Facts about pearls

pearl earrings

• Pearls are the only gems created by a living creature.
• The first recorded Chinese pearl was in 2000 BC.
• Natural pearls are composed of 100 percent calcium carbonate and conchiolin.
• It is said Cleopatra dissolved a pearl in wine and drank it to prove her love to Marc Antony.
• The Persian Gulf was one of the main sources of natural pearls for centuries.
• Pearl is the birthstone for the month of June.
• The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but they are extremely rare.
• Today, most pearls, both salt and freshwater, are cultured.
• The name Margarita (or Margaret) means pearls.
• Almost any shelled mollusk can, by natural processes, produce some kind of "pearl".
• Black pearls are considered to be one of the rarest gems on Earth.