If you love keishi pearls – this SS oyster is your hero of the day

Thanks to the amazing pearl farmers at the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm in Australia we heard about a single SS oyster which produced 10 keishi. Single round pearl neatly in pearl sac ..ptoouie, not having any of that. Spat out the implanted nucleus, tucking it against its shell to make a blister pearl, then proceeded to make a seedless pearl in the pearl sac, and 10 pearls were growing in the mantle tissue as a natural pearl would. Being pearl farmers, it is hard to certify a natural pearl so they will all be valued and sold as Keshi pearls.

all the pearls on the half shell which is clearly all white

Now CIBJO won’t allow these ten beauties to be classed as natural pearls but, to all intents they are naturals which happened to have happened in a farmed shell..it’s the certainty which is lacking

(Ten keishi is remarkable. I remember the excitement in finding just one bonus keishi hidden in the mantle tissue when I was working at the pearl farm in Indonesia. You find with your fingers and not your eyes, by the way)

Thanks to http://www.cygnetbaypearlfarm.com.au for permission for the photos and the story