Mother Of Pearl

Mother Of Pearl

Mother of pearl, also called nacre, is an iridescent layer of material which forms the shell lining of many mollusks. Pearl oysters and abalone are both sources of mother of pearl, which is widely used as an inlay in jewelry, furniture, and musical instruments.

These mollusks are found around the world from the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia to the Gulfs of Mexico, Panama and Venezuela.

Nacre is the same substance that is deposited around an object that becomes lodged in the mollusk–either naturally or inserted by humans–to become a pearl.

Although pearls are popular today, some past cultures regarded colorful pieces of mother of pearl as more desirable decoration for jewelry and other objects.

Jewelry made from mother of pearl is in the group called organic jewelry, which includes all jewelry that originates from a living creature, plant or other living organism.

Nacre appears iridescent because the thickness of the aragonite platelets is close to the wavelength of visible light. This results in constructive and destructive interference of different wavelengths of light, resulting in different colors of light being reflected at different viewing angles.

Two substances actually combine to create mother of pearl. The first is plates of aragonite, a material which is secreted by the mollusk. Aragonite contains calcium carbonate and conchiolin, a natural protein. Alone, the plates are very hard, but also very brittle. As a result, the organism also secretes organic material similar to silk to layer between the plates. The result is a strong, flexible material which can withstand hard use.

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