Tears of Mermaids: The Secret Story of Pearls

Amazon.com Price: $15.99 (as of 03/05/2019 00:04 PST- Details)

Description

A round, luminescent pearl is the most straightforward and most perfect gem. Columbus sought―and found―this precious jewel coveted by his Spanish sovereigns, sparking popularity right through Europe. Fashion icons Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Grace, and Michelle Obama cherished them, making them iconic. And designer Coco Chanel raised them to new heights, bringing pearls― fake and real―to women all over the place. In Tears of Mermaids, Stephen G. Bloom travels 30,000 miles so that you could trace a single pearl―from the moment a diver off the coast of Australia scoops an oyster containing a single luminescent pearl from the ocean floor to the instant a woman fastens the clasp of a strand containing the similar orb. Bloom chronicles the never-before-told saga of the global pearl trade by getting access to clandestine outposts in China, the Philippines, French Polynesia and Australia. He infiltrates high-tech pearl farms guarded by gun-toting sentries, farms for pearls in rural China, or even goes behind the scenes at Christie’s for a quick and furious auction of the costliest pearl ever sold. Teeming with rogue humor and uncanny intelligence, Tears of Mermaids weaves a nonstop detective story whose main character is the world’s most enduring jewel.

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