The Origin of the name: The black beauty is a natural pearl that belongs to the American Pearl company

o f Camden, Tennessee which was founded by the father of American fresh water pear ls, John Latendresse. The pearl is reported to have been originated in South America either in Ecuado r or Venezuela which are amongst the 2 historic fishing grounds in the region. This pearl is a perfect example of a large, well-formed and a high-domed button shaped black pearl and it has overtones of a wide range of colors in the likes o f yellow, green and violet. This overtone is generally referred to as the peacock or rainbow in terms of the classification of pearls. Hence, the name Black Beauty, clearly reflects these rare combinations of colors, orient, size, shape and its iridescence. These extr aordinary qualities make it one of the most famous pearls in the world. The characteristics of the pearl: This pearl has a high-dome and button shaped. The dimensions include 10.05 x 8.7 5 mm and it has a weight of 6.53 carats which is equivalent to nearly 26.12 grai ns. The natural black pearl has blends of rainbow overtones in the likes of violet, yellow and green and is the finest ever seen. The normal color or the natural bo dy color for the pearl is black, which is a result of the black melanin pigment that is secreted by the glandular cells of the mantle during the formation of th e nacre. The pigment in turn combines with the protein component of the nacre which is kn own as the conchiolin. The aragonite platelets which are nothing but transparent calcium carbonate crys tals usually remain colorless which helps the pigment color to show through. The overtones of peacock colors is the result of interference of light passing t hrough alternate layers of conchiolin and aragonite of the nacre and similarly a re the orient and the iridescence of the pearl. The blend of rainbow colors with the natural black color is amongst the rarest o nes in the pearl industry and is most sought after in the cultured black pearls of Tahiti. The very fact that these color combinations were found in a natural pearl, make it one of the most famous pearls in history. When it comes to the classification of black Tahitian pearls, there are a few combinations and special names that a re used. When it has gray as the basic body color and over tone of yellow and falls in th e category of yellowish-grey then the pearl variety is known as Champagne. For a pearl with black as the basic body color and combined with purple as the o ver tone and falls under the category of purplish-black then the pearl is termed to be Cherry. For pearls with black as the basic body color and blue as their over tone and fa lling in the combination of bluish-grey, this pearl is called to have a Lavender color.

For pale grey pearls, the terminology used is Moon gray. Also a pearl with black as basic color and green as the overtone and comes under the category of greeni sh-black will be called a peacock green or a black green pearl. For pearls having black as basic color and rainbow of colors as the overtone of the body, the pearls in the likes of the famous Black Beauty will be termed as p eacock or rainbow colored. While pearls having the reddish purple as their overtone fall under the special name of Aubergine or egg plant, the purple grey pearls come under the category o f Pigeon gray. For the gray and green colored pearl combinations, we use a special name of Pist achio and for the pure grey ones the silver category is picked. The last variety of the black pearls is the one in which the pearl body has a ba sic black color while the overtone of the pearl is gold and it falls in the cate gory of golden black. Such pearls are specified as Tahitian gold pearls. History of the Black Beauty pearl: This famous pearl is said to have originated in South America mostly on the fish ing grounds of Ecuador or Venezuela. The exact discovery of the black pearls is not yet known but a study of the pearl fishing in both these countries is made a long with the habitat in which they are found combined with the species of pearl oysters that live in these areas, then we might get an indication of the likely origin of the pearl. The black beauty pearl is one of the most famous pearls of the latest century an d was the one that started the undying craze for black pearls and even led to th e culturing of Tahitian black pearls and various other varieties of black pearls as well.