Scallop Pearls

Scallop pearls are the non-nacreous gems produced in a scallop. A scallop is that large clam-like bivalve shaped like the familiar yellow shell-shaped logo of Shell brand gasoline. The shell of Mano de Leon or lion's paw scallop, as the species nodipecten sudnodosus is named, has ridges radiating outward like a fan.

Inside, the scallop sometimes produces a pearl. But don't hold your breath waiting to find one.

Natural and rare

Scallop pearls are natural, meaning that scallops will produce one when they feel like it, which isn't often. In fact, it's rare--extremely rare. One pearl will occur in 10,000-50,000 scallops. Like I said, don't hold your breath.

Seafood

My first encounter with scallops outside of a restaurant occurred in Sandwich, Massachusetts. A commercial boat was offloading its catch of scallops in a marina just off the Cape Cod Canal. Scallop fishermen were shucking the scallops by hand, removing the two large chunks of muscle holding the bivalve together.

After removing the two edible portions as restaurant food, the rest of the contents as well as the entire shell--which is as big as your hand--was thrown overboard. The shuckers did not appear to be looking for scallop pearls as they harvested the meats, nor saving the pretty shells as decorative accessories for seaside vacation homes.

East and west coasts

Scattered beds of scallops exist in the shallow cold waters north of Cape Cod. They are indigenous along the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland south to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

Most notably, however, scallops abundance is ascribed to the Pacific coast of Baja California and the inland Sea of Cortez in Mexico. When scallop pearls are found at all, they are usually found there, usually over a fisherman's lifetime of collecting.

No nacre

What gives scallop pearls their unique look is the absence of nacre. Unlike both freshwater pearls and salt water pearls, scallop pearls manifest a pixilated glitter in place of nacre's luster. What appears as crystals in the subsurface of the pearl are platelets reflecting light in all directions.

I've heard them called 'glitter pearls,' although that nomenclature might mislead one to think that something was purposely put inside.

Shades of autumn

The color and shape of the scallop pearl is unique as well. Rarely white, scallop pearls show up in the darker tones of autumn such as orange, reddish brown, deepening to purples, less often lightening to pink.

Shapes range from oval to irregular to baroque in sizes that range from 2mm to 10mm at most. No standard-issue, lustrous, white round pearl is to be had from a scallop, if there's any pearl at all.

How much?

Owing to their rarity, expect to pay anywhere between $100 to $2,000 per carat for scallop pearls. As a 'natural' pearl, the occurrence of scallop pearls depends entirely on a combination of chance production and chance encounter. The frequency of those chance encounters, in turn, affects the affordability of scallop pearls.

Sources:

http://www.pearls.com/news2/Baja%20Beauty.htm

http://www.pearls.com/news2/pp59/scallop_pearls_or_lion.htm

http://www.palagems.com