In Bahrain, only natural pearls will work
Customers at a jewelry store in Bahrain study pearls on display that are unusually 100% natural – the result of an attempt to preserve a centuries-old industry.
Although rare elsewhere, natural pearls obtained by divers from seabed oysters are the only species produced in the Gulf Kingdom, a country proud of its pearling heritage.
Bahrain, a tiny island nation next door to Qatar, is the only country in the world to ban the cultivation of artificial pearls, which have flooded the market since the 1920s.
“We can’t mass produce,” said Faten Mattar, who works at the family-run jewelry store.
Sourcing pearls directly from divers, it can take up to five years to complete a necklace, she said, admitting it was “a challenge”.
And larger pieces, which can fetch up to $25,000, can take more than a decade to complete.
But since no two natural pearls are identical, Mattar says that’s part of the appeal.
“Everyone who owns or gets a piece of jewelry that contains natural pearls knows that no one else has the same jewelry.”
Mattar is one of the first women to work in the family-owned business, which was established more than two centuries ago and is one of the oldest in Bahrain.
Pearls adorn bracelets, necklaces, cufflinks and other items in the little shop.
“One of our goals…was to make pearls more accessible to everyone, so we created different collections, not just big pieces,” she explained, referring to men’s designs and “designs for the younger crowd.” Everyday Jewelry”.
– literate “shock” –
Like other Arab Gulf states, Bahrain’s economy had been dependent on pearling until the discovery of oil.
Bahraini freedivers spend months aboard traditional dhows, the wooden sailing vessels that have sailed the waters of the bay for centuries to capture the pearls prized by the region’s royalty and European fashion houses.
But the natural pearl trade collapsed after the Great Depression in the 1930s and Japan developed cultured pearls, which are artificially propagated in freshwater mussels, which are cheaper and easier to produce.
According to Unesco, Muharraq in northern Bahrain is home to “the last intact example of the pearling cultural tradition”, featuring the ruins of an oyster farm and what was once a dhow The fortress from which the dhows depart.
Today, young gemologists at Bahrain’s Pearl and Gem Research Institute (DANAT), located among the skyscrapers in the capital Manama, scrutinize pearls using modern machinery or the naked eye.
A researcher, supervised by physics and gemology graduate Fatima Almahmood, puts a pearl through an X-ray machine.
X-rays detect the “growth lines” that differentiate natural and cultured pearls, she explained, pointing to scanned images projected on a screen.
DANAT was established in 2017 to authenticate pearls at the request of merchants and individuals.
“You’d be surprised how many customers come to DANAT, they inherit pearls, and then they’re shocked to know…(they) contain cultured pearls,” said Noora Jamsheer, head of the research centre.
In addition to assessments, DANAT also monitors the state of the waters where natural pearls are harvested.
Jamsheer said climate change was worrying.
“We have a research team constantly going out into the field, studying and collecting data — water temperature, water quality, salinity — to identify and study the impact of these factors.”
bur-aem/ho/th/ami/noc/leg