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Australia is the world’s major producer of white South Sea pearls, for during the 1998 season the tropical waters off northern Australia yielded ~ 60 per cent of total world production of these much desired and very valuable bead-nucleated cultured pearls.
White South Sea pearls are large (>10 mm diameter) rounded, lustrous, white, silvery, cream, or golden pearls that are cultivated by man in the gold- and silver-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada maxima) that is indigenous to the off-shore waters of northern Australia. Other white South Sea pearls produced by the Australian pearling industry include ‘accidental’ whole baroque keshi pearls, and cultured bead nucleated half pearls that are commonly termed mabés.
The white South Sea pearl is a comparative newcomer to Australia’s pearling industry, for the history of this primary industry stretches back for well over a century to the time when Australia was one of the major supplier of natural pearls to European and American markets. |
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Cultivating mabé pearls
Once a pearl oyster is deemed to be incapable of producing further round pearls it is used for half-pearl production. Following the gluing of suitably shaped plastic nuclei onto the insides of both valves, the shell is cultivated for a further 10-12 months.
At harvest, the shell is killed and its nacreous blisters trephined from valves for manufacture into half-pearls. |
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