A Treasure of Priceless Worth

My hand gently accepted the necklace from the little old lady in the second-hand store. I hardly dared to breathe or say the words that trembled on my lips.

Before me, in a cabinet near the counter, with "$1" clearly marked on a price sticker, was something unexpected. Among an assortment of items made of junk jewels lay something real. A necklace made of red coral. I blinked in disbelief and checked its price with the storekeeper. She had stated the unbelievable.

"It says $1, so $1 it is."

This was the first hurdle. Now, how to pay for it and get it into my hands without the lady changing her mind, not that this would be legal. She could say it had been a typo, a genuine error. It should have been $100, even in a second-hand variety store, and it still would have been a steal.

I held it firmly and placed the $1 coin into hers and, barely stifling my excitement, asked her what she thought it was made of.

"I think it's plastic," she replied.

Plastic, my head screamed. Plastic!?

The shiny orange/red pieces that made up this gorgeous necklace had irregularities that defined it as genuine. I pushed down the laughter that bubbled up in me.

"No, it's blood coral."

"What's that?"

"Don't worry. You've made me the happiest person in the world."

As I left the store, I shivered as I thought about the randomness of my whim to enter, instantly spotting something so precious. How much it cost its original owner, how it could have ended up in a second-hand store discarded, mistaken for plastic, overlooked by so many, and finally sold for $1 to me. I hadn't been consciously looking, but I have been gifted with the ability to notice fine details. The sight of the necklace had lept out at me as if it had been the prize exhibit of the whole store. To think I had passed by this shop numerous times and entered today by chance, for no other reason than curiosity, is astounding. I was truly meant to find it.

My emotional desire to own a blood coral necklace stemmed from childhood. Its value had less to do with its usual price and more with sibling rivalry. To have had the emotional void of not owning a blood coral necklace filled with the exchange of a $1 coin seemed the stuff of fairy tales. 

Later, at home, I carefully washed each piece of the necklace. How many years had it sat in the cabinet? It certainly was dusty. It had a spring ring clasp, a popular but antique clasp dating back to the early nineteen hundreds. How old was this string? Impossible to tell. This necklet had longer jagged pieces in its midsection. The last coral necklace I had seen, my mother's, had more or less regular-sized pieces. This one had been carefully graduated with irregular lengths. A masterpiece.

Why was a blood coral necklace so important to me? In reality, should it have been?

A fact that many are unaware of is how diverse the genus coral is. Most of us have seen or recalled the pictures of the coral which settles and grows in shallow waters around the coastlines of warm countries or islands. Abundant varieties inhabit much deeper oceans and are indistinguishable from plants to the untrained eye. Red coral grows like this.

There are two ways of harvesting reef coral. One is by breaking off pieces of coral from their habitat. It is called harvesting, which gives you an idea about the possible quantities being taken at a given time. A much more invasive method for this delicate and necessary living organism is "mining." It destroys the interconnected reef ecosystem, harming and killing fish and other marine life. Secondly, it often removes live coral, which can damage the reef's structure and eventually obliterate the habitat of its marine life. Careful observation afterward has proven that the reef cannot regenerate satisfactorily.

Finally, this damaging and illegal harvesting reduces the economic benefits that reefs provide. As the corals disappear, so do the other residents that once lived between its branches, from fish to anemones, starfish to crabs. Many fishing communities are often negatively affected, as the reef where young fish are raised is either lost or ruined, lowering local fish stocks. 

Coral Mining leaves our oceans needing more of their extraordinary natural beauty and diversity. It is also bad news for regions that rely heavily on tourism. Unfortunately, harmless coral farming produces coral indistinguishable from its illegally harvested counterpart. Subsequent bans affect honest farmers, their livelihood, and the tourist industry. 

Coral branches are also increasingly harvested for medical purposes, mainly bone grafts. You can see the dilemma. 

To top it off, the marine aquarium industry removes fragile coral branches that are relocated and placed into fish tanks. 

Sadly, for every $10 made from mining coral, the local land community loses around $250 worth of other services, such as food and flood protection. The industry is yet another of those unsustainable processes which ruin the environment for profit. What's new? 

