WEBVTT - Pearls: Second Best Thing About Oysters 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Stuff you should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.840 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:17.479 and there's Charles W Chuck Bryant. Jerry's here kind of 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:19.319 I think she went to go open the door for 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.239 a delivery person. Other than that, this is stuff you 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:26.200 should know. Hey, let's hope it's not the land Shark 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:36.480 nine seventies Saturday Night Live fame. That's good stuff. Man. Hey, 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:37.920 you know what I would need to shout out a 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:44.960 listener because this was a genuine listener suggestion. Uh, we 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:50.440 get lots of suggestions and sometimes we take them. Yeah, yeah, 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.280 I go, I have one in the pipeline right now. 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.120 Oh yeah, yeah, I'm I'm just gonna let it be 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.360 suspenseful until then. Okay, whose idea I'm trying to think 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:01.120 of which one might be for you, because I know 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:05.440 what's in your pipeline, buddy, Okay, we already did the animals. One. 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:10.480 I can do that scary that scary hole. Uh. This 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.759 is Jamie Boo, her nice name, and I didn't even 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:17.119 let Jamie know. So hopefully Jamie, here's this and it'll 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.680 just be a big surprise. I know there's a certain 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.360 listener out there who is hoping this would be possums. 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:26.240 But here's a little hint. If you suggest something too much, 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.360 it becomes a game where we will never do it. Well, 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.120 you can ask the guy who um continuously asked for 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.240 the Hawaiian Overthrow episode. It's one of those we kind 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:36.920 of did that didn't mean we did do it, And 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:38.560 it's one of those things that you want really bad 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:40.360 and then when you get it you regret over having 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.479 asked for it. Yeah, just too much build up, right, 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.960 You just gotta let things come as they come, exactly, 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:53.200 chill out, look in your pipeline. I predict that we forgotten. 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.240 We normally would have gotten to possums by seven easily. 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.800 Never No, never, Right now we ut. But today we're 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.440 talking about pearls, right, yeah, pearls and the big thanks 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.280 to Jamie boo Her because this is one I'm surprised 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:09.880 we hadn't done. It's very stuff. You should know. He 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:12.840 just sort of sitting out there at the bottom of 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.400 the ocean waiting for us to discover it, like a 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:20.560 pearl diver, which weirdly was not even in this article. No, 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:22.520 I thought it was weird too. I did a little 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.080 research on it, so we'll we'll hit that in a minute. 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:29.480 But yeah, same. I read that Steinbeck book. What was 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:36.040 it called The Pearl Diver's Daughter. That was the original title, 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:37.639 but he just shortened it and he just said, let's 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.480 just call it the Pearl. Okay, I didn't know that 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.200 was a Steinbeck book. I knew about Grapes of Wrath 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.080 as I lay dying, mainly because that metal band mm 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:53.239 HM travels with Charlie Uhson. Man, what's the canary row? One? 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.760 Cannary row of mice and men? Man? Have you ever 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:00.640 seen that? With one? The one with Gary Sinice and 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:05.240 um John Malkovich is Lenny No. I saw the previous 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.239 version when I was a kid that I want to 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.519 say it was the Quaide the big boy Quade. Oh, 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:16.120 he'd be perfect for that, Randy um And I can't 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:20.200 remember who Lenny was. I think I saw pieces of Oh, 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:24.080 I thought you went of the of the Malkovitch one. Okay, 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.720 I thought you meant Randy Quaide was Lenny. I can't 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.480 imagine him as anybody else. Maybe Curly, but now I 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.200 think Curly is kind of like a Casey sa Moscow 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:36.200 esque smaller dude. You know what I mean. Wait, who 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:37.760 did I say? Did I get it wrong? Who did 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.480 I say? Randy Quaide was? You said you couldn't remember 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.760 who Lenny was. I don't remember the other guy's name, 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:47.200 but Lenny's the one who was old Yeller at the end, right, 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.040 I guess I should say spoiler alert, right of sure, 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.240 But if you don't know what that is, just he's 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.880 guys and Eddie. That's all you need to know. So Chuck, 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:57.760 let's start talking about pearls at this point. What do 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:03.280 you think? I think let's do it pretty neat, little