HS BLACK TAHITIAN CULTURED PEARL 10.96mm PENDANT, 18KYG

Black Tahitian pearls have an exotic beauty that makes them an extraordinary gift. They are also a sign of special devotion. According to Polynesian legend, the god of peace and fertility, Ono, descended to earth on a rainbow and offered to the princess Bora Bora a gift of a black pearl oyster as a sign of his unwavering love for her.

The distinctive black color of the Tahitian pearl, which is actually more of a gray- or silvery-black, often rare with green/blue overtones, comes from its cultivation inside the black-lipped variety of the Pinctata maxima oyster. These large oysters, up to a foot in diameter, are farmed on the volcanic atolls of Tahiti, where warm, nutrient-rich ocean waters create ideal environmental conditions for their growth. The oysters are pampered in the warm lagoons, and the pearls are kept inside them for a long period of time, allowing them to grow to their impressive size and develop multiple layers of lustrous nacre. Because of their sensitivity to the cultivation process, few of these oysters survive to produce pearls, which is why Tahitian pearls are so rare and valuable.