Pearls have intrigued humans for thousands of years. These mysterious and beautiful objects have a rich cultural history, they have funded business and industry, initiated conquest and exploration, adorned religious and secular art, and have been associated with royalty and celebrity.

Mollusks constitute one of the most diverse animal phyla on earth, with over 100,000 living species. They build the shells in which they live in as well as pearls themselves. The shell and the pearls are made from the same material.

Aragonite ("ah-RAG-uh-nite") and conchiolin ("KON-kee-uh-lin") are the two materials the animal uses to build its shell. The mineral aragonite is arranged in sheets of flat six-sided crystals. Between each sheet, the mollusk secretes a very thin layer of the membrane-forming conchiolin. This composite material is called nacre ("NAY-ker") or mother-of-pearl. The crystalline structure of nacre reflects light in a unique way. One of the most distinctive features of nacre is the way it seems to glow from within. This property, known as "luster," gives pearl its unusual beauty. Luster results from the reflection of light rays not only off the surface, but also off the inner layers of nacre. The multiple layers of nacre also gives rise to the iridescence and orientation. The layers of nacre act like tiny prisms, refracting light so that it appears as all the colors of the rainbow. pearls occur naturally in a spectacular array of colors, ranging from white to gold, purple and black. A pearls color depends on both the species of mollusk that produced the pearl and the environment in which the animal lived. In general, crystals of aragonite are white or colorless. The natural color of pearl is mostly due to conchiolin, which contains organic pigments.

Mother of Pearl comes from the South Pacific (Indonesia, Philippines, Tahiti, Australia, etc...) Much of the material comes from farmed shells, but a large percentage of Mother Of Pearl does in fact grow naturally in its natural habitat, and until the 20th century, divers in these regions spent most of their time hunting for mother-of-pearl rather than pearls. All material is hand cut and trimmed from the shell and carefully selected for pattern and color.

Gold lip Mother Of Pearl is scientifically the same as white M.O.P., only that gold is taken from the reverse side of the shell. Good quality dark gold shells come from the waters surrounding the Philippines and parts of Indonesia. Gold lip shells will yield both gold pieces as well as colorful white pieces from the inside of the shell, though it is not desirable to have both colors showing on the surface of any one piece. Gold lip is priced based on depth of color and iridescence.

Black lip Mother of Pearl is probably one of the most exclusive pearls in demand in today's knife and instrument market. It comes from small shells found in French Polynesia around Tahiti and its Archipelagos. Just under the the exterior bark of the shell is where the real beauty of the Black lip shell lies. Like Gold lip, Black lip has a black/grey color around the lip of the shell. Also like Gold lip, Black lip is priced by the depth of color and iridescence. A nice pair of Black lip will have every color of the rainbow in its iridescent black background. A pair is considered large if it has a usable area of 2 1/2" x 7/8' x .080". Currently, Black lip is at an all time low with regards to availability.

Red Abalone is a very exclusive material that has a demand much greater than its supply. The Red Abalone shell comes from just off the Northern California / Southern Oregon coast. Its name is a bit deceiving, it isn't red at all, but gets its name from the exterior bark which has a very red or pink tint. Most shells are not large enough to yield realistic knife handles. This combined with their tendency to be full of holes created by boring sponges, makes for only about 2% of all abalone harvested worth cutting. Abalone has two areas that are of particular interest to knife makers. First, there is the lip section which has a bulls-eye type pattern where iridescent pools of color blend together in a random larger pattern. Second, the heart section has a tight pattern of different colors and reveals the illusion of depth on the surface. Other Abalones include Blue- Green Paua from New Zealand, Awabi from Japan, and Green abalone from Mexico and Southern California. Most of these rarely get large enough to make a full exposed handle, and are primarily used for interframes or inlays.

Source: Mother-of-Pearl Co., www.knifehandles.com

Source: American Museum of Natural History, www.amnh.org