CORE OF A FRIENDSHI

MORE THAN WORD IN A FRIENDSHIP
MORE THAN NEWS IN THE FRIEND
THE JOY AND SORROW IS THE CORE OF CELEBRATE IN A NEWS
I'M HEARD AND WRITTE BECOME A TELLING OF FRIEND

SOMETIMES HEARD EARRING AND MINOR
SOMETIMES HEARD SO SWEET AND HARMONY
SMOOTH AND POLISH OF FACE IT ALL IS AFRIEND
ALTHOUGH NOT SO BEAUTY WHAT I MEAN

WHEN CLOUDS TO PREVENT THE PILLR OF FIRE BECOME A FRIEND
WHEN THE HEAD WAS BE BURN THE PILLAR OF CLUOD BE FRIEND
THE CLAUSE OF ETICS IT DOES NOT THE PROMISE OF A FRIENDSHIP
BUT THE PURE AND SMOTH BECOME THE CORE OF A FRIENDSHIP

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Linnaeus produced the first ‘artificial’ spherical pearls ever cultured in any mollusc, from salt or freshwater, and they now form part of the Linnaean Collections. Linnaeus removed the shells from the river, drilled a small hole in the shell of the freshwater mussel Unio pictorum L. (the “Painter’s Mussel”, so called because artists would use the shallow valves to mix their pigment) and inserted a tiny granule of limestone or plaster between the mantle and the shell. To produce a free pearl rather than a blister pearl he held this small bead away from the shell's inner surface with a "T" shaped silver wire. The pearl mussels were returned to the riverbed for six years and in many cases resulted in pearls of modest quality.

Linnaeus sold the secret to a Swedish merchant called Peter Bagge in 1762 for 6,000 “dalars“ (or approximately £1,250 which would be over £93,000 today). Bagge obtained a monopoly permit from the King of Sweden to develop pearl culture but neither he, nor his grandson, ever took up the idea and put it into practice.

A set of Linnaeus’ experimental pearls has been travelling the world since 2001 as part of the blockbuster exhibition “Pearls” organised and administered by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. They have been exhibited in Abu Dhabi, Australia, Canada, Japan, and The United States. The pearls are back in London for the tercentenary celebrations until October, when they will join the rest of the exhibition in Paris, opening to the public there on October 27, 2007.

John Dory Zeus faber L.

Distaff Spindle Murex colus L.

Linnaean Pearls

These pearls are part of a larger series in the collections held by the Linnean Society of London. Among them are two pearls still attached to the shell showing the metal posts that reveal the technique of pearl culture.

Part of the Linnaean Shell Collection