Once the pearl producing potential has diminished, the oyster’s value comes from other products. The last phase of the oyster’s life on the farm goes into the production of Mabe or half pearls. These are formed by adhering plastic shapes to the lustrous inside surface of the oyster’s shell.
These nuclei take around 12 months to gain a thick coating of mother of pearl (MOP) at which time the oyster must be sacrificed to remove the now lustrous shapes. Filling the cavity left by the nuclei with a resin of crushed MOP and a solid MOP back produces the finished Mabe pearl.
The remaining lustrous Mother of Pearl of the Pinctada maxima is now thick and as such highly prized for buttons, jewellery, furniture inlay and cosmetics. The iridescence and pearlescent lustre of the shell is as alluring today as it was a century ago when it initiated the pearling industry in Broome.
