Types of Pearls

Pearls are the surprises given by Mother Nature, they come from the excrete nacres by pallium in the bivalves. Generally speaking, pearls are divided into two categories, natural pearls and cultured pearls.

Natural pearls are rare so that seldom are seen in the jewelry market; that is also why the price of natural pearls are so high. Those shells that produce natural pearls are generally living in the sea, lake, river or any other waters. There are two types of natural pearls according to their living environment, one is natural sea pearls , the other is natural freshwater pearls. Both of them are the miracles from Nature.

Cultured pearls also includes two types, cultured sea pearls and cultured freshwater pearls, which are called sea pearls and freshwater pearls for short. Sea pearls are cultivated in the sea and the production phase is 1-2 years. Freshwater pearls are cultivated mainly in the lake and river with a production phase as 5-8 years. There is only one pearl from a sea shell, while several pearls can be attain from a freshwater shell; and most sea pearls are perfectly round. Therefore, the price of the freshwater pearls are lower than the sea pearls.

Flaws And Pearl Surface Quality

Pearl lovers always desire perfect pearls without any flaws, while making perfection is obviously not the goal of the Mother Nature. She wants to make this beautiful gift unique. In fact, the longer a pearl is in its oyster, the more possible it grows to be irregular and get blemish. Flaws on a sea pearl is also more often happened than in a fresh water pearl.

Flaws are not merely negative features of pearls and jewels, as a matter of fact, they help us identify each pearl and prove that this pearl is a real one but not a imitation. Pearls with flaws don't affect their overall beauty and durability, and the lower price are much more worthy of your having. Therefore, what we should own arenot those flawless ones, we just need to know what kinds of imperfections need to pay attention to when .purchasing pearls.

Take care of the following surface imperfections when choosing your pearls

a. Cracks throughout the pearls

b. Patches of missing nacre

c. Prominent flaws on a single pearl

d. Obvious discolorations throughout the pearls

e. Blemishes which cover the majority of the surface of the pearl