Antique jewelry glossary

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Pearl oyster

A marine bivalve mollucs that resembles the true oyster but differs by having a byssus (a projecting tuft of filament by which the oyster attaches itself to rocks). Pearls are formed in various parts of the oyster, e.g. cyst pearl or mantle pearl, hem pearl, mussel pearl, and ligament pearl.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson