Over the last few years, I’ve lost count how many emails I’ve received from Africa. That continent has more princes and generals with boxes of loot willing to share for a 30% cut than Zhejiang has freshwater pearls. The Yahoo Millionaires of Nigeria (AKA yahoo-yahoo boys who run the 419 scam operations) have bilked millions from unsuspecting, greedy and naïve, normal and not-so-normal folk around the world. But if I receive an email from Zanzibar, offering some black South Sea pearls for sale, I may have to take notice.Apparently there is a group in the Zanzibar Archipelago culturing pearls! With help from the Institute of Marine Sciences of the University of Dar es Salaam, pearl culture technology is starting to take hold of this impoverished part of the world.
Starting with a small group of only 5 youths, 30 pearls were harvested last year, or which 28 were of good, salable quality. These pearls were sold for about $3600 in all, but the group may have harvested another 35 just last month.
So what effect will a whopping 65 pearls have on the pearl industry? Nothing, of course. But Africa is a big continent. Labor is cheap. Profits can be made. Just ask DeBeers. Drop a Branellec-esque entrepreneur into that operation and watch a new center of production grow.
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14 comments:
Hi Pearl Professor,
Are you SURE this is not some obscure pearl research funded by the infamous and legendary pearl-crap-meister Zeide G. Erskine instead? Does she now own those 28 pearls, making her the only one in the world who has some? Frankenfish will surely eat up the rest of the operation and the five youths involved in the venture will eventually be selling, through eBay, the undeclared pearls they pilfered and were also paid with.
That would be quite the ruse.
Apparently about 20 of the pearls were sold to a buyer in the USA.
Does anyone know if those 20 pearls were headed to Fresno, CA?
No comment on the article. However, I am glad to see you are back in action, Professor. Cheers.
Right now, I am out of project ideas. However, it's made me think real hard about setting up a hyriopsis schlegeli project - kind of like reviving Lake Biwa in China. I don't think there will be a PhD in it for anybody, though, so I'll have to see about recruitment. Generally, Chinese people do not like being in the north very much. Maybe I will have to move the whole thing to Mongolia. I wonder what they think about importing h. schlegelis. Perhaps they have even better ones locally?
Interesting. You have to start somewhere. I wonder if there are similarities to the Mergui Archipelago where the Burmese began culturing pearls. Any word if they are only focusing on Pinctada Margaritifera in Zanzibar?
From the article, it appears as that the only focus in on Pinctada margaritifera.
Have you never heard of the Mafia island Marine Park? This is old news.
That old news is half-pearl production, not round. Round is NEW news.
Where did you read about round pearls? That article you mention is about half pearls if I read correctly.
Interesting.
It does not state half-pearls when discussing the pearls produced in Zanzibar, but mentions half-pearl production in other coastal communities and describes it as not being as lucrative/preferred as whole. The prices the pearls fetched, however, would indicate whole pearl production. Further, when discussing mabe or blister pearl production it is typically described as such, while round is simply described as 'pearls'.
Djibouti and Sudan are actually producing quite good quality with many pistachio colors. I have a strand not quite as colorful, I call them my Volvo pearls owing to their hefty size (14-17mm), fabulous quality (6-8mm nuclei), and color range of muted colors. In contrast to French Polynesian pearl plated beads they are also absolutely untreated.
@The Pearl Professor: the article is not very clear on this round/half pearl thing, but I suppose your last comment clears things up.
Z.E., I also own pearls from Sudan. They come in fancy shapes, some are circled, beautiful metallic luster.
@The Pearl Professor: Thought you'd be interested in this article:
http://wiomariculture.gso.uri.edu/forum/?p=153
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