This oyster produces dark pearls simply because its nacre secretion is dark in colour. These dark pearls tend to form in “drop” shapes and they are usually 7mm to 15mm in diameter but there are a myriad of shapes that occur. The Tahitian pearl is actually rarely black, with colours such as charcoal, dark silver, light grey, eggplant or similar hues the norm. The rarest Tahitian pearl colour is a peacock green which is highly regarded and very valuable.

French Polynesia is the only place in the world that produces the famed “black pearl” because it has the God given conditions that allow the Black Lipped Oyster to thrive. This variety of oyster will only survive in the most pristine of waters, filtering over 2 gallons of water every hour for food.

French Polynesia also has been blessed with visionaries like Robert Wan who turned the Tahitian dream into a celebrated reality. The fabled “Emperor” of the black pearl, Robert Wan, controls more than half of the Tahitian pearl market and his story parallels the ascension of this prestigious dark gem on the road to eminence.

Born to Cantonese parents in French Polynesia and one of eleven children, Wan worked in accounting, wholesaling, shipping and owned a car dealership before discovering his true calling. Travelling to Japan on business in 1973 he happened to meet an associate of Kichimatsu Mikimoto, the father and inventor of cultured pearl farming which led to a meeting with Mikimoto’s Grandson who ran the Mikimoto Jewellery chain. A simple of offer was made. “If you can produce quality pearls we will buy them.”

Wan took the offer to heart and with religious zeal set about becoming the champion of Tahiti’s fledging pearl industry, putting his country and its exotic produce on the map. Tahiti’s cultured pearl was destined to become a French jewel of global renown.

In 1974 Wan purchased his first pearl farm “Tahiti Perles” in the Gambier Islands and five long years later reaped his first harvest. He reinvested all the proceeds in purchasing more pearl farms and over the ensuring years he acquired more farms and whole islands. Now he owns Anu Anuraro Atoll, Marutea Sud Atoll, Akuena Island, Nengo Nengo Atoll, Fakarva Atoll and Raraka Stoll amongst numerous others.

For over 30 years Robert Wan has dominated the Tahitian pearl market, producing and exporting this beautiful dark jewel with passion and devotion. He has established his own prestige jewellery brand, “The Tahiti Perles Collection” and opened pearl boutiques to showcase these wares. He has founded a Pearl Museum in Tahiti and has constantly experimented with new pearl strains and production techniques.

The French Government has recognized his contribution awarding him the “French Order Of Merit” and inducting him into the “Mondiaux Francais a l’Export” for his enormous efforts in facilitating French exports. In 2000 he was decorated with the “French Legion Of Honour Knights Cross.”

Robert Wan is inclined to compare his pearl farms with a vineyard saying that: “there exists similarities between a pearl and a bottle of wine. A wine’s quality is measured by its flavour or taste characteristics while a pearl is examined for its colour and lustre. In each case the quality stems directly from where it was born, raised and matured. And there is also the hand that brought it to life.”

As an industry leader in his own right Craig Rosendorff has a long established strategic alliance with Robert Wan, ensuring Rosendoff are at the cutting edge of industry innovations and ensuing that Rosendorff customers have access to the finest aquatic gems at cost effective prices.