All about Pearls

Freshwater Cultured Pearls

Freshwater pearls are cultured in mussels.  These pearls are generally inexpensive and can produce as many as 50 pearls at a time and normally take less than a year to grow.  When harvested the mussel can be impregnated over and over again making them very cost efficient compared to saltwater cultured pearls where the mollusk dies when harvested. The term “Chinese Pearl” often has a negative connotation, since they can be very inexpensive and of cheap quality. However, modern techniques in cultivation is yielding perfectly round pearls with a luster rivaling that of top quality Tahitian and South Sea Pearls. Freshwater pearls are evaluated following the same criteria as other cultured pearls.

Shape:

Value depends on how round it is. Although most Freshwater pearls are irregular in shape, the round ones are priced higher than oval or flat pearls.

Smoothness:

Smooth freshwater pearls are more valuable than those with bumpy or wrinkled surfaces.

Color:

Freshwater pearls come in every color and most of the white pearls 90% are bleached. Also it is important to note that most colored freshwater pearls are dyed.

Nacre Thickness:

Nacre thickness is important in both freshwater and saltwater pearls. Nacre thickness is generally high in freshwater pearls as they   do not have a bead nucleus.  But the thickness is still far lower than that of saltwater pearls and is therefore priced much lower.

Saltwater Cultured Pearls:

There three types of saltwater pearls are as follows: Akoya, Tahitian and South Sea.

Akoya: was the first pearls to be cultivated in Japan and were mostly white or cream in color. The Akoya  oyster is generally small so it does not produce a pearl larger than 9mm.  Akoya pearls are considered to be one step above freshwater in quality.

Tahitian Pearls: only on the market since the 1970’s these expensive and huge pearls appear in dramatic shades of eggplant purple, peacock green and a large variety of greys, blacks and grey blue.  Native to French Polynesia the warm nutrient rich waters of this area yield pearls 9mm up to a whopping 20mm in diameter. With its wide range of color these pearls are a favorite with jewelry designers.

South Sea Pearls are grown in the warm waters of Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. This is where you will find the huge oyster, Pinctada Maxima which occur in two varieties, the silver lip which yields pearls of white, silver and slightly pinkish color and the golden lip type that yields pearls in a variety of yellow and golds.  South Sea Pearls are the biggest pearls in today’s market and have the thickest nacre of all the varieties.  Although they keep their luster for years they are very costly to produce and are therefore, more expensive due to their on average two year growing period before they can be harvested. The average size of these pearls are 9-20mm with average size being 13mm.