Jim. Yeah, 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.280 you can make a really good argument, and I've seen 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:08.720 it made all over the internet, especially from pearl seller's websites, 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.520 that pearls are far and away the oldest gym people 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.159 have ever used to adorn themselves with. I don't know 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.919 if that's true, but it's possible because you have to 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.239 mind gold, you have to stumble upon it. With pearls, 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.599 I could see people just you know, diving for seafood 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.240 and being like, what is this thing? And oh there's 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:30.599 another one over here, and then all of a sudden 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:32.719 you've got, you know, these gems that are coming out 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.360 of the Persian Gulf and being a big deal. Yeah, 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.960 and you know it's already weird enough that people correct 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.800 an oyster open and said, maybe I should eat that 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:45.640 disgusting looking blob. I know that's kind of an angel question, 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.920 is like who ate the first oyster? But uh, when 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.920 they saw a little pearl in there? I mean, first 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.080 of all, the interior of any We're not any, but 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:59.560 of many mollusk shells can be beautifully iridescent and very 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.360 attract of to the eye. So I could see why 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.680 somebody might crack a mollusk open and say, hey, that 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.240 this looks interesting. Wonder if that piece of meat is 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.159 taste good? And it does, especially in a nice buttery 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.480 lemon white wine sauce. M hmm. I think we should 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.720 do oysters just separately at some point. But I found 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.679 a little pearl. Turns out it was a blister pearl, 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:24.800 which means it was we'll get to this, but it 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.839 means it's attached to the shell. But I found a 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.000 little blister pearl one time, and I can't remember if 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.839 it was just dining in a restaurant or whether it 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:37.880 was from a shell when we were like clamming or something, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.400 But I thought pearls only came from oysters, and that 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:47.000 is not true. They can come from just about any mollusk, right, 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:49.920 But you do make a good point. Any mollusk can 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.960 make a pearl if you if you're very inclusive of 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.640 what forms of pearl because their formed through the same process. 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:58.880 Is the difference between a true pearl and a non 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.320 true pearl, if you're going to be a purist, is 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.640 the substance that it's made from. And even more mind 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.720 boggling than that, they're made from the same substance. It's 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.400 just a different structural arrangement of that same substance that 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.720 produces a true pearl or a non true pearl. I 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.320 think that was enough mystery. Let's let's get in okay. 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.000 So one of the things that we need to know 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.080 about pearls, and one of the reasons why they've been, 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:24.479 you know, for thousands of years they were like the 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:29.679 great signifier of wealth, is because they're exceedingly rare in nature. 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:34.200 Just kind of globally, you'll find a pearl in about 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.640 one and ten thousand mollusks. That's not very many pearls 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:40.840 hanging around out there. So you can imagine that when 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.920 a really nice pearl was found. It was you know, 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.560 very much treasured um. And every single pearl, no matter 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.880 what kind of pearl it is, starts because the little 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:58.760 mollusk that forms the pearl is irritated. That's right. Uh. 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.720 You've often heard a grain of sand can turn into 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.360 a pearl. That is true. It can be a little 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:08.680 chunk of the shell. Um. Most times it's a little parasite, 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:13.680 and it's almost like an allergic reaction takes place inside 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:18.080 the mollusk and that they mount a defense by coding 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:20.200 this foreign thing that gets in their shell, because you know, 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.960 their shell is is ideally sealed up pretty tight, uh, 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.840 and they like to keep it nice and clean. Um. 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.280 But they something gets in there and they go, all right, 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.760 something's in here, shouldn't be. I'm going to coat this 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.680 thing with a substance and we'll get to what that 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.800 is in a second. And that substance basically just builds 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.920 up and eventually it makes a pearl. And you know, 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.640 it can be a little blister pearl that's still attached, 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.440 or you know, ideally what you're gonna get to is 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:54.440 a perfectly spherical, lovely little thing that could someday end 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.720 up on a piece of jewelry. Yeah, now we should 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.320 say like that one and ten molas. Like if you 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.080 if you get ten thousand mollisks together on the beach, 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.360 you would find a pearl in one of them. Um, 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.840 it would be even rarer than that to find a 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.840 perfectly spherical or even close to spherical pearl, Like those 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:17.920 are really really rare in nature, right, Um. But that 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.400 stuff that makes that pearl, depending on what kind of 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.000 mollusk it comes from, if it's a true pearl, the 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.760 stuff that they build up to kind of isolate that 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:28.200 grain of sand or that parasite or whatever, is called 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:33.760 naker and naker is this combination of um, a kind 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.280 of calcium carbonate called aragonite, and then another substance kind 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:43.040 of like an organic binder called concleolin. And as different 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:45.800 layers are put down at a little bit of water, 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.320 slowly by but surely like the layer kind of gets 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.840 bigger and bigger and bigger, and a pearl forms around that. Again, 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:55.880 you have to remember this, this thing that we prize 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:57.439 and value and think is one of the most beautiful 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.960 things in the world, is a Pearl's Like you said, 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:04.520 an allergic reaction to an irritant. That's what it's doing. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.320 It just so happens that we find them gorgeous and 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.560 like to wear them on our foreheads. Forehead, it's a 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.600 great place for a pearl. How did you pronounce that 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:19.880 second word, naker or oh con con conchiolian? Yeah, thrown 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.920 that ellen there. It's very easy to want to do. 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.360 Can I get the earth? Yeah? Conkylin uh and naker 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.319 by the way, spelled in a c R E for 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:32.040 those of you who love it when I just randomly 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.920 spell things, um and naker. You know, I talked about 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.200 that beautiful iridescence. Um, it's it's mother of pearl. That 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:40.200 is Naker. So when you look at the inside of 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.480 a of a mollusk, of a shellfish that has that 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:47.200 wonderful sort of rainbow iridescent look, that is the Naker 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.760 and it's really super strong. Um. And I believe it 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:52.680 they've been you know, it's it's part of the structural 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.600 integrity of keeping the mollusks strong, right right, Yeah, It's 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.320 like that's um, what what we would consider like what 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.520 our bones are made out of. That's what the mollusk's 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.320 hardness is made out of. I think, Yeah, exactly, at 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.319 least the interior part. So then there's the other non 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.200 true pearls. They're called non nacreous pearl because they're not 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:16.000 made with nacre They're made with a calcareous concretion, which 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.760 again is made from calcium carbonate crystals, but it's a 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:23.760 different arrangement of calcium carbonate called calcite, and calcite is 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:29.120 more stable than aragonite, but it's more fragile, and it's 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.839 just not the same thing as a pearl. Yeah, these 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:37.959 are the non acreous are I'm sometimes pink or brown. Uh, 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.280 And they generally come from the Queen conk. We say conk, right, 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.400 and we say conch conk. That's what I always said. 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:46.680 But I also heard people say conch one time, and 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:52.040 I thought it was mispronouncing they were they were dead wrong, okay, uh. 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.400 And this conk mollusk, the queen conk is in the 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:59.560 Caribbean or is it Caribbean because I heard someone say 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:03.320 it's the Caribbean. Yeah. You have to say it like 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.760 you're about to sing the Billy Ocean song. Yeah, queen, Yeah, 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:11.880 but you have to just leave everybody hanging you. Well, 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.000 you've never noticed in that song he goes Caribbean queen 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:21.839 conk in the background. Uh. I do want to recommend 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:23.960 this story that we're not going to get into here, 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.959 but Olivia, who helped us with this, was kind enough 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:31.240 to tease us with a story from one about a 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.760 Tai fisherman who found a mellow pearl m e l 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:36.680 o and that's um one of the other kinds of 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:42.880 non ne creus uh mollusk pearls, and it was