The Fifth Annual Beaufort History Museum Tea is Tuesday, May 7, at Dataw Island Club in the Carolina Room.

Sneak Peek at “Pearls of Wisdom” Beaufort History Museum Tea Auction Items:

Antique Mikimoto Pearl Necklace and Lady’s Island Oyster Roast Featured

While there will be many opportunities to take home interesting prizes from the 5^th Annual Beaufort History Museum there are two very special auction items that are sure to be popular and sell quickly.  We are offering an opportunity for our patrons to preview these items so that they can plan their bidding.   

Auction Item #1.  -  Antique Mikimoto Pearl Necklace  - Opening Bid    $1,400

Nature's
Purest Gem

Presented at auction is an antique, double-strand, Mikimoto pearl necklace offered at opening bid for $ 1,400.   You can buy this item at the Tea by bidding the top offer or you can close it out immediately by paying the stated value of $2,800.  (Note: a similar necklace is currently listed on Mikimoto’s website at $ 4,500.)

A note about Mikimoto: 

From the mysterious birth of a pearl to the painstaking care in harvesting, sorting and matching, the creation of Mikimoto jewelry requires the utmost technical skill and artistry at every phase

Over 20 years after Kokichi Mikimoto succeeded in cultivating the world's first cultured pearl, he then established his first Black South Sea pearl farm in 1914, thereby revolutionizing the pearl industry forever.

Auction Item # 2 – All The Single Ladies!

Oyster Roast by Acclaimed Lady’s Island Oyster Company - Opening bid $ 400

Gather your friends, savor and enjoy an Oyster Roast staring “Single Ladies”, the most prized of South Carolina oysters, at Lady’s Island Oyster Company in Seabrook, where oysters are grown in pristine waters.   These are the oysters sought out by some of the best chefs in the southeast to feature in their restaurants.  Now you can experience a delicious and fun event and the Oyster Company will do all the work. As an attractive bonus you will also experience a tour of the oyster-growing process given by innovative owner and oyster mariculture expert, Frank Roberts. Value of auction item: $800

Single Lady Oysters Story (from their website):

Single Lady Oysters are grown in the clean, crisp waters of the South Carolina Lowcountry.  The estuaries that nature our oysters are filled with pure salt water flowing directly from the Atlantic.  These waters give our Single Lady Oysters a smooth briny start with a sweet clean finish.

We take great pride in nurturing our oysters from hatchery through to harvest.  What we do is called mariculture and it removes pressure from our wild oyster resources as well as providing valuable ecosystem services that benefit our coastal waters.

Thank You for Your Generosity:

Beaufort History Museum thanks you for your generous support.  All proceeds of the Auction and the Tea will be used to help fund Phase II of the Museum’s Exhibit Hall renovation, which is currently underway.  (Phase I was completed last year and am currently open to the public.)