melo melo
These rare pearls come not from oysters but from the Melo melo, a large snail, or gastropod, with an orange shell.
They may have belonged to the last emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, who ascended to the throne in 1932, when he was just 18.
Unlike nacreous pearls, melo pearls and conch pearls consist of crystals of aragonite that are arranged perpendicularly or at an angle to the surface. This orientation of crystals often produces chatoyancy (“shuh-TOY-un-see”), the flame-like pattern seen on these pearls.