Judea

The Old Testament did not value pearls particularly and barely mentions them- and that mention is an interpretation of some obscure words. As shellfish were proscribed by Judaism, the ancient Hebrews may not have valued pearls much either.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, so it is not surprising that pearls are mentioned a number of times. Some of our best known pearl metaphors come from this source - the pearl of great price and pearls before swine.

Europe

The Romans brought pearls back from everywhere they went, so naturally, they began bringing freshwater pearls home from European rivers. Although this search is not recorded river by river, it is quite certain that the Roman lust for pearls ignited a search that eventually reached into every river bed in Europe emptying them of pearls, though not all into Roman coffers.

From the fall of Rome, when royalty began to emerge in Europe, the new elite valued pearls, fished the rivers and traded for them. The crusades fueled the pearl trade from the Persian Gulf, so the European elite increased their stores of pearls. The discovery of America opened up new sources of both sea pearls and freshwater pearls, which fueled the wardrobe of Elizabeth I and trickled down to countless others.

The New World

New World pearls were a major source of money to Spain before gold. Baja California and other areas had excellent pearl fields. Later the major American rivers became a source for an abundance of freshwater pearls to the European trade. It was not for centuries that the very ancient history of pearls in America was known. Pre-Columbian cultures along the largest American rivers had major collections of pearls. Many were buried in mounds and have degraded, but are still clearly pearls. Tributaries of the Mississippi still produce pearls, but the mussels they come from were and still are, mainly gathered for their shells.