Pearls are considered the most mysterious stone in the whole world. He has incredibly mesmerizing and romantic qualities. There are a large number of legends and myths in the world that confirm its divine origin.
One of the legends says that once people saw a fierce battle in the sky between dragons. Bright lightning illuminated the sky, loud peals of thunder simply deafened, the sky was covered with dark clouds. And suddenly, with all this incredible situation, an amazing rain poured on people - every drop turned out to be a beautiful pearl.
The lunar legend of the origin of pearls is also quite entertaining. It claims that the pearl originated from the moon. The light of the night luminary somehow mysteriously fell into the shell of the mollusk. While the Moon illuminates the Earth at night, its light, sinking to the bottom of the earth's reservoirs, penetrates the shells, and turns into pearls.
Indians also treated pearls with divine awe. It was valued more than emeralds, diamonds and rubies. Huge deposits of pearls were kept in the treasuries of the rulers of India. Some Indians believe that the god Krishna himself gave them pearls when he presented a pearl necklace to his daughter as a wedding gift. Since then, pearl jewelry has been present in any wedding ceremony.
Old people in India have another story to tell. It states that pearls are frozen raindrops that somehow got into the shell. Imagine rain over the sea, droplets hitting the water surface noisily. Awakened by this noise, the oysters rise to the surface, opening their doors. Only one raindrop falls into each shell, the shell immediately sinks to the seabed. It is there, in the depths, that the magic of transforming a drop into a pearl takes place.
Despite the marine origin of pearls, which the Indians are sure of, there is another version in their epic: pearls originated from a special breed of elephants that hid mother-of-pearls in their front folds.
Indians believe their legends about the origin of stones. One, for example, is the myth of the battle of the snake king Asura with a huge monster. As a result of this terrible carnage, the king died. The one, his divine blood, that spilled on the ground turned into precious stones, and the one that fell into the river turned into rubies, the one that spilled into the sea became emeralds. The sea bitterly mourned the fate of the deity and his tears turned into amazing pearls.
The Slavs also preserved myths about the origin of pearls. They say that drops of water flowing down from beautiful water flowers turn into pearls. If the drops fell into the water at sunset, it turns out to be a golden pearl, if at noon, then it is silvery, and those who came from the morning drop acquired a pale pink hue.
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Not surprisingly, among the Filipino pearl divers had their own version of his birth. According to it, pearls in shells appear after the morning ray of the rising sun touches the open shell. The legend says that earlier shells with pearls were collected near the coast. But when the greed of the people led to violent clashes for the right to possess this sea treasure, the pearls were hidden in the deepest depressions of the sea. And now their extraction requires a lot of effort.
Despite the large number of beautiful pearls known to mankind, there are several unique pieces. These include the famous Pelegrina pearl, nicknamed the "wanderer". Its history is very interesting and it began in the 16th century. A dark-skinned slave caught her near the Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama. The slave masters were so shocked by the sight of the pearl, which has a unique pear-shaped shape and has a pure milky white color, that they immediately gave freedom to the slave, thereby repaying him for the find.
The pearl has been in the hands of many monarchs in Europe. Including the French King Philip IV, who presented the pearl as a wedding gift to his daughter Marie-Teresa. As time went on, the owners of the pearl changed.
In Russia, it appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. "Peregrina" ended up in the hands of the niece of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II - Irina Alexandrovna Romanova. At that time, its price was at least one million rubles. Since then, the value of this pearl has increased several times. Today, even the most experienced expert will not take the responsibility to name the true value of this unique treasure. "Peregrina" is valuable because its form is considered exemplary correct, and its purity is excellent.
Princess Irina Romanova married the most noble Russian aristocrat and handsome man - Felix Yusupov. The pearl has become the most valuable thing in the Yusupov treasury. She was very interested in the "elder" and favorite of the sovereign family - Grigory Rasputin. He repeatedly "reminded" the aristocrat of his desire to see "Peregrina", but Yusupov was in no hurry to do so. Rasputin often told the prince that he owned two priceless pearls, meaning "Peregrina" and Princess Irina. It is possible that when it was necessary to lure the "elder" to Yusupov's palace, the prince promised to give the pearl to Rasputin. The old man, madly dreaming of receiving a sea jewel, went to the prince's house. But what happened next is known to everyone.
In 1917, the Yusupov family left Russia, entrusting the supervision of the safety of their real estate to the butler Buzhinsky. Many were aware of the untold wealth of the Yusupov clan. Undoubtedly, leaving the country, the Yusupovs could not take out all the treasures, and they were hidden in numerous ingenious hiding places. Leaving, Yusupov was sure of an early return to Russia. The Bolsheviks thoroughly searched all the Yusupovs' houses and interrogated the servants. As a result, only two vaults were found with hidden works of art and jewelry. But the pearl of Peregrina was not there.
Some of the treasures found were sold abroad by the Soviet government or presented as gifts to representatives of foreign countries. The Cheka had its agents in many European countries. One of their duties was to spy on wealthy aristocrats who had time to leave Russia. The agents were never able to find traces of the pearl "Peregrine". And Princess Irina Yusupova herself constantly said, answering numerous questions, that she did not know the fate of the unique pearl. It was clear that it was impossible to secretly sell the pearl, since all the jewelers knew about it. And who of the moneybags will give away millions without proper examination of the jewelry?
Not only Russian agents were looking for the pearl. Americans and rich Arabs were interested in her, but traces, it would seem, were completely lost. The fate of Peregrina was considered the greatest mystery of the 20th century.
Years passed … Felix Yusupov, together with his wife and faithful servant Grishka, lived out his life in Paris. A rich aristocrat was not used to counting money, so he spent and distributed it without counting. He soon found himself completely without a livelihood. Then the prince, having taken out the pearl "Peregrine" from the hiding place, went to the famous Parisian jeweler. Seeing the legendary treasure, the jeweler was speechless. The nimble jeweler immediately bought the pearl. And after a short time it was put up for sale at Christie's auction. The purchaser paid about 3 million francs for it.
Yusupov, of course, received much less for the pearl, but this money was quickly wasted by the aristocrat. Until the end of his days, he lived at the expense of his only servant Grisha.
This story became known thanks to the story of Felix Yusupov's granddaughter - Ksenia Nikolaevna Sheremetyeva-Yusupova. The bearer of the most famous Russian surnames lives modestly in Greece and enjoys communicating with her daughter and grandson.
In the 20th century, the pearl "Peregrina" was seen at Sotheby's. As a result of the auction, it became the property of the husband of the famous actress Elizabeth Taylor. So she ended up in the hands of an American. By order of Taylor, jewelers from the French company "Cartier" made an amazingly beautiful necklace, into which the pearl "Peregrine" was inserted. The decoration became the favorite for the actress. There are many pictures of Taylor wearing this necklace.
In 2011, after the death of the actress, the necklace was put up at Christie's auction, where it went for $ 12 million. And although after that, the pearl began to be considered the most expensive in the world, we must pay tribute that its very "frame" - the necklace, turned out to be truly the greatest piece of jewelry art.
It's safe to say that another mystery of the 20th century has been solved!