Ads
related to: mikimoto baroque pearls for sale ebay
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Kokichi Mikimoto (Japanese: 御木本 幸吉, Hepburn: Mikimoto Kōkichi, 25 January 1858 – 21 September 1954) was a Japanese entrepreneur who is credited with creating the first cultured pearl and subsequently starting the cultured pearl industry with the establishment of his luxury pearl company Mikimoto.
Mikimoto developed the island as a center for pearl production. In 1951, Mikimoto renamed it Mikimoto Pearl Island and set up a company to develop it for tourism. A commemorative museum of the life of Mikimoto was established in 1958 and a Pearl Museum in 1962. A bridge connecting the island to the mainland was completed in 1970.
The cultured pearls on the market today can be divided into two categories. The first category covers the beaded cultured pearls, including Akoya, South Sea, Tahiti, and the large, modern freshwater pearl, the Edison pearl. These pearls are gonad-grown, and usually one pearl is grown at a time. This limits the number of pearls at a harvest period.
The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can occur. The finest quality of natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable.
Mikimoto (written: 幹本, 美樹本 or 御木本) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: Notable people with the surname include: Kokichi Mikimoto ( 御木本 幸吉 , 1858–1954) , Japanese businessman and creator of the first cultured pearl
Most Tahitian pearl farm harvests, which, for example, produce more than 40 percent baroque and semi-baroque pearls. Western Australia is currently the world's largest cultivator of pearls from Pinctada maxima gold-lipped oysters, whereas Tahiti is the number one cultivator of pearls from Pinctada margaritifera black-lipped oysters.