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Pearl
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The pearl is one of the four organic gems. They are produced when foreign material gets lodges in the shells of mollusks. The appearance of the pearl is due to the secretions the mollusks produce to encapsulate the foreign material.
Most of the folklore surrounding the pearl involve its use in European folk medicine. Ground pearls were ingested to cure melancholy and madness, and purify the blood.
A pearl dissolved into wine was historically used to honor someone in a toast, or as a sign of conspicuous consumption.
The pearl itself is more often more symbolic rather than imbued with inherent virtue. Though they represent innocence, purity, and sacredness; the pearl is believed to indicate these virtues in the wearer rather than bestow them. As such they were common in religious art.
By the end of the 15th century, they had become one of the stones of choice among European nobles. Sumptuary laws were passed restricting the use of pearls to nobles, and sometimes to specific families.
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Colors
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White, pink, blue, black, green, silver or gold
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Locations
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Any waterway with mollusks
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Compisition
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Organic calcium carbonate
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Hardness
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3-4
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