The History of Imitation Pearls
Silky lustrous, round as a full moon and perfectly formed - so rare - natural pearls have been a prized possession and a symbol of wealth for centuries. Formed naturally in the enclosed environment of an oyster shell, pearls were nothing short of magical. (The ancient Greeks believed pearls were created by lightning striking the ocean.) Ladies of the highest rank, from Cleopatra to Elizabeth I to Elizabeth Taylor, and many gentlemen too, appreciated the value and beauty of this natural gemstone.
Emperor Julius Caesar loved pearls so much that it was rumored that he was driven to invade England in order to get some. He also made a decree that only nobles were allowed to wear pearls in Rome. Those who could afford them wore them as a symbol of wealth and beauty. Natural pearls do not have the sparkle of beautifully cut gemstones, but instead their value is immediately evident by their perfect shape and size. Pearls, also known as the "Queen of Gems," are said to have been used to finance an entire military campaign by one of the generals during the Roman Empire by selling one of his mother's pearl earrings.
As with other gemstone jewelry, early attempts were made to find cheap, easily accessible alternatives to pearls so that people who couldn't afford the real thing could purchase a satisfactory imitation. In ancient Rome, glass beads were coated with silver and then coated with glass again to replicate the luster of pearls. Others included small clay balls coated with powdered mica, a mineral, and baked. In the 13th century, the Chinese discovered how to artificially cultivate pearls in shells, but this was still expensive.
Two types of artificial pearls were produced early in Italy. The oldest date back to at least the 13th century and were made in the ingenious glass workshops of Venice. Some of these pearls appear to have been made from a paste of powdered glass, snail mucus, and egg whites. Before the paste hardened, the beads were pressed into shapes and holes were inserted.
In 1440, when a book was published detailing how to make pearls from shells and fish scales, Venetian pearl merchants found the artificial pearls so threatening that they made the production of artificial pearls illegal, with violators being penalized with the loss of their right hand and exile for ten years.
Artificial pearls made in this way were known as Roman pearls.
The Encyclopedia of Engineers and Mechanics, by Luke Hebert (Vol. 2), published in London in 1849, adds:
“Roman pearls are formed from very pure alabaster, and most of the quarries are located near Pisa in Tuscany.
The alabaster is first cut with a slicer to the thickness of a pearl. It is then shaped and formed into a pearl shape using an instrument that simultaneously shapes it and makes a small hole in the center. It is then dipped in boiling wax to give it a rich yellow hue, and then covered several times with silver powder obtained from fish scales. Due to their perfect resemblance to real pearls and their very low price compared to real pearls, these Roman pearls became very popular. However, they were still considered to be an item for the upper classes.
It was not until the 19th century that artificial pearls could be made at a relatively low cost. Paris and Rome became the centers of the bead-making industry, and young middle-class women could afford to decorate their lace collars with Roman pearls. More affluent women, such as landowners, wore Paris-made artificial pearls as day fashion, while the finest natural pearls were reserved for evening wear.
In the 1900s, the Czech bead industry flourished and glass pearls began to be mass-produced. After the war, Japan also entered the bead industry and expanded its market, especially in the United States, due to the high quality of its pearls. Miriam Haskell, a famous American jewelry company at the time, also had an exclusive contract to use Japanese pearls. But pearls, which have a formal image, when did they become a part of fashion?
In the early 1920s in Paris, France, French fashion designer Paul Poiret was the first designer to start using costume jewelry (so-called imitation jewelry that does not use real gold or gemstones) in his collections. Later, Coco Chanel became the first designer to introduce fake pearls combined with sparkling real jewelry, sparking a trend.
Her clients loved the idea of layering real and fake jewelry together, which made her minimalist clothing designs stand out. Chanel preferred to accessorize her fashion with lots of costume jewelry, rather than wearing only one or two expensive luxury pieces. Before Chanel gave the idea of wearing mountains of costume jewelry, wealthy clients usually did not like to show off their expensive jewelry in public, but this gave them the freedom to wear Chanel costume jewelry.
The baton of glass pearl production was passed to the Spanish island of Majorca (or Mallorca) at the end of the 19th century, where German-born Eduard Heusch (1865-1937) founded the company Societe des perles de Indes E. Heusch &Co. In 1890 he obtained the first patent for artificial pearl production, and had the vision of creating glass pearls that would be impossible to distinguish from natural pearls. In 1902, he established a factory in Mallorca, an island famous for its glass-blowing tradition. From 1906, French glass manufacturers brought French-made machinery to the island, mechanizing parts of the process, and a group of glass pearl factories was founded under the name SA Fabrica. As the conflicts of World War I forced manufacturers to move from Paris to Barcelona, other factories and producers also moved to the island. In the early 1920s, a production system was perfected using opal carnals (perfectly circular cores of milky white glass crystal). By 1943, the company Heusch founded, known as Majolica, was the world's leading pearl producer, producing over 2.5 million pearls. Trade continued during World War II, making Spain virtually the only source of glass pearls in the world at the time. During the war, the company exported over one million pearl necklaces to the United States. In 1952, a new breakthrough came in the company's quest to create "real" imitation pearls. After testing a number of shell and fish scale coatings, a formula was created that could be applied multiple times over glass beads to replicate the nacre buildup of natural pearls. Details of the formula and techniques used to make Majolica pearls remain trade secrets.
