Mother Of Pearl Sterling Silver Jewelry Part I Historical Value

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England,mysterious Sun Dagger rock carvings, have
Europeans gave Mother of Pearl its name.revealed Toltec treasures of ornamental jewelry
However the beauty of Mother of Pearl,and sculptures inlaid with Mother of Pearl from as
associated birthstone of June, has been used infar away as the Pacific Rim.
the decoration of precious jewels and ornamentsStill to this day the descendants of the Toltecs,
as far back as 3000 years before the birth ofthe Yaqui Indians of Mexico immortalized in the
Christ.shamanic tales of Carlos Castaneda, wear a
Mother Of Pearl In Mesopotamianecklace called the Hopoorosim. The necklace is
In the 1920s, a series of tombs were excavatedmade of Mother of Pearl and is believed to
to the east of the site of Babylon in the Middleprovide the wearer with protection from evil.
East. The tombs were of Sumerian royalty fromIn Americas southwest of today, Navajo, Pueblo,
ancient Mesopotamia and yielded a treasure troveand Hopi native American silversmiths, trained in
of amulets, rings and necklaces made of gold,age old lapidary techniques fuse the ancient into
silver, ivory, amethyst, carnelian, lapis and othercontemporary designs using sterling silver, gold,
semi-precious gemstones. However, it was thelapis lazuli, pearl, fire opal, coral and of course
unearthing of several beautiful wooden ornamentsMother of Pearl.
and musical instruments inlaid with Mother of Pearl,Mother Of Pearl In The Pacific
that illustrated just how sophisticated this ancientBy the 1500s Europes growing demand for
culture actually was.Mother of Pearl used in gold and silver rings,
The Silver lyre of Ur, found in one of the gravesnecklaces, brooches and buttons had all but
in the Royal Cemetery, dates back to betweendepleted the supplies of Mother of Pearl in the
2600 and 2400 B.C. The Silver lyre, ancestor toPersian Gulf. However the nobility of Europe were
the modern harp, was found in the Great Deathalready taken with a new species of pearl
Pit accompanied by 70 men and women who hadproducing oyster heralding from the Pacific:
been buried with their Queen. Miraculously wellPinctada Margaritifera, renowned for its
persevered, the lyre was entirely covered inspectacular grey to black color and large size it
sheet silver and inlaid with Mother of Pearl. Thesurpassed the beauty of any of its counterparts
silver cows head decorating the front has inlaidfound in the Persian Gulf. And with the opening of
eyes of shell and lapis lazuli, and the edges,new trade routes throughout the world,
borders and plaques of the sound box are inlaidparticularly to Asia, the Pacific witnessed a rush of
with Mother of Pearl. Such instruments wereEuropean traders and explorers eager to profit
important parts of rituals in the royal courts andfrom its wealth of Mother of Pearl.
temples. There are more representations of lyreIn 1568 the Solomon Islands, known as The Pearl
players inlaid in Mother of Pearl on the infamousof the Pacific, were discovered by the Spanish
Standard of Ur, a wooden box believed toexplorer, Alvaro de Mendana. On discovering the
recount the story of Ur.Islands rich bounty of gold and Mother of Pearl he
The method the Sumerian artisans used togave the archipelago its current name, believing
decorate wooden objects was to cut a designthat he had found the mythical source of King
from the shell, cut the same form out of theSolomons mines. However, it was in fact the
wooden setting, and to fill the spaces and settingAustronesians, a Neolithic people from South East
of the engraving with bitumen, which after actingAsia, who had first settled the Solomon Islands
as glue hardened forming the background. Animalmore than 4000 years prior to Mendanas arrival.
scenes, inlayed with Mother of Pearl shell andEvidence of their great wealth of Mother of Pearl
colored gemstones such as lapis or carnelian, werecan be seen in the inlay appearing in many of their
particularly popular motifs used in such decoration.tribal shields and statues of gods and spirits.
This method of inlay was popular throughout AsiaFrom Tahiti to Bora Bora the Polynesian
and Asia Minor up to the time of the Ottomanarchipelago stretches out to the size of Western
Empire, and although refined the same method isEurope. The Islands were supposedly discovered
still practiced by the artisans of Turkey and Egyptby the European Magellan, and again in 1595 by
today.Mendana. However, long before their arrival
Mother Of Pearl In AsiaMother of Pearl and pearl had already attained a
In Asia, centuries before the birth of Christ, thegod-like status.
