Australian south sea pearls

Editors note:

"Pearls are the headliners for this winter issue. In the lead article, Kenneth Scarratt, managing director of GIA in Thailand and a noted pearl expert, explores the fascinating history of pearling in Australian waters for the prized natural pearls from the Pinctada maxima mollusk. The second part of the article looks at the properties of those natural gems that might separate them from samples accidentally produced during the culturing process. This is followed by a pair of

articles on South Sea cultured pearls, which also come from the Pinctada maxima mollusk. Youngchool Kim offers a study on identifying silver irradiated South Sea cultured pearls using electron spin resonance spectroscopy, while Chunhui Zhou investigates dye treatment in the yellow or “golden” variety."

See pages 5-31 for this article.

Article courtesy of the GIA.edu.