“The Lab Experiment”

In our 20+ years of experience with the production of pearls, we must accept that these past three harvests have been the best of all. Another year goes by and, just like every June, we close again a four-year process in which we dedicated tons of work to keep our animals healthy and thriving, in this time, they grew, they bred, and some made a pearl.

Pteria sterna oysters are known for creating the most colorful pearls in the world; yes, in the world. Years of care and protection are needed so that they can complete their life cycle, produce a cultured pearl (sometimes), and be able to contribute to the recovery of the local populations.

At the end of last year’s harvest, the whole team was surprised, this 2022 made it to the TOP OF THE LIST:

These are the TOP 10 Pearls from over 4,000 pearls

Each pearl is valuated individually to grade its attributes and determine its quality. This is very important for us, since our focus is to keep only the best ones.

To choose the Top Ten we considered the combination of these traits

• Color
• Luster
• Size
• Cleanliness of surface
• Shape
• Learn more at Value of a Pearl 

 

Our pearls must reach a minimum mother-of-pearl thickness of 1-3 mm, and have a final size greater than 8.0 mm in diameter.

In 2018, we started experimenting with the breeding of pearl oysters in 4,000-liter tanks with filtered sea water (we call it the Lab and it is different from what we usually do which is “Spat Collection” in the wild) and our 2022 Pearl Harvest was the first one to have pearls harvested from “Lab Animals”. At the end, we can say both types (Lab and Wild) are amazing pearl producers, that even some of the TOP 10 Pearls from this year came from the new “Lab Grown Oysters”.

 

As time goes on, the team keeps growing.

It has been a year with a lot of great new stuff going on. Since the beginning, only the original 3 founders/owners worked directly with each animal to induce the pearl production. For us to ensure more Cortez Pearl Harvests in the future, the bosses decided to teach a younger team to keep the farm going for another generation. A couple of years ago Guillermo became the 4th Sea of Cortez Pearl Implanter and then it came the opportunity for Michelle, one of our Online Sales Associates, two years ago she learned how to do the grafting, and, in the blink of an eye, the two years went by giving her the opportunity to see the result of her work.

The Cortez Pearl Team is like a family. Here at the farm, we love being part of the story, being part of the growth of the whole team, it motivates us to beat the impossible. Our bosses have been swimming against the current since the beginning of the project, and now have the perfect team to keep the farm moving forward and growing.

For us it is another great year full of fun adventures, a lot of hard work, and surprising results. We take care of our animals since they are “babies” in a way, they also become part of the family. Patience and care are needed to make this work out at the end. Some pearls from other places in the world spend more time in machines and/or chemicals getting enhanced to look “pretty” or “perfect”, but, here, pearls are kept with their natural beauty.

In our pearl farm, the pearl oysters are allowed to be the “REAL ARTIST”. The more time the pearl spends inside of them, the thicker the coating of nacre will be, guaranteeing a long-lasting pearl with a unique personality.

Each necklace we´ve made over the years is totally unique and unrepeatable.

Even pairing pearls for earrings is quite difficult, so creating a necklace, a real unique necklace, takes a long time, but patience pays off after all.

We have in stock an amazing HISTORIC CORTEZ PEARL NECKLACE, the one that appears in the Pearls book by Hubert Bari and David Lam, and two stunning Multi-Colored Pearl necklaces (contact us for images and videos)

 

Our 2022 harvest video.

We invite you to watch our 2022 Pearl Harvest Video, we made just for you, you will fall in love with our pearls and the place they come from.