Jewellery

Scottish Freshwater Pearls from the Property of a Perthshire Connoisseur

15 July 2025

Ruth Davis

Following on from the record-breaking Cairncross Collection auction in August 2025, we are excited to announce the largest private collection of Scottish Freshwater pearl jewellery ever to come to market in our August 2025 Scotland Collected auction.

Carefully collected in over a number of years with the assistance of Cairncross of Perth, this collection was amassed by a private Perthshire based connoisseur who hopes their enthusiasm for Scottish freshwater pearls can now be passed on to a new generation of collectors.

Scotland Collected

Scotland Collected is a unique celebration of Scottish creativity, craftsmanship and cultural legacy brought together in one specially curated auction.

CAIRNCROSS OF PERTH: A 9CT GOLD SCOTTISH FRESHWATER PEARL 'ROWAN BERRY BROOCH AND EARRINGS

Each modelled as a branch of rowan berries, set throughout with graduated Scottish freshwater pearls, earrings to post and butterfly fittings, UK hallmarks (2)

£500 - £700 + fees

There has always been an allure which has drawn mankind to natural pearls, be they saltwater or freshwater, and since antiquity civilizations have valued them for their physical, and often mystical properties. The Ancient Greeks believed they would ensure marital bliss when worn by a bride on her wedding day, while the Romans believed they could provide a long and healthy life. However our frenzy for these natural treasures reached a true crescendo in the early 20th century, when they became the ultimate signifier of wealth and status. Such was the case that in 1917, unable to afford the natural pearl necklace his wife had seen at Cartier, the New York financier Morton Plant exchanged it instead for his 5th Avenue townhouse; to this day it remains Cartier’s flagship America Maison.

In Scotland too, the pearl has had an illustrious history, and if natural saltwater pearl is a rarity, the natural Scottish river pearl is something else indeed. It is believed that only one in every five thousand mussels found in Scottish rivers contains a pearl, and generally they are smaller than their saltwater cousins which produce fewer pearls; today the mussels (Margaritifera margaritifera) in which Scottish pearls grow are dangerously close to extinction and are rightly a protected species.

CAIRNCROSS OF PERTH: A 9CT GOLD SCOTTISH FRESHWATER PEARL 'FERN' BROOCH

Modelled as a ribbon tied spray of ferns and heathers, set with seven graduated Scottish freshwater pearls, UK hallmark

£300 - £500 + fees

Historians have argued that the desire for Scottish pearls was one of Julius Ceasar’s incentives for his invasion of Great Britain in 55BC; he was known as an avid pearl collector. And anyone who has visited Edinburgh Castle will have seen the famous Kellie Pearl, set in the Crown of Scotland, dating to the 1540s, this particular specimen still holds the record for the largest Scottish river pearl ever found. Indeed, their popularity continued, right through the Victorian era and Queen Victoria’s passion for all things Scottish only fanned the flames of popularity.

It isn’t just our insatiable desire for them that has driven them to the brink of extinction, the decline in mussel numbers has been traced back to the 18th century, and is in large part due to their declining habitat. The mussels in which they grow favour clean, fast flowing water and they like to partially cover themselves in a gravelly riverbed; pollution from agricultural run-off and chemicals making their way into the watercourses, lower water levels due to warmer summers and more frequent droughts, and interestingly, fewer trees on the riverbanks have caused a decline in their numbers. In the first year or so of the mussel’s life, they often cling to the gills and fins of young migrating salmon and trout, water temperatures are often now higher than those fish typically like and the lack of tree coverage from the banks has only increased this. By the 1970s, the mussels were going extinct from an average of two Scottish rivers per year.

A 9CT GOLD SCOTTISH FRESHWATER PEARL 'ACORN' BROOCH

Designed as an acorn leaf, set with two ovoid Scottish freshwater pearl, UK hallmark

£300 - £500 + fees

This is important, because though they are small, Scottish pearls are mighty in their own arena. As a critical part of Scotland’s eco-system, and with the ability to filter and purify 50 litres of river water a day, the presence of the mussels are signifiers of good water quality, and provide an invaluable service to their eco-system. They grow larger than saltwater marine mussels, often to the size of your hand, and can live up to 100 years, making them one of the longest living invertebrates.

A pearl forms when an irritant, a minuet piece of gravel or sand, sometimes microscopic, finds it’s way into the mussel, which then begins to produce a substance called nacre, coating this grain in layers, which build up to eventually produce the pearl. Producing a larger pearl can take many years, often decades. As the pearl is growing the mussel continues to filter water from its environment and it is believed that the different impurities or organic qualities of the different rivers of Scotland produce slightly different characteristics in their pearls – though this has yet to be scientifically proven. So folklore suggest Tay pearls have a characteristic grey or smoky purple overtone, while pearls from the river Spey often display a pinkish tone, and pearls fished from the river Ythan are said to take their golden tones from the Crown of Scotland, once supposedly washed in that river.

CAIRNCROSS OF PERTH: A 9CT GOLD SCOTTISH FRESHWATER PEARL 'ASPHODEL' BROOCH AND EARRINGS

Each modelled as a cluster of Asphodel, the flowers set with graduated Scottish freshwater pearls, the earrings with screw-back fittings, UK hallmark (2)

£500 - £700 + fees

NatureScot has been working hard with other stakeholders, to slow this dangerous decline in numbers, and reintroduce the species where possible. Since 1991 it has been illegal to fish for the pearl mussels or damage them or their habitat in any way, and in 1998 they were offered full legal protection; similarly selling them is subject to restriction and jewellers must have a licence to do so. Encouragingly, in April 2023 NatureScot published a report to say that the mussels had been found in two lochs, in Sutherland and the Trossachs, where they haven’t previously been found. Slowly but surely conservation efforts are beginning to see results, with programmes reintroducing mussels at undisclosed locations throughout Scotland.

In the 19th and 20th century’s pearl fishing was traditionally carried out by itinerant traveller families, who fished Scotland’s rivers seasonally and sourced them from various locations throughout the country, famously the Tay was a great source. Just as each family or fisher had their preferred locations to fish the pearls, they also each had their preferred jewellery to sell them to; in the mid to late 20th century Cairncross of Perth became known in this community as a good buyer, who would offer fair prices and deal with the fishers fairly; and so over time they became the ‘go-to’ destination for Scottish freshwater pearl jewellery.

A 9CT GOLD SCOTTISH FRESHWATER ‘HORSE CHESTNUT’ BROOCH

Naturalistically modelled as a horse chestnut branch, set with two Scottish freshwater pearls, UK hallmark

£600 - £800 + fees

Pearl fishing was a skilled vocation, and the fishers were careful to husband their resources, closely guarding their best fishing locations, and a skilled fisher could tell by the shape of the shell if a mussel was likely to contain a pearl, and some were even able to open the muscle by one or two centimetres, without rupturing the muscles holding the shell tightly closed, to peer inside and see if it contained a pearl good enough to take, before replacing it back in the water if necessary. They only took what they needed, and were careful to keep the number of muscles in each bed at a healthy number.

Cairncross celebrated the unique position the freshwater pearl hold in the Scottish landscape and ecosystem, designing a range of brooches inspired by the flora often found on Scotland’s riverbanks. The ribbon-tied spray of ferns and heather became their most iconic design, however they also celebrated Scotland’s rowan berries, asphodel, acorn and thistles, even the shy wild cherry, know as a gean.

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Ruth Davis

Head of Jewellery | Edinburgh

The Department

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