Precious Gems of the Deep.(pearls)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

The ancient Greeks thought pearls were created when lightning struck the sea. Other peoples of antiquity attributed pearls to rain-drops or dewdrops, captured and solidified by clams. But it was another classical civilization whose theory most poignantly captured the romance of these gems, one of human-kind's oldest. Pearls, concluded the Romans, are the frozen tears of oysters--or of the gods.

In the most comprehensive exhibit of pearls ever mounted, the American Museum of Natural History in New York explores the history, science and lore of the only gems that come from living creatures. Dedicated "to deepened cultural understanding and peaceful co-existence" in the wake of the terrorist attacks, the show--through April 14 of next year-- suffered some blowback from Sept. 11. The Kremlin withheld a couple of pieces, the Louvre decided not to send Empress Josephine's pearl earrings and scrambled flight schedules delayed the arrival of some pieces (Liz Taylor's 10-gram, pear-shaped La Peregrina arrived just in time). But with 800-odd objects, including the necklace Joe DiMaggio gave Marilyn Monroe on their honeymoon in 1954, and 500,000 individual pearls from (among other countries) Venezuela, India, Tahiti, Japan, Germany, Monaco, France and England, the absences hardly show. "An exhibition about these extraordinary objects, which reveals the vitally important intersection of science and culture, is especially appropriate at this time when we are all endeavoring to better understand one another and the world around us," says museum president Ellen Futter.

Pearls have financed wars and sealed wedding engagements, and topped the "bring back" list that Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain gave Columbus (a priority higher than their order for gold, silver and spices). He obliged. During his third voyage to the New World, in 1498, Columbus stumbled on a cornucopia of natural pearls off the coast of Venezuela, near the mouth of the Orinoco River. The discovery of this "Pearl Coast" touched off a pearl rush that flooded Europe with these natural gems for the next century and a half. The luminescent jewels became unrivaled as symbols of ...