Welcome! We are passionate about pearls and committed to helping you increase your share of this market.
It is our belief an enhanced knowledge of the cultured pearl product category results in greater sales and an increased passion for pearls.
Pearl Farming in East Africa – an End to Poverty
I have been working with the University of Rhode Island (my alma mater) Coastal Resources Center on a project I am very excited about. I am also looking for people that find this interesting and would like to get involved. The pearls are very rough and equipment is needed to improve quality. I am sure there are retail stores that would love the publicity associated with a project like this. Please feel free to contact me for more information PBazar@pearls.com
Women living in a coastal village on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian
Ocean have come across an intriguing and
innovative way of raising their incomes and business skills through
cultivation of iridescent “half-pearls” from
oysters along their shore. These captivating, luminescent gems are harvested
by the women, who polish and sell them to
local residents and tourists, and professional jewelers, who can then set
them in striking silver and gold designs. The women of
the Fumba Peninsula, on Menai Bay, have developed a profitable supplemental
income that is helping them pull out of the poverty faced by
many coastal dwellers on Zanzibar.
In Dubai, I was able to catch up with my friends from the Cook Islands. George gave me a copy of their new pearl grading guidelines.
There was a lot of work that went into this report and I think it came out quite well.
George Ellis - Cook Island Pearl Authority
Indian pearl carpet fetches $5.5 million at Doha auction
2009-03-21 19:53:52
NEW DELHI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- An unidentified buyer bought the famous Indian
pearl Baroda carpet, which is regarded as an Indian national heritage, for 5.48
million U.S. dollars at Sotheby's auction in Doha, Qatar, this week, the
official website of the auction house said Saturday.
Encrusted with 2.2 million Basra pearls, and weighing 30,000 carats, the Baroda
pearl carpet was commissioned in 1865 by BarodaKing Khande Rao Gaekwad, as a
gift for the Mausoleum of Prophet Mohammed at Medina.
Until 1947, the year of India's independence, Baroda was a city kingdom located
in today's western India state of Gujarat.
The silk carpet also has three large diamond-filled rose designs in silvered
gold, besides pearls. The carpet has been a part of the king's family
collection.
The Baroda pearl carpet already commanded a price of 5 million U.S. dollars
before being auctioned.
This comes weeks after some items belonging to India's modern founding father
Mahatma Gandhi were auctioned in New York.
In 1943, the then King of Baroda, Sir Pratap Sinh Gaekwad, married a woman known
as Sita Devi, who took up her residence in Europe and soon, most of the Baroda
treasures were transferred to her mansions in Monte Carlo in Monaco neighboring
southern France.
In 1947, Baroda was merged with India. The Indian government deposed Gaekwad and
forced him to return to India some of the most precious items, but the pearl
carpet continued to be in the possession of Sita Devi.
|
|
Past Pearl Education Articles Unusual Pearls Pearl Farming around The World Pearl Forums
