Nordica Pearl

This gem is the finest abalone of which we have any record (in 1908).

Nordica Pearl Collection

It weighs 175 grains, is a drop pearl of a greenish hue, with brilliant red fire-like flashes, and serves as a pendant to the famous collection of colored pearls belonging to the beloved and admired American prima dona.

Madam Nordica

It would be interesting to know if this is still the most sought after abalone pearl. I know that most natural abalone pearls are horn-like as the ones on this page found near New Zealand.

Abalone pearls are especially interesting on account of their brilliant and unusual colors. Green predominates, but blue and yellow also occur. Although commonly very small, some of the well-formed ones exceed seventy-five grains in weight, and those of irregular shape may be very much larger. The ear-shells also produce many irregular pearly masses. Their beautiful greenish or blueish tints adapt them for artistic jeweled objects, such as the body of a fly or of a beetle.

The awabi or ear-shell (Haliotis gigantea), found on the coast of Japan, Korea, etc., yield many pearly forms. This species is much smaller than the California abalones. It has a fairly smooth, nacreous surface, but its value is depreciated by the great size of the marginal perforations, which render useless for commercial purposes all of the shell external to the line of perforations. While its opalescents tints make it desirable for manufacturing into certain styles of buttons and buckles, its principal use is for inlaying work or marquetry, for which it is especially adapted, owing to its fineness of texture and beauty of coloring even when reduced to thin sheets.

Information as recorded in 1908 by Kunz and Stevenson in "The Book of the Pearl".

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Go to main famous pearls and collections after the Nordica Pearl.

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SBI!