Another one of my Fantastical Insects carved for this cool baroque Tahitian Keshi pearl drop. Diamond eyes with a crystal opal thorax, 18K, one of a kind piece. This little guy is for sale, so send me an email if you would like additional information.

So, “keshi” is a type of pearl that is nearly entirely nacre (the pearly coating) with no bead nucleus. Normally, a cultured pearl is created by inserting a bead with a bit of tissue into the oyster. The oyster forms a pearl sac and begins to layer nacre onto the bead in an effort to neutralize this unwelcome invader. When the finished cultured pearl is removed, the oyster can be popped back into the sea where it continues to produce nacre but the bead nucleus to cover, it starts to stick together around maybe a bit of stray tissue. If we are lucky, it forms a keshi pearl. They are always kind of blobby, sometimes forming very interesting shapes. This particular keshi had an excellent drop shape to it.