The history of costume jewelry began in 1656 with a Frenchman by the name of Jaquin who designed the world's first imitation pearls. A number of improvements have been made since then.
Imitation pearls are a traditional art in Japan with a history of about a hundred years.
They are produced mainly in Western Japan, centering around Osaka prefecture. Round, oval and pear-shaped holed glass beads are first put through some ten wires extending across wooden frames in adequate spacing. Product prices vary depending on the number of times this procedure is repeated. Normally, they are coated several times. In olden times, guanine was extracted from fish like scabbard, whiting, sardine, herring and the carp family, especially from scabbard fish.