This woman is working on a pearl farm to open and clean oysters for their pearls.
Read more
Buying pearls should be a very tactile experience as well as visual. The nacre IS the pearl and that is what you will be judging. Of course, the design of the piece is part of your decision, but that is personal. I want you to get the best pearls and here are a few suggestions to help you make that decision.
Read more
Nucleation Nucleation is the process of surgically implanting a spherical “starter” mother of pearl bead into the gonad organ of (in saltwater) oysters or (in freshwater) mussels. It is an extremely delicate operation to slice into the organ without harming the mollusk. Along with the bead, a tiny piece of mantel tissue that is cut...
Read more
Fijian Pearls are grouped in the usual collection of Tahitian Pearls, but they are technically not Tahitian Pearls. They are Fijian Pearls. They are even cultivated in a subset of oyster than the Tahitian Pearls. Tahitians are farmed in the Pinctada Margaritifera oyster, while the Fijian Pearls are farmed in the Pinctada Margaritifera typica oyster.
Read more
There was a question about natural Blue Akoya Pearls that came to the Cultured Pearl Association of America last week. I thought I would pass on this information because I have a Blue Akoya Pearl necklace in this email. The question was, how rare are they and what gives them their intense color?...
Read more
This drawing shows you a more detailed look at how nacre is formed. A mother of pearl shell bead nucleus is inserted into the host oyster, along with a square of donor mantle tissue from another oyster who has previously borne pearls of high or exceptional value, and the oyster is left to begin secreting...
Read more
Yes. Let’s talk about color. I am sure you are aware, by now, that there are many colors of pearls in their natural state. But how do they get their color? This is a Gold Lipped Oyster shell. What color pearl do you think this oyster made? Well, yes. Good guess...
Read more
I had to dig deep to come up with these seriously flawed pearls. I usually through away any rogue pearls with problems, but these were stashed in some long forgotten bin. Thank heavens. These are ugly. Describing the surface quality of a pearl comes in terms of “flaws”. Most of the synonyms for flaws are...
Read more
In this photo from the Gemological Institute of America, from top to bottom, these Japanese saltwater cultured pearls show excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor luster. The differences in the sharpness of the reflections between each adjacent strand are subtle but still noticeable. Luster is one of the most significant pearl qualities. The luster...
Read more
Matching is one of the Classic qualities of pearl judging. The perfect necklace would have all perfectly round, matching in every aspect, pearls. To make this necklace all of these pearls had to be the same round shape, the same color or tone of color, the same perfect surface condition, the same size…
Read more
I started in my last email illuminating on the first of the Pearl Qualities, Size. This time we will talk about Shape. Usually, the more round and symmetrical the shape, the more value the pearl will have. Round, Off Round or Potato Pearls, Drop, Baroque, and Circle Pearls are the run down in order of value...
Read more