February 28, 2025

By Andrea Venn, PhD, CGA, American Gem Society Pearls have been desirable since people discovered them while eating shellfish. Indian, Chinese, Greek, and Roman societies of antiquity frequently saw pearls as tears of the gods, morning dew, or the result of lightning hitting the sea. During the Roman Empire, pearl trading in the West reached its first recorded peak as the conquest of Eastern regions brought large volumes of pearls to Rome. In the 16th century, ships laden with pearls from the Americas spurred piracy between the Spanish and British. The Great Pearl Age of the English Renaissance continued through