It is unknown when the pearl was discovered or when it started being used in jewelry. It was most likely discovered by accident, by some fisherman who was in the middle of preparing his oyster dinner when he discovered a shiny object inside his food and decided to keep it. Regardless, pearls have been used in jewelry for over 5,000 years. Below is a short history of pearl jewelry over the course of history.
The first people to use pearls in jewelry were probably the Chinese. In ancient China, pearls were considered to be one of the most valuable gems known to man and thus the nobility essentially horded pearls. One of the empresses – the Queen Dowager – was buried in a casket that contained approximately 20,000 pearls on it, one of which was an enormous gem the size of an egg. In addition to this, the Chinese emperors decorated their crowns with it; the Buddhist monks decorated their statues of the Buddha with them as well.
In the ancient world, specifically in Egypt, Rome and Greece, pearls were considered to be one of the most valuable gems available. Consequently, the Roman emperors banned anyone outside of the aristocracy from wearing pearls. In addition, the Roman aristocrats embedded pearls into furniture upholstery and their clothes. The Egyptians prized pearls to the point that anyone who owned a pearl crated jewelry from it and was buried with it upon their death.
During the Middle Ages and up until the Elizabethan era, there were all kinds of restrictions in place to prevent the common man or woman from wearing any type of pearl jewelry. This was especially common in France and Elizabethan England. In England, artisans and teachers were not allowed to possess pearl jewelry of any kind. During this period of time, the most well known piece of pearl jewelry were the strands of pearls belonging to Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife.
Following the Elizabethan era, the restrictions were relaxed and pearl jewelry became more popular amongst the upper and middle classes. However, they remained for the most part restricted to the aristocracy because of the steep prices that no one outside the aristocracy could afford. With the discovery of the New World and onward, pearls became even more popular, but still remained in the upper-classes. During the 1700 and 1800s, the economics in Europe and the United States had changed to the point that the middle class was finally able to afford pearl jewelry.
In the 19th century, the demand for pearl jewelry dropped because of the De Beers cartel and their diamonds. At the same time, most of the worlds pearl resources had disappeared. However, the Japanese, specifically Tokichi Nishikawa, Tatsuhei Mise and Kokichi Mikimoto each discovered ways to grow pearls without having to rely on the natural process, which can take years. This created a new demand for pearls that led to the widespread popularity and demand for pearls today, which manifests itself in pieces of jewelry such as earrings, rings and necklaces.