Footnotes

• Accompanied by a certificate from Gübelin, stating that the 22.34 carats saltwater conch pearl is natural and of the non-nacreous variety, with additional appendix noting that all natural conch pearls derive from the mollusc species Strombus gigas (or queen conch), which is exclusively found in a marine environment. Report number 0809632, dated 25th September 2008
  
  Accompanied by a certificate from SSEF, stating that the conch pearl is natural, is pink in colour with distinct flame structure and the authenticity of this natural conch pearl from a marine gastropod. Report number 58725, dated 10th March 2011
  
  
  The conch pearl is an extremely rare natural phenomenon and is produced by the Queen conch gastropod mollusk (Strombus gigas), which lives primarily in the Caribbean Sea.
  
  The conch is unusual as unlike the 'nacreous' types of pearls, such as South Sea, Tahitian, natural saltwater, etc. it is 'non nacreous'. This distinction is important as its structure and composition gives rise to the attractive porcelain-like quality of the pearl, and importantly to the spectacular visual flame effect sometimes observed.
  
  It is thought that only around 1 in every 10,000 conchs will produce a pearl, and that less than 10% of those are of gem quality. Accordingly, to find matching sets is extremely difficult and time consuming. Additionally, most conch pearls are usually quite small, usually 3mm or less, the larger the size, the rarer and more valuable the pearl is.
  
  Occurring in pink, yellow, brown, greens, white, and golden colours, conch pearls of pink and salmon hues are generally the most sought-after.
  
  22.34克拉天然海螺珍珠 鑽石 項錬