The Pearl Society

I started The Pearl Society in 1990, incensed as I was at the total lack of information, in a milieu where anyone might feel well-informed about diamonds but clueless about pearls.

DeBeers and N.W.Ayer did a great job, everyone knew or thought they knew the 4 C's, and that empowered the public to feel confidence, but where pearls were concerned, the recent influx of strange, unfamiliar forms other than the beloved  Akoya bewildered the public.

" -Are these anything?" was the plaintive query of many a visitor to my gallery, hauling out strands of miserable, lustreless but  intriguing "Rice Crispies" pearls they had paid $50 for in the Hong Kong of the 70's and 80's..

Are these anything? became my mantra as I struggled to explain, to pass out tidbits of knowledge about the vast  and varied realms of the deep, about shallow waterways in the YangTse Delta, about ponds in Tennessee,  the deep formerly azure waters of the Persian Gulf,  replete oysters wintering on lush beds by the Great Barrier Reef,  coves in Indonesia, and more and more as I delved into the then hard-to-find information on the real world of pearls of the period.

Let there be light, I thought.  And established the Society without thought of profit, but to acquire and share information.

I invited scores of luminaries to speak: pearl farmers, pearl dealers,  pearl authors,  pearl divers, professors of history, archeology and poetry,  the chief  pearl buyer for Tiffany & Co in New York City, the  famed gemologist and author Fred Ward,  the late John Latendresse, "Father of the American pearl" and, later, his daughters Gina and Renee.

Sue Hendrickson, the dinosaur hunter, is also a diver nonpareil and came to share her love of the conch pearl.  And then there was  Louis Mangano of Slidell, Louisiana, whom I have not heard from since the flood - Louis lived on a houseboat on the Pearl river and made a living, sort of, diving for pink pearls; when a 'gator surfaced, his wife would warn him by banging on a frying pan- anyways, five times a year someone exotic would show up in Evanston, and enthrall the assembled pearl lovers and collectors in the audience with another, totally unexpected, worldview, and we would all learn together.

If the trader or diver  wished to sell some of his wares to the assembly, they could, without any commission taken by The Society, since that never has been the purpose.  We have hosted  a Washington lobbyist desperately campaigning for water conservation, and have put together people who had a common interest, like a U.S. pearl farmer who was able to fulfill his dream of going to China to learn Chinese techniques when we arranged to introduce him to a powerful Chinese pearler. 

When an obscure Korean abalone fisherman  told us that, by fasting and abstaining from sexual relations with his wife, he had evolved a secret technique to create yellow pearls  at the mouth of the Yellow river, we were able to contact GIA, and help him realize his discovery, though interesting, would not rank as high as he hoped.  There are many, many stories in the world of pearls, all of them fascinating, all of them uplifting in some way, and it has been a privilege to open the door for all these people to make themselves heard.

Most recently, Sunday, November 5, we we were privileged to hear about a pearl book that is still in the mind of its author:  Stephen Bloom, professor at the University of Iowa, well-known as the author of the best-selling "Postville, Iowa" presented his vision of a vast romp through pearls, written by a self-professed long-time enthusiast.

We maintain archives, and have a library of many videotapes, though not all.  They are not professional by any means, but  contain fascinating accounts by principals in the pearl world. Starting with the first meeting in January 1991, we have held meetings approximately five times a year since then, mostly in Evanston, though .  Membership is open to all interested, and dues are $25 a year to cover the cost of refreshments and mailing of The Pearl Society Bulletin four times a year.  There is also a Pearl blog at www.pearlsociety.typepad.com. , also accessible through the Gallery's website www.evejewelry.com