Incidentally, coastal development, storm-water runoff, and agriculture also affect coral. The sediment which lands on reefs impacts coral's ability to feed, reproduce, and sustain itself. Phosphate mining causes the by-product and runoff of toxic sediment. Mining and harvesting aside, this discarded bi-product of human life enters the ocean and inadvertently damages the habitats of the reefs. Regrettably, we humans rarely have a symbiotic relationship with our environment.

Smaller amounts of the reef are deliberately broken off to make jewelry or tourist souvenirs in countries where flocks of visitors want to visit the reefs and take little pieces back home. However, is this a harmless practice?

People who buy or collect marine souvenirs mostly do it out of their love and appreciation for the ocean. They should be made aware of their actions' impact on marine ecosystems. Lots of local communities sell shells or other related souvenirs as a form of income. Still, they do this because of tourist demand. We need to use our consumer power and demand more sustainable souvenirs. 

Each plant, shell, or creature (alive or dead) is part of the "Circle of Life." The vast number of shells picked up by thousands of tourists in a given location hurts the environment.

I know a young lady who went on holiday to The Gold Coast of Australia. At the time, I expressed sympathy when she told me of the most beautiful souvenir she had bought, which would have looked perfect in her coastal-themed lounge. Beautiful scenes of Mediterranean coasts adorned the walls at her home. The stunning replica of a coral reef, approximately 25cm by 20cm, edged in gold with ceramic reef creatures weaving among the authentic coral branches, would have been perfect on her coffee table, a profound memory of her trip and a talking point for her relatives and guests. It had cost her all of $50." Worth every cent," she declared. Her dismay had turned to horror when it had been confiscated by border control. 

My outrage about it differed. I couldn't help thinking of who would snatch it at the checkpoint and the corrupt souvenir store owner who had sold it to her, knowing it would be taken off her before she boarded her flight. Not to mention the people responsible for making said ornament in the first place or blasting or cutting the coral from its bed. 

A cautionary tale, indeed.

We can influence change by choosing not to take shells or coral as souvenirs or buy marine life products. I feel good looking at my inexpensive imitation version of this young lady's contraband treasure. An ordinary painted ceramic piece that looks like coral but is environmentally sensitive.

However, I did not decide to throw away my beautiful piece of newly acquired vintage jewelry as a protest over the making of it. It had probably been made long before concerns over the safety of coral reefs first came to light. It is of concern that slavery was involved in harvesting this commodity for ancient Europe in the past.

My mother's coral necklace had been given to her by her mother from the Netherlands. In traditional Dutch fishing communities, the women wore red coral necklaces as accessories to their national costumes.

I thought I had acquired my mother's necklace as a child. An older girlfriend, the daughter of one of my mother's close friends, had passed down to me a lovely set of clothes, a pleated skirt with a matching top. It had looked perfect on her with its pale green color and her vibrant red hair. Not so on me, with my pale skin and light brown hair. To offset its plainness, my mother had given me her red coral one to provide a dramatic contrast. I kept the necklace safely in my jewelry box until I needed it. Until the day came when the outfit no longer fitted me. According to what happens with an older girl with younger siblings, the set was passed onto my younger sister, along with the necklace. The accessory had been on loan only. Eventually, this desired memento was returned to my mother, who gave it back to my sister. My mother later acquired another blood coral necklace similar to my $1 one.

I had never coveted my mother's treasures, except the blood coral necklace. I also never stated how I had felt about not receiving it. Realistically, a mother giving items to five children is bound to cause conflict. The hurt to all, ensuing from those in the family who have coveted and complained, made me glad I never had. The intrinsic joy of finding the perfect necklace of my own, in such an incredible way, has made up for any regrets over my mother's choice at the time.

Years later, my only Aunt gave me a differently-styled red coral necklace. This time from the Mediterranean. It had been her own. It is made with numerous strands of tiny dark red beads, which does up with a concealed hook clasp. I wear it either with a knot in the center to shorten it or longer, without a knot. I've been blessed, indeed.

However, our most needed and priceless treasure is the world we live in. We have to make wise decisions regarding our actions and acquisitions, think carefully about the bigger picture, and how the environment is affected by our choices, especially ones based on greed or boasting.