Abstract
Recently, some natural pearls were found in Zeeland, The Netherlands, reportedly from the Grevelingenmeer and Westerschelde areas. Three whole pearls and one blister, still attached to its shell, were examined. These non-nacreous pearls were white, although the blister also had a light grey portion. They displayed a dull lustre and showed an uneven, bumpy surface in the microscope. X-radiography and micro-CT scanning of the whole pearls revealed concentric structures consistent with their natural origin; the blister pearl was partially hollow. Raman spectroscopy identified calcite as the sole component for three samples; one showed only features of aragonite. A relatively low Mn and high Sr content (with SrO/MnO>>12) confirmed their saltwater origin. The host oyster for these very rare pearls was identified as Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg, 1793), a common ‘true oyster’ species in Zeeland, which is harvested for its meat but not used for pearl cultivation. There is no human intervention in the growth of these oysters, which supports the conclusion that these pearls are truly natural.
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