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New Gemstone from Gulf Coast
| Press Release
March 2011
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Tuscon, AZ - New Orleans based jeweler and gemologist Anne Dale introduces a newly discovered gem material derived from the American Oyster. Gemstone experts from around the world enthusiastically examined the new find at the 2011 Tuscon Gem and Mineral Show, with one of the first finished stones being presented to Dr. Jeffery Post and donated to the Smithsonian Institution.
 | Anne Dale with Dr. Jeffery Post of the
Smithsonian Institution |
The cabochon cut stone will be marketed under the trademark LaPearlite™ and will be available to manufactures, jewelers, and designers. Dale will unveil LaPearlite™ to the public at an event in New Orleans on April 20, 2011 (the first anniversary of the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico), along with a new collection of jewelry designs featuring the gemstone. Dale was inspired by the scenic beauty of the Gulf Coast, people's love of the seafood, and the unique way-of-life in the communities throughout the coast. |
The Story:
A Eureka Moment
America's Gulf Coast is a true melting pot of race, ethnicity, language, and culture, with nationalities coming from the four corners of the globe. This is a region with a unique philosophy (when everything you own is washed away in a matter of hours it changes your perspective) after Hurricane Katrina, material possessions became hollow rewards compared to the important things in life like family, faith, and culture. This coastal way-of-life embraces a rhythm that has no distinction of where the land stops and the sea begins. That is why, when the oil spill threatened to take away the beloved Gulf seafood, many believed a part of that culture could be lost forever.
A mad rush began, restaurants from around the world and locals were buying up all the fresh shrimp, fish, and oysters that their freezers could hold and eating the rest. While at the dock fishing nets remained dry, as many boats were hired to defend the coast, marshes, and the fishermen's future livelihoods.
New Orleans jeweler Anne Dale (after beheading and loading her freezer with over 200lbs of Gulf shrimp) was "shucking" some Louisiana oysters when a flicker of sunlight peeked through the Oak trees and Spanish Moss, striking the oyster shell - that's when Dale had what she called a Eureka Moment.
"I thought if I could polish these shells the world would see the beauty that comes from these waters," said Dale. "I became obsessed with the idea and decided to attempt a little lapidary work in my jewelry shop. Within seconds of cutting the potential became evident, and I began emerying and polishing until I had in my hand the most beautiful pearlescent gemstone I had ever seen."
And Anne Dale knows gemstones, as a Graduate Gemologist and a Fellow of the Gemological Association of Great Britain, she has traveled the world as the former Director of Gem-A USA (a branch of the London based Gem A). She is also a noted speaker, appraiser, designer, and a retail jeweler. "Astonished at its lustrous beauty, I cut another, and then another; the name clearly came to me, LaPearlite™" - the world's newest gemstone was born.
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A Gemological Uniqueness
Unlike other shell material used in jewelry, through a patent pending method Dale is able to cut LaPearlite™ into a cabochon gemstone. Others shells, including the Pinctada maxima, Pinctada margaritifera and univalue Haliotis (abalone and paua), are fashioned into decorative jewelry; however, they lack the ability to be cut into a cabochon polished gemstone. Most often they are cut into flat geometric shapes and\or used as inlays. Nor do they offer the individual uniqueness of LaPearlite™ with it's purist of whites to a gentle flow of golden, wispy veils in its final splendor. No two LaPearlite's™ are the same.
 | Ken Scarratt, GIA Thailand, Bangkok
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Confirming her discovery at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, LaPearlite™ underwent the scrutiny of some of the world's foremost gem experts. Dale approached Ken Scarratt (Director of South East Asia GIA Laboratory Bangkok) and Alan Hodgkinson (Scottish Gemmological Association). Scarratt was very familiar with the Crassostrea virginica species, having written extensively about it in a 2006 Gem and Gemology Journal, "This is exciting... it never occurred to me to cut it in this way..."
 | Alan Hodgkinson - President of the
Scottish Gemmological Association |
Hodgkinson was so intrigued with LaPearlite™, that he asked Dale if he could use it for a recent gem conference in Scotland. Hodgkinson is doing an analytical study of the gemstone and has recorded some of the basic physical and optical properties of the shell gemstone.
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A Complex Process
"The method of preparing and cutting LaPearlite™ is a labor of love due to the horizontal layer of its valve growth along with many voids from parasites and minerals lying between the concholin," said Dale "It is not an easy method lapidary cutting. LaPearlite™ is a gemstone that is a fitting reflection of the people of the Gulf Coast; a gemstone and people whose true beauty reveals itself after great efforts and resiliency, for the world to marvel at seeing."
 | | Cabochon Cut LaPearlite™ |
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America's Gulf Coast Support
Dale has the support of the Louisiana Seafood and Marketing Board, director Ewell Smith, said "Anne Dale's latest creation using Louisiana and Gulf Coast oysters embodies the resilient spirit of our coastal fishing communities, helping to shine a spotlight on one of our greatest natural resources...our beloved oysters".
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 | | Anne Dale |
About Anne Dale
Anne is a Graduate Gemologist of the Gemological Institute of America, Professional Gemologist of the Columbia School of Gemology and a Fellow of The Gemological Association of Great Britain. Former Executive Director of GEM-A USA, an American branch of the Gemological Association of Great Britain, Anne promoted gemological education by speaking frequently at jewelry trade shows on diamonds and gemstones.
She has implemented diamond gemological courses in private schools,colleges and universities throughout the United States. As a fine jewelry appraiser, she is a federal expert witness for the Internal Revenue Service.
In addition to promoting gemological education, she is a consultant for jewelry designers and buyers within the jewelry trade. Anne's quest for the most exquisite jewelry, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, pearls and gemstones, has sent her traveling across the United States, Europe and the Far East as an ambassador for New Orleans and all of Louisiana.
Wherever she travels, Anne Dale always leaves a lasting impression of herself and the unique culture of the place she calls her home - New Orleans, Louisiana.
She, along with her partner\husband Michael, own and operate Anne Dale Jeweller in Mandeville, Louisiana.
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Additional Information
If you would like high resolution images or want to know more about LaPearlite, Anne Dale, Louisiana Seafood and Marketing Board please use the contact information below. |
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