Pearls for 30th Anniversary

They're there if you look, around the necks of women thought to be among the world's most beautiful. Poets, philosophers and artists try to capture them with words or pictures. But really, it is about just getting lost in their deep luster.

People have been using pearls since ancient times to adorn themselves. And over the course of that long history, a lot of traditions have been created. The one we still celebrate today is about giving the woman you love pearls on your 30th wedding anniversary.

But while Queen Elizabeth could afford all the expensive natural pearls she wanted, it took the persistent son of a Japanese noodle maker named Kokichi Mikimoto to invent affordable cultured pearls with a big thank you to the United States.

What he discovered in the 1890s is used to this day. The single best material for creating the nucleus of a pearl comes from a Mississippi River clam called the pig toe. How? Oysters find the nucleus an irritant and begin coating it. In two or three years, a pearl is born. And a rare 5 percent make it Mikimoto's Tokyo showroom.

Read entire article here.

Read about Kari's visits to Mikimoto stores around the world here.