Pearl
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All our pearls are natural freshwater, cultured in China.
For our wholesale pearls click here
The least expensive cultured pearls today rival the
most expensive natural pearls ever found. Natural freshwater pearls occur in
mussels for the same reason saltwater pearls occur in oysters. Foreign material
inside a mussel can't be expelled. To reduce irritation, the mollusk coats the
intruder with the same secretion it uses for shell-building, nacre. To cultivate
a pearl, farmers slit the mussel and insert small pieces of live tissue from
another mussel.
The ancient Chinese practiced this technique, but the first real cultured
freshwater pearls originated in Japan. In the 1930's, Japanese farmers by Lake
Biwa achieved natural colors unseen in saltwater pearls. However, water
pollution today has virtually destroyed pearl production there. China now has
the resources that Japan lacks: many large lakes, rivers, and a low-cost work
force. The first Chinese cultured pearls were basic, until the 1990's when China
revolutionized pearling. Shapes, luster, and colors of the new Chinese pearls
now surpass Biwa quality. Copying the Japanese to improve off-white and
mottling, China uses a mild bleach, bright lights, and heat. Natural freshwater
pearls are usually odd shapes. So for more roundness, the Chinese now reshape
rejected pearls into spheres, and then nucleate mussels with them.
The best pearls have thick overlapping layers of nacre. This can be tested by
viewing its "luster". Roll the pearl with a pen in good light - the best pearls
will reflect the pen the most. A large pearl is only more valuable if it's the
same quality as a smaller one - and the rounder the better. Being an organic
gem, grooves, pits, or dents are expected. However, matching color for a
complete necklace is important. Freshwater pearls are popular for their colors:
white, silvery-white, pink, red, copper, brown, lavender, purple, green, blue,
and yellow. The most desirable are the pastel pinks, roses, lavenders, and
purples. Color comes from the mussel species and water quality. Generally pearls
assume the color of the shell in which they form, but permanent dyes are used
today for most saturated colors.
Mother-ofPearl: The shining, playful, and reflected light of mother of pearl
has attracted the attention of human beings since the beginning of the world.
Societies, tribes, and nations have all added the technology of their day to
their experience, knowledge, and understanding, and they have turned mother of
pearl from one form into another. Though mother of pearl is quite widespread
around the world, its assumption of the aspect of a magnificent branch of the
arts after a past of many centuries began when it came into the hands of the
Ottoman Turks. (nā“ker) or nacre , the iridescent substance that forms the
lining of the shells of fresh-water and some salt-water mollusks. Like the pearl
it is a secretion of the mantle, composed of alternate layers of calcium
carbonate and conchiolin. Among the chief sources are the pearl oyster, found in
warm and tropical seas.
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