In the early days of Maui tourism back in the late 60's, adventuresome artisans mainly from the west coast of the U.S. set up shop and sold hand painted t-shirts and silk pareaus. It was a little wild and wooly with Maui mostly undiscovered. Like the remote tropical islands of the South Pacific today, Maui was the escape for celebrities trying to get some peace from the paparazzi. In the last forty years Maui's shopping experience has become much more sophisticated. Exclusive resorts line the coasts. Art galleries are full of world-renowned masters like Picasso. And today the luxurious black pearl has become the symbol of Maui's shopping excellence. If you want to purchase just one thing that will generate awe among your friends, look to a black pearl necklace from Maui.

The black pearl has been a rare find for centuries. You can tell the value of ancient items by the myths that have sprung up around their origins. Long before western man discovered the black pearl it had a reputation for being the precious gem of choice for royalty around the world. In China the story is that the black pearl was the symbol of wisdom and was only to be found inside a dragon. You could get one for your lover by slaying the dragon. Women of China's great dynasties wore them with pride. In the royal houses of Polynesia the ancient legends of this wonder were different, but the emphasis on value was the same. According to one of these legends, Oro, the Polynesian god of peace and fertility, came down to earth on a rainbow to offer a special type of pearl oyster to man. Te Ufi was the name given to that black-lipped pearl oyster that would produce the most beautiful pearl in the ocean. Some say that Oro offered the pearl from this oyster to the beautiful princess of Bora Bora as a sign of his love.

No wonder the black pearl necklace is the most romantic of all the gifts from Maui.

Today, many merchants have built their entire business around black pearl jewelry. You can pay well over ten thousand dollars for a single strand of black pearls that match not only in color and size but also in luminescence and flawlessness.

Why so much for this one kind of pearl? Because of its rarity and the amount of work required to care for the mollusk as the black pearl is developed. Only one type of mollusk will create a black pearl, and these mollusks are not only rare but they are particular as to how they expect to be treated if you want to harvest a world class pearl. The mollusk that produces the black pearl is a delicious treat for its neighbors, and that's one reason it became so rare in the wild. Plus it needs a certain ocean climate to develop a pearl of great value.