worth 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:47.360 about three grand. These things are really really rare. They're uh, 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.640 you can't make them in nature, so that's why they're rare, 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:51.680 and we get to or you can't make them, you know, 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.120 by human hands, I should say. Uh. So they're super 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.839 rare and they're very um fragile. Uh and as a result, 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.120 they're really expensive. But is there's a really good story 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.679 about this Thai fisherman who found one worth a lot 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:06.839 of money and just go look it up on the 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.360 internet and read about it. But it's it's pretty involved. So, 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.080 like you said, the non acreous pearls are made by 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.079 the mellow mellow sea snail or the queen conk mollusk, 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.839 but the true pearls are typically made by saltwater oysters. 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:22.800 Or freshwater mussels. Like when you're thinking of a pearl, pearl, 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:26.760 it probably came from a mussel, possibly from Ohio or Tennessee, 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.439 of all places, the Tennessee River. That was one of 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.600 the most mind blowing things I've ever heard. Or if 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.680 it's saltwater oysters, it might be on the northern coast 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:40.440 of South America. It might be on the in the Baja, 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:44.240 the Gulf of California, off the Baja in Mexico. Um, 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.520 those are some really good spots for it, too. Or 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.000 it could also be in places in Japan as we'll 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.760 see too. Yeah, and the Tennessee River and a couple 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:55.240 of these other places are some of the some of 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.040 the only places where people still dive for pearls, because again, 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.280 as you'll see, most pearls that we see today are 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:10.000 made by people, Uh well, people and mollusks, sure in conjunction. Yeah, um, 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:11.680 but you know, we can talk just for a little 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:13.400 bit about pearl diving. That was how they used to 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.400 find pearls. And if you think, well, I get oysters, 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.840 you know, I live in I live near the ocean, 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.280 and I get oysters just in my oyster trap a 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.800 few feet down those are almost certainly not going to 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:29.920 be making pearls. The pearl bearing mollusks are generally very 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.480 very very deep, and these divers it was kind of 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.160 the I don't know if it was the reason people 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.480 started free diving so deep, but people who were really 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:43.200 good at free diving so deep, uh, often became pearl 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:45.840 divers in you know, free diving, or the people that 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.320 eventually they would get a mask, but they would you know, 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.720 you just go down there with your lungs and swim 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.959 super super super deep. And that's what the Steinbeck novel 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.120 is about. So so, like I saw that a pearl 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:03.360 diver might dive down to any feet undred and fifty feet. Yeah, 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.560 that's like fifty meters if you're paying attention, Um, that 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.400 is extremely deep. That's actually beyond like the recreational scuba 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:14.040 divers limits. I think that's like ninety hundred feet. So 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.400 these people are free diving that deep, and yeah, they're 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.760 having to hold their breath for many, many minutes, but 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.120 they're pretty good at it. And the reason why I 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.480 think they have to dive so low and the reason 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:25.600 why you're not going to find a pearl in an 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:30.720 oyster along them, the shoreline is because the flow of 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.240 water has to be below a certain speed or else 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.520 the nakers just not going to form correctly or at all, 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:39.800 from what I can tell, So they're gonna be just 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:43.520 sitting real still. Yeah, exactly, for sure. Should we take 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.360 a break. Sure, we'll take a break, and we'll come 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.480 back and talk a little history, because it turns out 0:14:47.680 --> 0:15:12.640 people have like pearls for a really long time. So Chuck, 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.400 we're back and we're talking pearl history and um. From 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:19.080 what I could tell, for about four thousand years, the 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:23.400 vast majority of pearls came from around the Persian Gulf, 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.400 the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Mannar by Sri Lanka. 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.240 And that was just the way it was. If you 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.480 had a pearl before about the nineteen twenties or thirties, 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:35.760 it was very likely that it came from one of 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.800 those areas. And in about the Middle East or Southeast Asia. Yeah, 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.040 and they were, like you said, they were always prized. Um. Obviously, 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:46.320 if you look at a pearl, um, it's a anytime 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.360 something really that beautiful comes from nature, that's that rare um. 