Melo Melo Pearl!
Amongst the amalgam of information that was streaming into my slightly tepid brain this morning (it was very early), slipped this little beauty of a gem (pun MIGHT be intended). It was more than enough to heighten my senses for work and begin my day with a renewed sense of wonder. It all started when I was doing some research on pearls, which would not be commonplace unless you work in the jewelry industry like I do (in which case you are swamped by this kind of research). While going through my daily routine, and searching for information on the wonderful pieces of art that we have here at our office, I started thinking…. I need to become more vested in gems if I am to make this part of my life any kind of meaningful.
So I decided that I was going to try and set a goal to acquire a pearl for myself. It started with looking at Tahitian Pearls which have a wonderful iridescent quality to them and shine with a natural black luster. I was looking into getting a single Tahitian pearl, attached to a leather cord of some sort. But then I got to thinking, that’s too pedestrian for someone who is surrounded by this stuff on a daily basis. I would LOVE to get a Tahitian for myself still, but it seems like it isn’t lofty enough a goal.
So I started to turn to Golden South Sea Pearls. I was instantly enamored by those wonderful golden beads! They have such a distinct color to them that it is very difficult not to see the beauty in the pieces. Compound that with the knowledge that I’ve accumulated about these pearls over time and you reach a point of appreciation that is most likely not reached by the general populace. But once again, I was struck by my constant need to outdo any sort of realistic dream that I come across. And borne of that was my run in with the Melo Melo.
Inspired by my new and colorful gem, I decided that I was going to scour for information on these little darlings. Thankfully I work in an office that is surrounded by people with the most information on Pearls you will ever find around the world. So I decided to inquire and poke around their brilliant minds a bit in order to glean some more information. I was shocked to find out that these wonderful things have escaped even the experts. Melo Melo Pearls are so rare that they were not familiar even to the pros. So here’s the low down on these awe inspiring pearls:
Technically speaking, these pearls are not even really “pearls” in the exact sense of the word. According to www.Merriam-Webster.com, pearls are:
a : a dense variously colored and usually lustrous concretion formed of concentric layers of nacre as an abnormal growth within the shell of some mollusks and used as a gem
Melo Melo Pearls however, are non-nacreous. That means that they do not have a nacre at all. Instead, they are calcareous concretions that form in a snail shell because of a foreign substance invading it. Researchers have attempted to create a cultivation process for these pearls, however they have not succeeded thus making every occurrence of these pearls natural. (Thank you www.Pearl-Guide.com for a lot of wonderful information, please visit their site as well!)
Let’s recap; We’ve learned about the pearls that I will get (Tahitian and Golden South Sea, both available at CouturePearls!), and the pearl that I WANT to get (but will probably be close to impossible to acquire). And we’ve learned the reason why it is so hard to acquire these fiery pearls. So in the end I’ve managed to create a goal for myself, and so I leave you guys with this; if you ever find or come across a Melo Melo Pearl in your life, contact me so I can glance at this natural wonder myself. Who knows, maybe you’ll find one out in nature, and now you know that it’ll probably fetch you a pretty hefty price.
-Z
Couture Pearls (Ninja)
Special thanks to all the mentioned web sites and informational guides above!