Emperor Julius Caesar loved pearls so much that it was rumored that he was driven to invade England in order to get some. He also made a decree that only nobles were allowed to wear pearls in Rome. Those who could afford them wore them as a symbol of wealth and beauty. Natural pearls do not have the sparkle of beautifully cut gemstones, but instead their value is immediately evident by their perfect shape and size. Pearls, also known as the "Queen of Gems," are said to have been used to finance an entire military campaign by one of the generals during the Roman Empire by selling one of his mother's pearl earrings.
As with other gemstone jewelry, early attempts were made to find cheap, easily accessible alternatives to pearls so that people who couldn't afford the real thing could purchase a satisfactory imitation. In ancient Rome, glass beads were coated with silver and then coated with glass again to replicate the luster of pearls. Others included small clay balls coated with powdered mica, a mineral, and baked. In the 13th century, the Chinese discovered how to artificially cultivate pearls in shells, but this was still expensive.
Two types of artificial pearls were produced early in Italy. The oldest date back to at least the 13th century and were made in the ingenious glass workshops of Venice. Some of these pearls appear to have been made from a paste of powdered glass, snail mucus, and egg whites. Before the paste hardened, the beads were pressed into shapes and holes were inserted.
In 1440, when a book was published detailing how to make pearls from shells and fish scales, Venetian pearl merchants found the artificial pearls so threatening that they made the production of artificial pearls illegal, with violators being penalized with the loss of their right hand and exile for ten years.
Artificial pearls made in this way were known as Roman pearls.
The Encyclopedia of Engineers and Mechanics, by Luke Hebert (Vol. 2), published in London in 1849, adds:
“Roman pearls are formed from very pure alabaster, and most of the quarries are located near Pisa in Tuscany.
The alabaster is first cut with a slicer to the thickness of a pearl. It is then shaped and formed into a pearl shape using an instrument that simultaneously shapes it and makes a small hole in the center. It is then dipped in boiling wax to give it a rich yellow hue, and then covered several times with silver powder obtained from fish scales. Due to their perfect resemblance to real pearls and their very low price compared to real pearls, these Roman pearls became very popular. However, they were still considered to be an item for the upper classes.
It was not until the 19th century that artificial pearls could be made at a relatively low cost. Paris and Rome became the centers of the bead-making industry, and young middle-class women could afford to decorate their lace collars with Roman pearls. More affluent women, such as landowners, wore Paris-made artificial pearls as day fashion, while the finest natural pearls were reserved for evening wear.
In the 1900s, the Czech bead industry flourished and glass pearls began to be mass-produced. After the war, Japan also entered the bead industry and expanded its market, especially in the United States, due to the high quality of its pearls. Miriam Haskell, a famous American jewelry company at the time, also had an exclusive contract to use Japanese pearls. But pearls, which have a formal image, when did they become a part of fashion?
In the early 1920s in Paris, France, French fashion designer Paul Poiret was the first designer to start using costume jewelry (so-called imitation jewelry that does not use real gold or gemstones) in his collections. Later, Coco Chanel became the first designer to introduce fake pearls combined with sparkling real jewelry, sparking a trend.
Her clients loved the idea of layering real and fake jewelry together, which made her minimalist clothing designs stand out. Chanel preferred to accessorize her fashion with lots of costume jewelry, rather than wearing only one or two expensive luxury pieces. Before Chanel gave the idea of wearing mountains of costume jewelry, wealthy clients usually did not like to show off their expensive jewelry in public, but this gave them the freedom to wear Chanel costume jewelry.
The baton of glass pearl production was passed to the Spanish island of Majorca (or Mallorca) at the end of the 19th century, where German-born Eduard Heusch (1865-1937) founded the company Societe des perles de Indes E. Heusch &Co. In 1890 he obtained the first patent for artificial pearl production, and had the vision of creating glass pearls that would be impossible to distinguish from natural pearls. In 1902, he established a factory in Mallorca, an island famous for its glass-blowing tradition. From 1906, French glass manufacturers brought French-made machinery to the island, mechanizing parts of the process, and a group of glass pearl factories was founded under the name SA Fabrica. As the conflicts of World War I forced manufacturers to move from Paris to Barcelona, other factories and producers also moved to the island. In the early 1920s, a production system was perfected using opal carnals (perfectly circular cores of milky white glass crystal). By 1943, the company Heusch founded, known as Majolica, was the world's leading pearl producer, producing over 2.5 million pearls. Trade continued during World War II, making Spain virtually the only source of glass pearls in the world at the time. During the war, the company exported over one million pearl necklaces to the United States. In 1952, a new breakthrough came in the company's quest to create "real" imitation pearls. After testing a number of shell and fish scale coatings, a formula was created that could be applied multiple times over glass beads to replicate the nacre buildup of natural pearls. Details of the formula and techniques used to make Majolica pearls remain trade secrets.