Chinese learned that beads or tiny figures ofIn Polynesian lore, the iridescence of Mother of
deities slipped between the soft mantle and thePearl is attributed to the spirits of coral and sand,
shell of a living mollusk soon became coated withOkana and Uaro, who as legend has it adorned
Mother of Pearl. These beads and carvings werethe Tahitian oysters in glistening cloaks covered in
then taken to the temples and offered to theall the colors of the fish of the ocean. It is also
gods in the hope that they would bestow goodsaid that Oro, the Polynesian god of peace and
luck upon the donor. Mother of Pearl, like jade,fertility, came down to earth and offered a
soon held a position of high status in Chinesespecial pearl called Te Ufi, the black pearl, to the
society and became interlinked with stories ofbeautiful princess of Bora Bora as a sign of his
gods and mythical creatures.love. But by the middle of the 1800s with Europes
One such story is the tale told in the Tao classiclust for Mother of Pearl the Pacific Islands had
The History of The Great Light, written by Huaibeen practically stripped bear of its oysters, and
Nan Tzu during the Han dynasty at the beginningwith its disappearance the stories passed into
of the first millennia A.D. In the book there arelegend.
eight stories of eight mortals who, through theirHowever, in 1880 France gained control of Tahiti,
good deeds, were rewarded with everlasting life.now called French Polynesia, and actions were
The eighth of these stories tells the tale of Hotaken to restrict the plundering of the seabed.
Hsien Ku, who was instructed in a vision that ifOther countries followed suite and by the 1900s,
she ate Mother of Pearl she would graduallywith the spread of western civilization, restrictions
become immortal. She did as the vision instructed,were imposed on the fishing industry throughout
living in the mountains and eventually dispensingthe Pacific, and the world had to look elsewhere in
with mortal food. Ho Hsien Ku started to floattheir search for Mother of Pearl.
from peak to peak becoming more and moreEuropean exploration of the Pacific Islands in
ethereal, finally attaining her quest she wassearch of Mother of Pearl continued, and in the
renamed The Immortal Maiden symbolized in the1920s it was discovered for the last time on a
Tao philosophy by the lotus flower.remote Island of the New Hebrides. But when
During the Confuciusan Tang dynasty, asexplorers Sperry and Evans stumbled upon the
Buddhism spread to Korea and Japan, Chinause of Mother of Pearl, it was far from what
absorbed and unified a vast territory that hadthey expected. "In the opposite corner of the
formerly been divided into North and South China.central hut a line of mummies were placed like a
The Tang Dynasty, lasting from 600 A.D. to 900barricade…" "…Bushy mops of hair
A.D., was a period of widespread prosperity andstill clung to the heads, and their faces wore
trade that stretched from inner Asia to themasks of clay, with huge eyes of Mother of Pearl
archipelagos of South East Asia. With the promisethat shone through the gloom staring at us with
of great wealth, many mariners and merchantsan uncanny effect." In fact the mummies weren't
from all over the Pacific were attracted to China,ancestral members of the tribe, but were the
bringing with them precious cargos of Pearls,bodies of a rival tribe of cannibals!
Mother of Pearl and many other precious andIn Americas 1900s, where Mother of Pearl had
semi-precious gemstones.been previously used as an inlay in furniture, it
In ancient China Mother of Pearl, apart fromnow found a new use in fashion as buttons. Iowa
finding its way into rings and necklaces, was usedbecame the center of the trade, shipping billions
in profusion as a decorative inlay in ornamentsof iridescent fasteners until World War II, when
such as vanity mirrors and brushes, and in laternewly invented plastics undercut the prices of
centuries would feature heavily as an inlay inMother of Pearl buttons, all but driving them out
Chinese and Korean furniture. Interestingly, theof the market. The majority of Americas Mother
Chinese also used Mother of Pearl in medicine,of Pearl was sourced from the Gulf of Californias
prescribing it for over a thousand years as an aidAbalone oysters. But these sources, like others
to reduce heart palpitations, dizziness, and highthroughout the world, were almost depleted and it
blood pressure.wasn't until the discovery of new-cultured farming
Mother Of Pearl In Mesoamericatechniques in Japan that the world's Mother of
In 800 A.D. Mesoamerica there existed an ancientPearl producing oysters saw a return in numbers.
civilization called the Toltecs. Ancestors to theCopyright © All Rights Reserved.
Aztecs, they were feared and reveredThis article was written for the Silvershake
respectively for their military prowess and artisticwebsite, an online retailer of sterling silver jewelry
culture. The Toltec had widespread influencesat wholesale prices. See 1000's of mother of pearl
from the Mayan populations in Guatemala to thesilver jewelry items at prices 80% below normal
Anasazi Indians in Arizona. Archeologicalretail prices. Make one purchase per month and
excavations as far inland as Chaco Canyon, landreceive silver jewelry worth up to $60...Absolutely
marked by the towering Fajada Butte and itsfree, everytime!