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.640 It becomes a precious item. And from the very beginning 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:58.120 in I mean you name it. In most ancient places 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.600 where you could get pearls, they were written about. They 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:07.280 were prized and warned by the nobility. Maybe nobility definitely 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.400 kings and queens, maybe sometimes only kings and queens, and 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.400 not even like lower nobility. They were that rare, but 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:18.360 they also kind of hoarded them, like their stories of 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.960 you know, uh, ancient queens having like hundreds and hundreds 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.720 of pearls. Uh, It's not like they just had like, oh, 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.800 we found one and the rest, you know, other people 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.280 can wear. Yeah. I think the oldest pearl necklace that 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.040 was found is come comes from about twenty four hundred 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.440 years ago or twenty three hundred years ago in a 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.760 place that was called Susa, which we now recognizes Iran, 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.480 And it was in a princess's sarcophagus, and it was 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.400 a pearl necklace of two hundred and sixteen pearlstears. It 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.320 is a lot of pearls, especially considering again like just 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.960 any normal pearl is found in one in ten thousand mollusks, 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.560 and this this princess had two hundred and sixteen pearls, 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.920 So she would have been what you would call fabulously 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:02.400 wealthy at the time. Uh. Uh. Native American cultures prized 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.120 the pearl as well as you'll see. If you can 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.399 find them in the Tennessee River, Uh, then you can. 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:10.639 There are other places in the Midwest of the United 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:14.480 States where you can find pearls still today. So they 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:16.679 love them and use them. I think Mother of Pearl 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:21.239 has always been used. The ancient Egyptians definitely used it 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:27.680 as far as BC, even though they got pearls much later. Yeah, 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.600 apparently it wasn't until they were conquered by the Persian 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:36.199 Empire about the sixth yes, sixth century BC um that 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:38.639 they finally got pearls, which does not make sense to me, 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:43.600 but you know them's the Brakes history. Uh. This cleopatri 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:45.960 story is pretty interesting. I think we talked about this 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.480 in our Cleopatric episode. I'm pretty sure it sounds awfully familiar. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.840 It did. As the legend goes, she bet Mark Antony 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.119 that she could present the most expensive dinner ever made, 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.439 and he was like, all right, let's see what got 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.040 I think there's a catch. And there was a catch 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:08.720 because supposedly pearl earrings were crushed into powder and dissolved 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:14.800 into wine, and she went game on. She famously went 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.040 and then down her pearl shot of vinegar. Yeah, and 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.520 supposedly he said, no, thank you, No, that's too opulent 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.399 from waw. Yeah, I can't. I don't know if that 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.760 would be bad for you or probably just benign. Well, 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.359 it depends, because there's a lot of cultures over the years, 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.600 as we'll see, that have basically prized pearls for all 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:38.600 sorts of medicinal values along the way, Like everybody from 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:42.760 the Hindus to the Daoists to um ancient Sanskrit medical 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:47.199 texts like the Chakara Samhita all basically said, hey, pearls 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.040 are really good for everything from prolonging youth to curing 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:55.040 weak eyes. It's an elixir to restore strength. Like I 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:59.439 think anytime there's something that's valuable as a thing of beauty, 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:01.920 they also just assume that it has some sort of 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.760 healthful properties as well, And pearls are definitely in that 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.679 in that um realm. I'm curious if there's anything to 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.679 any of that, if there's been like modern studies on 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.000 pearl dust. Well, I know they put pearl dust in 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.000 some skin creams too, and it supposedly adds a youthful 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.480 glow to your skin. But that's smax to me of 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:25.199 basically the same thing as Sanskrit medical texts saying it 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.159 restores strength and youthfulness. And you know that because you 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:35.560 use it right, maybe it's still worth a try. Um. 