I am a GIA certified gemologist. I thought it would be fun to have a series of caches that not only gave some interesting information about the different gemstones, but also gave “a real gem” as the prize for the FTF. This cache contains a 6 3/4 mm cultured pearl. It is in a small plastic baggie along with the log so be careful when opening. FTF may keep the pearl and bag. Please replace the log in the container and hide the cache exactly as found. The cache and pearl are not located at the listed coordinates. To find the correct coordinates you will first need to solve a puzzle.
Pearl is the birthstone for June and the gem of the third and thirtieth anniversaries. Found in ponds, lakes, seas, and oceans, people have coveted natural pearls as symbols of wealth and status for thousands of years. A Chinese historian recorded the oldest written mention of natural pearls in 2206 BC. As the centuries progressed toward modern times, desire for natural pearls remained strong. Members of royal families as well as wealthy citizens in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere treasured natural pearls and passed them from generation to generation. In 1917, Pierre Cartier traded a double strand of natural pearls for a mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Perhaps the best-loved gems of all time, pearls—both natural and modern cultured pearls—occur in a wide variety of colors including white, black, gray, yellow, orange, pink, lavender, green and blue. Some pearls also show the iridescent phenomenon known as orient. Natural pearls form around a microscopic irritant in the bodies, or mantle tissue, of certain mollusks. Cultured pearls are the result of the deliberate insertion of a bead or piece of tissue that the mollusk coats with nacre.
The first steps toward pearl culturing occurred hundreds of years ago in China. In 1893 Kokichi Mikimoto successfully cultured a pearl in Japan. These cultured pearls became commercially important in the 1920s, about the same time natural pearl production began to decline. The growth of cultured pearls requires human intervention and care. Today, most of the mollusks used in the culturing process are raised specifically for that purpose, although some wild mollusks are still collected and used. Three mollusks are sacrificed in order to get one cultured pearl. The first is a freshwater mollusk from whose shell a bead is made from, the second is the mollusk from which the small piece of mantle tissue is taken, and the third is the host mollusk from which the pearl is grown.
There are four major types of cultured whole pearls:
- Akoya—This type is most familiar to many jewelry customers. Japan and China both produce saltwater akoya cultured pearls.
- South Sea—Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are leading sources of these saltwater cultured pearls.
- Tahitian—Cultivated primarily around the islands of French Polynesia (the most familiar of these is Tahiti), these saltwater cultured pearls usually range from white to black.
- Freshwater—These are usually cultured in freshwater lakes and ponds. They’re produced in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and colors. China and the US are the leading sources.
To begin the process, a skilled technician takes mantle tissue and inserts a shell bead along with the small piece of mantle tissue into a host mollusk’s gonad, or several pieces of mantle tissue without beads into a host mollusk’s mantle. If a bead is used, the mantle tissue grows and forms a sac around it and secretes nacre inward and onto the bead to eventually form a cultured pearl. If no bead is used, nacre forms around the individual implanted mantle tissue pieces. Workers tend the mollusks until the cultured pearls are harvested. Few people outside the gem industry realize the true nature of a cultured pearl’s journey from the producer to the counter of a store. Careful nurturing, countless hours of labor, and significant investment are needed to bring a pearl to market.
The cache is not hidden at the above coordinates. To find the coordinates, you must first answer the below questions.
A = How many mollusks are used in making a cultured pearl?
B = How many major types of cultured whole pearls are there?
C = Cultured pearls became commercially important in what year? (first number)
D = How many letters are in the name of this cache's gem?
E = In what year was a double strand of natural pearls traded for a mansion on Fifth Avenue? (fourth number)
F = Pearl is the birthstone for what month?
G = Pearl's occur in how many different colors?
H = In what year did Kokichi Mikimoto successfully culture a pearl? (second number)
I = The oldest recorded written mention of natural pearls was in what year? (third year)
J = Pearl is the gemstone for what single digit anniversary?
K = How many strands of natural pearls were traded for the mansion on Fifth Avenue?
The cache is located at North AB CD.EFG West HI JF.EKE