By Laura Riggs
Legend has it that Cleopatra and Mark Antony had a bet as to who could host the most expensive dinner party. During dinner, Cleopatra crushed up a natural pearl, dropped it into a glass of wine (some say it was vinegar), and drank it. The estimated value of the pearl was equivalent to 60 million sesterces, or 1,875,000 ounces of fine silver, or $9,375,000, making her the winner.
In the Hindu faith, another legend says that Krishna, the embodiment of Vishnu, the protector, plucked the first pearl out of the sea to give to his daughter Pandaia on her wedding day.
For centuries, pearls were so rare and expensive that they were reserved almost exclusively for the noble and extremely wealthy. During the Byzantine Empire, rules dictated that only the emperor was allowed to wear these treasured gemstones. At the same time, ancient Egyptians were often buried with their prized pearls. The oldest known pearl jewelry, now on display at the Louvre, was discovered in the sarcophagus of a Persian princess who died in 520 B.C.
Long thought of as the “queen of gems,” pearls are a symbol of serene beauty and the embodiment of wisdom. Ancient Vedic texts refer to pearls as the “daughter of the moon” since the moon controls the oceans, where pearls are formed. Venus, the goddess of love, was born from the sea, adorned in pearls, making pearls the crown jewel of lovers. The Koran includes a passage describing paradise as “the stones are pearls and jacinths; the fruits of the trees are pearls and emeralds; and each person admitted to the delights of the celestial kingdom is provided with a tent of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds; is crowned with pearls of incomparable luster and is attended by beautiful maidens resembling hidden pearls.”