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.480 Once the Crusades got going in the medieval era, they 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.960 started trading with Asia, all these pearls were coming to 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:45.639 Europe and again, and once they made their way to Europe, 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:50.439 they were basically off limits. They're actually sumptuary laws that 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.080 said you can't have them, common people, you can't have 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.840 anything nice. That's what all these laws are about. Yeah, 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.760 supposedly it was to to really keep the class delineations 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.720 in a order, but also it's supposedly to prevent the 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:07.479 lower classes from engaging in in wanton spending that they 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.880 couldn't afford, you know, in a like a form of vice, 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.000 like luxury. Basically, Um, the thing is that we have 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:18.160 credit cards right right, It's the opposite of a sumptuary law. Um. 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:22.800 The thing is, apparently Scotland has really nice pearls. And 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.119 I saw in more than one place that the story 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.840 goes that Caesar actually invaded Britain because he was after 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:32.840 um Uk pearls at the time, although it was in 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.560 the UK. You know what I'm saying. We still get 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:39.040 those emails all the time. For sure, we could, like 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:40.520 if you put a gun to our head, we could 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:42.440 come up with it. But just sometimes on the fly 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.880 it's hard to remember. Well. And sometimes when we say 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:49.280 English or England, we're talking about England. I think the 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.800 official right, right, but yeah, exactly, but I think the 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:54.800 official thing is the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.040 northern Ireland. I think I can hear some people in 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:02.119 Europe clamping right now. Uh well, speaking of them, uh, 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:05.480 the colonizers. Of course, once they started making their way 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:10.280 around the world and plundering everything, they obviously took wherever 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.000 there were pearls, they would take and harvest those pearls 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.560 and send them back to Europe again, whether it was 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:21.760 Panama or Mexico or places in South America. Wherever they 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:23.919 went and they had pearls, they were for the right, 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:27.960 for the taken, and again they went back to the courts. Generally, 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:32.280 um men wore pearl ear rings. Apparently in Henry's court, 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:36.960 um Elizabeth had thousands and thousands of pearls that were 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:40.640 you know, hey, a pearl button looks much nicer than 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:43.720 a real button or just a pearl adornment, and so 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:46.800 let's just use those instead of regular buttons. Yeah. One 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:50.280 thing that I found mind blowing was that um that 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.880 her gowns would have thousands of pearls sewn into them, 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:56.240 and that when you clean the gown you had to 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.200 you had to take all the pearls off and then 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.720 clean it and then sew all the pearls back onto. 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:06.520 Can you imagine you know what? I bet if you 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.880 told that story back then and Elizabeth was in the room, 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:13.919 she would say, really, they do that right, probably, And 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:17.320 by the way, off with your head right for telling 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:20.560 me that story. I don't like guilt man. That was 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:25.120 a great Elizabeth the first impression. Thank you, so onward 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:29.160 and upward, Chuck. Because in the late late nineteenth century, 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:34.679 and in particular, a guy named guest Tom Vives became 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:37.399 the first human being, as far as we know, to 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:42.639 set up a genuine, large scale commercial oyster farming operation 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:48.159 with the express purpose of producing as many pearls as possible. 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:53.000 Pretty good idea in eighteen it is. And because the 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:56.160 the you know, the the um what's the word, I'm 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:59.879 looking for where something happens and like in ratio for 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:05.720 warm um the how about okay, I know where you're going. 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:10.920 How about this, Because pearls are so rare, Vives said, 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:13.119 I'm going to overcome this by just having gobs and 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:16.200 gobs and gobs of oysters. Um, so that just I'll 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.119 beat the odds. And in fact, he beat the odds 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:24.240 big time because he was farming oysters and harvesting anywhere 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:28.560 between four to fourteen pearls per one hundred oysters. So 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:31.160 he was having a four to fourteen percent yield of 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:34.200 of pearls. Pretty good, right, well, I mean way better 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:36.639