but people have been finding pearls in oysters for much longer — as early as 2300 BC when Chinese royalty received them as ...

Pearls are made by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body. The oyster or mussel slowly ...

Most pearls come from oysters, which thrive in both freshwater ... The oyster’s response to these intruders is to encase them in nacre, leading to pearl formation. Natural pearls vary in size ...

43 x 65 in. (109.2 x 165.1 cm.) Subscribe now to view details for this work, and gain access to over 18 million auction results. Purchase One-Day Pass ...

Oyster shells are bulky and plain, but the treasures they hold go beyond their tasty meat and beautiful pearls. One company in Hong Kong is turning them into materials for constructing buildings.