Margarita Pearls Update: GIA Assists

by R. Duncan Mathewson III, Ph.D., BWVKW Archaeological Director

Key West is playing host to Akira Hyatt, pearl expert from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). She has arrived to assist us in the sorting and classification of the thousands of pearls recently discovered by Blue Water Ventures Key West on the Margarita site. The company working under a joint venture partnership with the Mel Fisher’s Treasures Group, feels confident that there are many more pearls and treasure of all types still to be found in the widely dispersed shipwreck scatter leading to the “mother lode.”

Akira is working together with Gary Randolph, Vice President, Director of Operations at Mel Fisher’s Treasures and Jim Sinclair, Archeologist in a close examination of the pearls. This involves the painstaking sorting of the pearls ranging in size from as small as a sand grain to as large as 22mm in diameter. All pearls are being classified into six different categories using size, shape, color, luster, and surface as major attributes.

Read entire article and see photos here.