The toi et moi format survives in the setting itself: two stones held in relation. Napoleonic court jewels, Victorian romantic pieces, and current revivals changed metals and cuts, but the two-stone structure kept carrying the design.
Industry Insight
A natural pearl forms entirely without human intervention when an irritant enters a mollusk and is coated with nacre over time. A cultured pearl results from deliberate nucleus implantation. Both consist of genuine nacre, and the distinction lies entirely in how the process began, not in what the pearl is made of.
A Storied Heritage
Mother of pearl has over four thousand years of documented use in jewelry and inlay work, with evidence from Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt.