Black Pearls
Pearls are usually thought of as being creamy-white in colour, however they also come in a variety of other colours, including black (or at least near-black). These are frequently associated with pirates, especially since the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. For the metaphorically minded-pirate, the black pearl might have represented his black heart.Black pearls are also associated with Sherlock Holmes, through the story The Six Napoleons where Holmes locates "the famous black pearl of the Borgias".
Tahitian Black Pearls
Natural black pearls are very rare - the black-lipped pearl oyster Pinctada Margaritifera rarely produces pearls at all under natural conditions. If we ignore pearls that have simply been dyed, the majority of black pearls you can buy today are cultivated.The main source of cultivated black pearls is the Polynesian lagoons of the South Pacific islands, in particular Tahiti. The name "black pearl" is sometimes used to refer to any pearl produced by Pinctada Margaritifera, regardless of colour, however in common use most people expect a Tahitian Black Pearl to be black or at least a very dark shade.
Although cultivated South Sea pearls have been produced since 1917, the commercial cultivation of the Tahitian black pearl began relatively recently in the 1960s.
Black pearls can be very striking and are used today in all forms of jewelry including necklaces, earrings and pendants. Treasures that pirates would once have killed for can today be bought by anyone from an online store!