The pearl is likely the first gemstone known to prehistoric man. Ancient Mediterranean cultures believed pearls were formed when an angel's tears fell into the open oyster shell. In ancient times the Red Sea was an important source of pearls to the various ancient Mediterranean civilizations. In the ancient gemstone markets of Babylon, 4,000 years ago, pearls were prized possessions believed to restore youth. Through ancient Rome and into Medieval Europe, pearls always decorated crowns and robes of kings and queens. During the Renaissance, the European appetite for pearls became so great that laws forbade anyone other than royalty or the very privileged classes from even wearing pearls. Pearls were the exclusive domain of the crown!