June Birthstones
Modern – Pearl & Moonstone Traditional – Alexandrite Mystical - Moonstone Pearls, the beautiful and elegant organic gems, are unromantically but scientifically described as globular cysts of calcium carbonate (mainly aragonite, a relatively soft carbonate mineral (CaCO3) that also makes up the shells of mollusks) that form within the tissues of mollusks as nacre, a protective coating resulting from an internal irritation, such as a grain of sand. Most pearls on the market today are cultured by inserting an artificial irritant or bead into the mollusk shell to create the pearl. Coin pearls - such as the ones in the picture above - are formed around a flat shaped bead nucleaus that causes the pearl to form around it into a coin, oval or square....