June’s birthstone is the pearl, highlighting a pearl’s timeless beauty, treasured by women of all ages throughout time. The ancients of the Middle East conceived of pearls as teardrops from heaven. The Chinese fancied that pearls came from a dragon’s brain. Christopher Columbus and his contemporaries thought that mollusks formed pearls from dew drops.
In fact, a pearl is born naturally from a mother oyster as she covers an irritant with nacre. In 1888, the Japanese began sustainably reproducing Akoya oysters in Ise Shima. In 1906, 8 short years later, a method to produce perfectly round pearls had been developed, a practice later to be shared with the world.
Pearls are typically associated with purity, humility and innocence. So it has been said that the June birthstone represents “sweet simplicity.” As such, pearls were traditionally given as wedding gifts. June was traditionally the most popular month to marry, not only in Japan but in several countries and cultures. The reason is that the Ancient Roman Goddess Juno – for whom the month of June is named – was the protector of women in all aspects of life, and especially in marriage and childbearing, so a wedding in Juno’s month of June was considered most auspicious.
The pearl birthstone is also thought to have beneficial properties. In ancient times, pearls were said to bestow long life and prosperity. In Asia, pearls were believed to help alleviate indigestion and hemorrhages, and have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine over the centuries.
Pearls were once described in rare terms like “Mermaid Tears” and “Moon Dewdrops,” having been treasured since ancient times. In that early era, the technology was not available to cut and polish gemstones like diamonds, but pearls were intrinsically and naturally beautiful enough without human intervention, which helps to explain peoples’ long term love affair with pearls and their reasons for valuing them so highly.
Pearls are the only living gemstone, born in nature, cultivated with peoples’ love and devotion. Each pearl is unique. No two pearls are exactly alike. All pearl jewelry shares a common origin, as the ‘children’ of mother oysters. Once cultivated, artists and designers devote so much time and focus into crafting jewelry from those pearls. Like all luxury jewelry, pearls have a distinctive timelessness about them. The sharing of pearl jewelry with loved ones – loved ones who may ultimately share the jewelry with future generations. Pearl jewelry is such an extraordinary expression of the human bond of love shared through time.
In such trying times, as we feel seperated due to travel restrictions, Pearl FALCO is perceiving an even greater appreciation for pearls. Pearls connect us. Pearls are art in themselves, with each work of pearl jewelry having a different journey, from cultivation to crafted art. Each piece is created to be part of an individual’s life.This is what Pearl FALCO strives for, so that each and everyone of our valued customers has a wonderful pearl jewelry story to tell now and for future generations.
