Alexander the Great, in linking the Orient with Europe, opened the doors to trade and cultural exchange, and pearls quickly won acclaim as objects of royal adornment. During Roman rule, the Latin term "margarita" became linked to pearls because that is what Romans called their loved ones.

England’s Queen Elizabeth I displayed her passion for pearls by frequently wearing them, some strung in knee-length ropes, complementing her wardrobe that included 3,000 pearl-embroidered dresses.

In America, the Gay Nineties saw wealthy individuals purchasing strings of pearls for their wives and daughters. By the turn of the century, the rare and costly pearl was America's most popular jewel. Fortunately, for pearl admirers around the world, the industry was about to change. The art of culturing pearls was discovered in Japan in the late 1800’s, making pearls more plentiful and affordable.

A cultured pearl is produced when a shell nucleus is implanted into an oyster, which surrounds the nucleus with micro-layers of a protective coating called nacre. However, it is still a mystery in pearl culturing as to how the same oyster can produce pearls of varying colors.

Pearls are valued according to their lustre and color, surface clarity, shape and size. Generally, the sharper your reflection on the face of a pearl the more valuable it is.

Our Island Pearl collection includes akoya pearls from Japan, a wide selection of Tahitian black pearl jewelry, and white and gold pearls from the South Pacific, home to the world's rarest and largest cultured pearls, some as large as 20mm. Our wide selection of Tahitian black pearl jewelry including a black pearl pendant offers unique designs to suit everyone's style."

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Japanese Akoya Pearls: The wide popularity of pearls in America grew from the first availability of akoya pearls in the 1920s. Initially, the most popular jewelry items were 17-inch graduated necklaces, featuring a 7mm pearl at the center with others tampering in size down to 3mm at the clasp ends. The standard today is a 16-inch necklace, perfect in shape and even in color, size, lustre and clarity. Akoya pearls are usually white to creamy ivory to gold in color, reminiscent of the sands along an island beach.

Tahitian Black Pearls: The tranquil and crystalline waters surrounding the beautiful islands and atolls of Tahiti are the cultivation grounds for the dramatic black pearl, a product of the black-lipped oyster. The first pearl farms were established on the atoll of Hikueru and the island of Bora Bora in the early 1960s. After the first successful harvest in 1965, the first exports of Tahitian black pearls took place in 1972. Large-scale production was subsequently generated on the islands of Marutea Sud and Mangareva, just in time to satisfy the high demand that continues until today. Tahitian black pearls can be slightly gray to a bluish-black, a reminder of the shiny hospitality of the islands or the moonlit sky on a clear and balmy tropical evening. Our wide selection of Tahitian black pearl jewelry offers unique designs to suit everyone’s style.