Mysterious and brilliant

The beauty of natural abalone pearls

 

Abalone pearls are gemstones that have long been highly regarded in the world of collectors and jewelry for their mysterious beauty and rarity.
Formed within abalone shells, they possess a unique color palette of intricate patterns with vivid greens and blues mixed with pinks and yellows, setting them apart from other saltwater pearls.

This feature introduces natural abalone pearls, a new addition to the sCenes collection.

 

Where to find abalone pearls

"Are abalone pearls not widely available in Japan?"
Prompted by this question from a pearl-loving customer, we began our search for "abalone pearls," which are pearls harvested from abalone.

Although we had seen abalone pearls several times in our pearl business, we had never handled them before because they are traded through a different sales channel than the cultured saltwater pearls we usually deal with.

Indeed, a quick online search revealed few retailers in Japan, and although we contacted an acquaintance who was a natural pearl broker, they did not handle abalone pearls, so it took some time to find a supplier.

 

What are abalone pearls?

Abalone pearls can be either natural or cultured.

Originally, abalone pearls only existed as natural pearls that were incidentally found in abalone shells harvested for food. However, with the advent of cultured pearls, semi-spherical cultured pearls began to be produced in various regions such as Miyagi and Nagasaki prefectures in Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and Mexico.
However, currently, New Zealand is the only country that commercially produces cultured abalone pearls, and their production volume is not large.

The production process for cultured abalone pearls sold on the market is essentially the same as for Mabe pearls: a semi-spherical nucleus is inserted between the shell and the mantle, the nucleus is attached to the inner side of the shell, and the nacre layer that covers it is then cut out and processed.

The reason why only semi-spherical pearls are produced, and not perfectly spherical pearls like cultured Akoya pearls, is due to the characteristic of the abalone shell, which is a univalve, that it cannot solidify injuries.
Abalone will bleed to death from even a small incision (like hemophilia), and unlike bivalves, abalone cannot close its shell, so even if a nucleus is inserted into its body, it cannot keep the nucleus inside without surgical intervention.
Therefore, it is impossible to create a nucleated pearl entirely covered with nacre, as is done with bivalve culturing such as Akoya oysters and Pinctada maxima.

Furthermore, abalone grows slower than other pearl oysters, growing only about 25mm per year. This means that the time from spat rearing to culturing is long, making it an extremely costly and high-risk industry.
It is clear that this background largely explains why New Zealand is currently the only country where abalone pearls are industrially farmed.

However, in recent years, scholars at the University of Antofagasta in Chile have reported success in culturing nucleated cultured pearls by performing surgery on a species of abalone called Red Abalone (scientific name: Haliotis rufescens).
If the technology for this surgical and other culturing processes improves in the future, it is possible that nucleated abalone pearls may appear on the market, but at present, they are not available.
(Reference 1: https://www.gia.edu/doc/Culture-Abalone-Blister-Pearls-from-New-Zealand.pdf)

Also, there are accessory materials made by cutting abalone shells, but these are not pearls. When "mother-of-pearl" is written, it refers to the shell that produces pearls.

California peacock abalone shell. As its name suggests, it has a beautiful nacre layer with a peacock pattern and is also used in shell crafts such as raden.

In other words, the abalone pearls currently traded on the market generally fall into one of the following categories:

1. Semi-spherical cultured abalone pearls harvested by cutting out the shell.
   ※Pearls cultured from Haliotis iris abalone from New Zealand.
2. Abalone pearls that are close to natural pearls, born as a byproduct during the production of cultured abalone pearls.
   ※Same as 1.
3. Natural abalone pearls incidentally harvested from wild abalone.
   ※Pearls can be harvested from wild abalone from various regions, but the most representative are pearls from wild Haliotis fulgens (peacock abalone) that inhabit waters up to 10m deep off the coast of California.
4. Abalone pearls that are extremely close to natural pearls, born as an unintended byproduct during the farming of abalone for food.
   ※Harvested in countries/regions where abalone for food is produced.

The characteristics of each are as follows:

1. Semi-spherical cultured abalone pearls are not formed in the soft tissue (inside the body) of the shell, but are made by cutting out the nacre layer that has grown over a semi-spherical nucleus glued to the inside of the shell, allowing for the production of products with consistent shapes such as circles, hearts, and teardrops. After peeling the pearl portion from the shell, resin is injected, and a flat abalone shell is attached to the back. Unlike natural abalone pearls, which may have black areas where there is no nacre layer, this type of pearl does not show black areas on its surface. It can be produced in much larger quantities than natural pearls.
2. Although not natural pearls harvested from the wild, they are rare to occur with the same appearance and formation process as natural pearls. Although cultured, they share the same flaws as natural abalone pearls (exposure of black areas). Their value is lower than natural pearls.
3. Harvested from wild abalone caught by divers for food, etc., the probability of finding them is extremely low, making them very rare and valuable. While their shapes vary, many natural abalone pearls are streamlined or fang-shaped. Since they are formed in the soft tissue (inside the body) of the shell, they are entirely covered with nacre, but most of them exhibit visible flaws such as black areas where there is no nacre layer.
4. Similar to 2, they are not natural pearls harvested from the wild, but they are rare to occur with the same appearance and formation process as natural pearls. Their quality is also similar to 2, but their color characteristics vary depending on the abalone species.

Left: Cultured abalone pearls made using the same method as Mabe pearls. Right: Natural abalone pearls harvested from wild abalone.

 

Abalone pearls handled by sCenes

Cultured abalone pearls, with their consistent shape and quality, are generally easier to work with for making products. However, sCenes decided to start by offering a very limited quantity of "small natural abalone pearls harvested from peacock abalone off the coast of Northern California."

This decision was partly due to the fortunate discovery of a natural abalone pearl broker, but also because small abalone pearls like baby pearls were not available among cultured abalone pearls. Furthermore, we were drawn to the romantic allure unique to biomineral pearls, where the shape of the pearl formed within the shell's body remains unknown until it is extracted.

As natural pearls, they are not without flaws, but we have designed them so that the back, where the entire natural pearl can be seen, minimizes the visibility of any black areas. The fact that there are very few small abalone pearl jewelry pieces was also a point of focus for sCenes this time. Images of the abalone pearls in their rough state before processing are also included on each product page, so please refer to them.

Sales begin July 8, 2023, at 8:00 PM