Wednesday, July 7, 2010

CULTURED PEARLS IN BANGLADESH



It is around Comilla, east of Dhaka, that the indigenous industry of pearl culturing is most highly developed in Bangladesh.

The giant fresh water mussels which host the culturing are harvested, for the most part, by one of the most interesting peoples of the country, the Bebe, River Gypsies.

The Bebe are not unlike the Romanies of Europe, itinerants whose mobile lifestyle.. in the case of Bangladesh, by water.. rather isolates them from mainstream society, and fairly inevitable social exclusion.

Any tourist in the main residential area of Dhaka, Gulshan, is likely, sooner or later, to visit the famous Gulshan 2 market. This market, apart from a large number of ‘antique’ shops, also offers souvenirs of the huge maritime recycling industry, and many jewellery shops in which most of the product is pearls. Especially the pink pearls that are the natural colour of those cultured in Bangladesh.

There was a time when Japan’s Mikimoto were world leaders in cultured pearls. Today, China dominates the market, and no doubt many of those on sale in Gulshan originate in China. But Bangladesh, together with neighbours Myanmar and India make their own significant contribution to supply.

These pearls come in all shapes and sizes, and a wide range of prices that reflect size, shape and matching size rather than any intrinsic difference in quality.

In major internal tourism destinations, too, such as Cox’s Bazar, many shops offer the pearls, at usually far more favourable prices than those in Gulshan market. A price range from about $4 for a necklace of seed pearls, to perhaps $75 for a fine string of matched pink pearls would be about right.

Sea pearls also are still to be found in the waters of the Bay of Bengal but not really sufficient in numbers or quality to sustain an industry; and rare indeed would be sufficient in number or quality to make a string.


No visit to Bangladesh can really be complete without, at least, an examination of these cultured treasures. And whilst there is no doubt that sea pearls are still most valued, as adornment to much loved necks, a string of pale pink cultured pearls take an awful lot of beating.

13 comments:

  1. Most people in Bangladesh do like fishing at sea, nice way to find some pearls from sea,like Freshwater Pearls.

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  2. can anyone let me know where i can get fresh water pearl ? i am looking to get large amount of pearl for business!

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  3. do you know any farmer who collect pearl from sea.

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  4. Thanks for posting this info. I just want to let you know that I just check out your site and I find it very interesting and informative. I can't wait to read lots of your posts.
    cultured pearls

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pearl Ball per string or ak (Rosi/Dori/Gusha) price
    are 250bd tk upto 700 bd tk. as per ball size as its 6mm-10mm
    price may be ups and down.
    mainuddinsunny, 15 Oct 2019. source- Chalk bazar, Dhaka

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can you tell me where are selling pearls in Bangladesh? And Who's buy it? Can you tell me about this market place in Bangladesh?

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