Adi al‐Fardan loves pearls. It’s a family passion, he said, that began two generations ago with his grandfather Ibrahim, an Emirati pearl merchant from Dubai who was known far and wide as “the pearl doctor.”

Pearls were a common trade in the Persian Gulf region for hundreds of years. By the early 19th century, according to the website of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, “the gulf was the major global supplier of natural pearls.” And the men who financed pearl diving expeditions would sell their hauls to merchants like Mr. Fardan’s grandfather, who began working in the late 19th century.

Removing a pearl from an oyster requires deftness and a keen eye, both of which Mr. Fardan’s grandfather was reputed to have in abundance. People, Mr. Fardan said, would “bring pearls to him and ask him, ‘Hajji Fardan, can you please help us?’ He had an eye into the pearl.”

Now, more than a century later, Mr. Fardan’s family owns what they believe to be one of the world’s largest collections of natural pearls, totaling more than 50,000 carats. And some of their jewellery once was owned by maharajahs, including Shah Jahan, who commissioned construction of the Taj Mahal in 1631.

Mr. Fardan, 26, is a banker by day, but his real passion lies in jewellery. He plays a large role in Alfardan Jewellery, one of the family’s several businesses, and is the owner of the Adi Al Fardan Jewellery Company, which focuses on high‐end jewellery for an elite clientele and which Mr. Fardan sees as being the future of the family legacy.

Although diamonds account for a big part of both jewellery businesses, he said, pearls continue to captivate the Emirati because they are embedded in the culture of the whole region. “And so we travel the world, me and my father,” and “search for these pearls,” he said, adding that they regularly are consulted by brands and museums for advice and invited to events; Mr. Fardan, for example, addressed the Arab Luxury World conference in May in Dubai.

Those travels have helped the family learn regional preferences, like the gulf’s “taste for perfectly rounded pearls,” Mr. Fardan said.

But then, natural pearls, he said, are “the queen of gems and the gem of all queens.” (Consider the $36 million price of a natural pearl and diamond pendant auctioned by Sotheby’s on Nov. 14. Although arguably the amount, said to be a record for a pearl at auction, was heavily influenced by the fact that Queen Marie Antoinette of France once owned it.)

Natural pearls weren’t always so valued. In the early 20th century, after the development and popularization of cultured pearls, the value of natural pearls dropped. Supplies also declined shortly afterward, mainly from overharvesting — and, in today’s world, they “simply do not exist,” Mr. Fardan said.

As Graeme Thompson, director of jewellery for Bonhams Asia‐Pacific, recently told the Financial Review website: “There’s very little natural‐pearl supply coming onto the market.

“They’re a diminishing gem because of overfishing and ocean pollution,” he added. “And, of course, natural pearls are an organic substance. They’re not like diamonds; they’re actually very delicate.”

Mr. Fardan said: “My father tells me that in every oyster we used to get four to five natural pearls and it was simply a good day.” But that was before 1962, when the region began exporting oil, before climate change and pollution began taking a toll. “Today, on average, they say in every 12,000 oysters if you get one pearl you would be lucky.”

It is why, he added, the Fardan family has committed to using “all of our resources to follow this passion.”

The family is fiercely protective of its collection. When museums ask to show some of the jewellery, the answer is always the same, Mr. Fardan said: “Our family’s response is simply ‘no.’”

However, some items are showcased at certain events, like a large freshwater natural pearl that was displayed through a collaboration with Mr. Fardan’s own company when Rolls‐Royce introduced its luxury sport‐utility vehicle Cullinan earlier this year in Dubai. And some gems are sold from time to time to Mr. Fardan’s select clients, one of whom bought a $10 million pearl and diamond parure (matching necklace, earrings, bracelet and ring). The buyer? “I’d rather keep that personal,” he said with a laugh.

But of the family’s collection of natural pearls, less than 10 percent has ever been used for commercial purposes, he said.

Selling natural pearls is not easy for the man whose life is so intertwined with them. When a diamond is sold, Mr. Fardan said, “no matter how rare,” it can be replaced. But natural pearls are different. “It is,” he said, “like losing an arm when we sell a piece. Let’s say I sell you this piece; I make the wonderful margin of profit on top of it. Well, good job. Come and replace that piece. It’s next to impossible.”

Mr. Fardan recalled finding a natural pearl drop earring for sale when he and his father, Hasan, were on a trip to Mumbai, India, in October 2017.

“I see his facial expression. He really can’t hide it,” Mr. Fardan said. “I tell him, ‘Dad, what?’ He tells me: ‘Remember that piece I found in 2003? This is the perfect matching piece. I can finally make earrings.’ Imagine.”

Today, Mr. Fardan continues to push the family business — and his own — forward, but he also hopes that one day he can learn to handle and care for natural pearls with the same level of skill employed by his grandfather and father.

“I’m getting into the process, too,” he said. But “with today’s world, with the availability of natural pearls, it’s very difficult. But we are getting there. I hope I get it one day, to have the knowledge of treating natural pearls, to have the patience of building a necklace over a span of 30 to 40 years, buying bits and pieces one at a time.”

He added: “There are lots of wealthy people. There are lots of families with exceptional wealth. But what about the knowledge? What about the culture? What about the legacy? If this dies, then what’s left for the future?”

Reference: The New York Times