Tana-Mana’s guide to Thaitian cultured pearls

The naturally coloured cultured Tahitian pearl takes its name from the principal island of French Polynesia, Tahiti, situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The five archipelagos of French Polynesia (Austral Islands, the Windward and Leeward Islands, the Marquesas and the Tuamotu-Gambier) cover an area equal to that of Europe.
The Tuamotu Archipelago is the centre of Polynesian pearl farming. The clean and fertile lagoons of the archipelago create a perfect environment for the development of pearl oysters. The Tahitian black cultured pearls are produced by the black-lipped oyster (Pinctada Margaritifera). Although they are referred to as ‘black’, the bodycolour of Tahitian pearls are actually tones of black, for example grey, silver and charcoal, with colourful overtones of rosé, green and blue. Truly black pearls are extremely rare.

A natural pearl is the result of a reaction that takes place in the organism of a shellfish or an oyster in response to the accidental introduction of a foreign body into its flesh.
A cultured pearl is the result of the same phenomenon provoked by the intervention of man (see Grafting)