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It is our belief an enhanced knowledge of the cultured pearl product category results in greater sales and an increased passion for pearls.
Chinese Akoya farms suffer near 100% loss of crop and Juvenile oysters
Zhanjiang Hit by Worst Downpour in 200 Years
With our Chairman honored for his service 55 years ago, it seems like a good time to look back at some past company news.
Imperial's CEO receives medals after 55 years.
For his heroism in the Korean War, 2nd Lt. Banice Bazar, yesterday received his Bronze Star Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal with three bronze stars, and the U.N. Service Medal.
Imperial created two pearl dresses that toured the country ten years apart the first was donated to the USO the second was donated to the Runyon Fund.
WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE GOWN — Elyria will get a glimpse of the most
costly gown in the world
when the creation is exhibited tomorrow at Oscar Haserodt and
Associates. Made of 100,000 cultured
pearls, the $100,000 Gown weighs 27 pounds and requires strength as
well as modeling skill to keep on.
Pictured above is famous screen actress Gloria Swanson who first modeled
the creation In New York at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
It took 15 years to gather the pre-war pearls which went into its
making, three months to drill
holes in the pearls, and eight dressmakers working for three months to make the gown.
Japan Treasure House Of Pearls To Be Thrown Open
Goldstone, president of the Imperial Pearl Syndicate, has been dealing in cultured pearls for years, especially since Japan's surrender. In 1947 he went to Japan at the invitation of the U. S, Army to aid in the reorganization of the wrecked cultured pearl industry.
With the co-operation of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters, he helped set up quality standards and got a yen-dollar equivalent so that Japanese pearl growers could export profitably to the American market.
Clam Shells , Anesthesia Promise More Pearls After Few Years
This story discusses the beginning of Imperial.
The expression "a gem of an idea" can in all truth be traced to Kokichi Mikimoto,
94-year-old founder of Japan's fabulous cultured pearl industry who, in 1894,
began irritating oysters for a living and is now one of Nippon's wealthiest men.
Although the Chinese discovered the secret in the 13th century, Mr. Mikimoto,
then a poor macaroni peddler, was the first to realize the great wealth "That
lay on the ocean's floor if one went about it in a scientific manner.
Mikimoto's earliest method of creating cultured pearls was to insert a
tiny mother-of-pearl bead into a healthy oyster. The oyster, thus irritated,
would build around. the bead layer upon layer of nacre, the lustrous, opalescent
substance of which pearls are made. Although the system worked, the irritant
killed almost 80 per cent of the oysters. Whereupon two Americans, Joseph and
David Goldstone, increased the oyster's yield tenfold by their development of an
anesthetic solution whereby the oysters were "put to sleep," then injected with
the irritant. The mortality rate dropped to less than 5 per cent.
South Sea Island Ruler Learned 30 Years Ago How to Cultivate Pearls And an 'Iowa Man Commercialized It
The Story of "Lot 88
For 20 years prior to World War II, cultured pearl growers in the Orient selected and saved their most valuable gems, building secret collections . . . collections of matched pearls and strands the like of which no one had ever before seen. In order to protect them, many resorted to burying their pearls deep in the earth, while others hid their treasures in the dark recesses of caves and cellars. With the coming of World War II, these primitive
methods of hiding the pearls became useless and many of the pearl growers pooled their precious hoards and entrusted the entire collection to the officers of the Bank of Japan. The collection then became known as "Lot 88" and was buried deep In the subterranean vaults of the bank. There it stayed until 1950, when the Supreme Commander of the Asiatic and Pacific Forces ruled that "Lot 88"—by this time exciting cultured pearl collectors the world over—should be sold at auction to the highest bidder. The Imperial Pearl Syndicate of Chicago, having out-bid all others, became the proud owners of this world-renowned collection and in October of 1950,"Lot 88" was finally brought to America. Now, with their co-operation, it is our proud pleasure to present "Lot 88" and to offer them to you at very substantial reductions off their regular price.
The Imperial Pearl belonged to
The Dowager Empress of Tzu - Hsi of the Chiang Dynasty
She wore it on a slender chain around her neck as a good luck amulet.
Past Pearl Education Articles Unusual Pearls Pearl Farming around The World
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