Natural Pearls Have many Simulants by: Yvonne Hammouda-Eyre
Congratulations on your Pearls! Despite their softness on the Mohs Scale compared to other gems, and their vulnerability to cosmetics and perspiration, pearls have managed to keep a firm hold on their popularity. Like other valuable gems, Native pearls have many simulants.
The first known attempts to simulate and culture the organic gem date back to the thirteenth century when the Chinese produced poor quality pearls by introducing irritant substance between the mollusk's shell.
It is normally accepted that Tatsuhei Mise produced the first cultured spherical pearls around 1900. (Read, P., Gemmology, 1991)
More successful methods were developed by scientists Tokichi Nishikawa and Kokichi Mikimoto. Although, Mikimoto's "whole-wrap" method of culturing pearls by wrapping the bead nucleus in the mantle tissue, tied with a silk thread, proved too difficult and the simpler Nishikawa "piece" method is today used by Mikimoto et al to produce round cultured pearls.
