Pearls are one of the oldest known gems and have been revered by countless civilizations. The pearl begins its life as an irritant to the oyster. To protect itself, the oyster coats an intruding object or grain of sand with nacre, a crystalline substance that builds up over time, resulting in a shimmering, iridescent creation. |
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Types of Pearls |
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» Akoya
This is the most familiar salt water pearl sold in necklaces. Akoyas from Japan and China are grown in pearl oysters and are known for their shimmering beauty and warm colors. |
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» South Sea
Large cultured pearls grown in tropical and semi-tropical oysters in the South Seas and around the coast of Australia. |
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» Mabe
Large, hemispherical cultured pearls grown against the inside shells of oysters rather than in the oyster's bodies. |
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» Tahitian Black
Large cultured pearls grown in Black-lipped oysters in French Polynesia . Colors range from silvery gray and green to deep purple and black. |
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» Freshwater
Pearls cultivated in mussels, not oysters, in freshwater lake and rivers in China , Japan and the United States . Shapes can be freeform, rice-shaped, off round or spherical. |
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» Keshi
Also known as seed pearls, these tiny pearls can be as small as a grain of sand and form accidentally in many cultured pearl oysters. |
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» Baroque
Cultured pearls that are irregularly-shaped, and often lustrous and appealing. |
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Caring for Your Pearls |
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Cultured Pearls are precious and delicate jewels and should always be treated with the utmost care. Avoid tossing them in a purse or jewelry box where they can become scratched by metal or stones. Treat your pearls gently. Keep them in a chamois bag or wrap them in tissue when you put them away. Do not expose pearls to acid-based hair sprays, cosmetics, perfumes, or cleaning solutions with chemicals or abrasives. Always have pearls strung on silk thread with a knot between each pearl to avoid abrasion and to prevent loss if the string should break.
Bring your pearls to Gem of an Idea for a professional, on-the-premises cleaning and re-stringing at least once a year. |
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Quality |
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| The following quality factors will help you to evaluate the best quality cultured pearls within your budget. |
| » Lustre - A combination of surface brilliance and a deep glow that seems to emanate from within the heart of a pearl. The lustre of a good quality pearl should be bright, not dull, enabling you to see your own reflection clearly on the surface. |
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» Surface - Because cultured pearls are grown in nature, it is rare to find a pearl whose surface is free from any type of blemish. Blemishes can include disfiguring spots, bumps, pits and cracks on the surface of a pearl. |
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| » Shape - It is very rare to find a perfectly round pearl, but generally, the rounder the pearl, the more valuable it is. Cultured pearls also come in oval, pear and baroque shapes. |
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| » Color - Cultured pearls come in a wide range of colors from pink to black. While the color of a pearl is often a matter of personal preference, people with fair skin tend to look best in slightly pink or silvery white pearls, while cream and golden pearls look best on those with darker complexions. |
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| » Size - Cultured pearls are measured by their diameter in millimeters. They can be smaller than one millimeter, in the case of seed pearls, or as large as 20 millimeters for a big South Sea pearl. |
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» Matching - When buying a strand of cultured pearls, matching is very important. All the pearls in a good quality strand should be evenly matched in terms of luster, surface, shape, color and size. Well-matched pearl necklaces command top prices because pearl growers must harvest about 10,000 oysters in order to find enough pearls that match closely enough to make up a single, 16-inch strand. |
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