 sections

Contents

Etymology
Definition
Physical properties
Freshwater and saltwater pearls
Formation
Natural pearls
Cultured pearls
Imitation pearls
Gemological identification
Value of a natural pearl
Origin of a natural pearl
Types of cultured pearls
From other species
History
Pearl hunting
British Isles
Pearl farming
Timeline of pearl production
Freshwater pearl farming
Momme weight
In jewelry
Gallery
Shapes
Lengths of pearl necklaces
Colors
Religious references
Hindu scriptures
Hebrew scriptures
New Testament scriptures
Islamic scriptures
Additional references
See also
References
External links

thumb|Georgian seed pearl gold ring

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 fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate (mainly aragonite or a mixture of aragonite and calcite) in minute crystalline form, which is deposited in concentric layers. More commercially valuable pearls are 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, pearls have become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable, and valuable.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “pearl” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.