Things you should know about Pearl Jewelry

A pearl is an iridescent object produced inside a shell mollusk, pearls can be round but also come in other shapes. If a piece of dust of any other irritant or parasite enters the soft mantel of a mollusk, it will cover it with calcium carbonate. Most mollusks are able to produce pearls but not all of them will produce beautiful pearls. Natural pearls (that means pearls made spontaneously without any human intervention) are the most beautiful and sought after pearls but they are very rare, most pearls are cultured which means that an object or graft is artificially introduce in the shell. Some cultured pearls such as the Black Tahitian Pearl or the South Sea pearls, although artificially made, are so difficult to make that are quite rare. Also some of these pearls takes several years to form even when cultured, while others like the Chinese pearls can grow quite quickly and that is another reason why they are so much less expensive.

Pearls come in 8 different shapes:

button

drop

round (the rarest)

semi-round

circled

baroque

pear

oval

According to the shape there will be different uses in jewelry, for instance, round and semi-round are perfect for necklaces while drop or pear might work well as earrings or pendants. Pearl necklaces have a long history, there are four types according to the length of the necklace and where it sits on the neck: chockers the shortest, princess length, matinee length, opera length and pearl rope the longest.

Saltwater Akoya pearls

Smallish pearls cultured in the Akoya oysters mainly in China and Japan. As they are quite often round they are ideal to make bracelets and necklaces. They are white with pink or silver tones. There is a bit of competition between Japanese and Chinese cultures as the Chinese have only started making these pearls in the past few decades and the Japanese believe that they make the only genuine Akoya pearls.

Black Tahitian Pearls

They grow in very large oysters which mean that the pearls are also larger than average. This pearl is normally very dark in colour but very rarely really black. It comes from the entire area of French Polynesia and not just Tahiti. There are other types of Black pearls cultured in other parts of the world too.

South Sea Pearls

Among the largest pearls in the world they come from the South Sea which is found between Australia and China. They are made by a very large oyster and it takes several years before the pearl is ready therefore it grows larger than most other pearls. They also have lovely silver or golden tones which make these pearls quite special.

Cortez Pearls

They come from the Gulf of California and very nearly extinct by over-fishing, now they have made a comeback with the cultured version. They are quite large and very rarely round but have lovely colour and tones.

Pearls are natural gemstones and are not as sturdy as mineral ones, they do require a lot of care and looking after if you want to keep them as beautiful as when you first had them. A common mistake is to wear jewellery before you spray yourself with perfume or hairspray, these substances will definitely ruin the sheen of your pearl jewelry.