It is always worth knowing more, as the saying goes knowledge is power. So we are delighted to shed light on this truly divine gemstone and equip you with some powerful knowledge and spread the love! Pearls are the only gemstones that are birthed from a living organism as opposed to others that are mined from the earth. It is without doubt a precious gift of nature borne from extraordinary circumstances resulting in a beautiful love story.
Pearls form 3 categories:
- Natural
- Cultured
- Faux
Natural
Natural pearls are formed through ‘accidents of nature’. They occur spontaneously when a certain type of irritant becomes lodged in the mollusc (oyster), this causes the oyster to react naturally by secreting a calcium carbonate substance called nacre to protect itself and as a defence mechanism. Nacre is the shiny iridescent substance that forms a pearl, the oyster builds layers and layers of nacre around the irritant to protect itself until finally a beautiful pearl is borne out of the most extraordinary circumstances.
The build up of nacre is formed in layers at irregular intervals and it can take up to 20 years to produce a single natural pearl as formation is completely dependant on the oyster’s natural reaction, if and when it secrets additional layers.
This makes formation of a single pearl incredibly slow with very few pearls deemed suitable for use, which resulted in astronomical prices as they became rare with limited availability.
Man been forward thinking devised a way to make pearls more accessible and reduce the time formation process without tremendously hindering the quality of this precious gemstone; this led to the era of Cultured Pearls.
Cultured
Cultured pearls are formed in a similar fashion as natural pearls, however, rather than anticipating ‘accidents of nature’, man intervenes by introducing the irritant so in essence ‘nature is assisted’.
The irritant is planted inside the oyster, which induces the oyster natural reaction by secreting the calcium carbonate substance called nacre as a defensive and protective measure.
The nacre is built layer by layer over a number of years but the formation process is quicker as dependence on nature has been reduced tremendously. It can take between 2 to 7 years for a cultured pearl to form.
The cultivation of pearls has not only made them more accessible and affordable but has enabled consistency in shapes, sizes and quality compared to natural pearls which produced great inconsistencies in shapes and sizes rendering only a selected few eligible for use in high quality jewellery.
Most pearls today are cultured. The only difference between a cultured and a natural pearl is the intentional implantation of the irritant to stimulate the pearl formation process, the same natural reactive process follows thereafter. A cultured pearl is distinguishable from a natural pearl only through the use of an x-ray which displays the internal structure of the pearl, other than that they bear similar characteristics cultured pearl are real pearls borne by nature with a little assistance from man.
Faux
Faux pearls are not really worth a mention but it is important to know and to be able to distinguish real from fake, yes I guess you have guessed it, they are not real pearls.
Faux pearls are synthetic pearls made from materials such as glass and plastic with the intention of resembling real pearls, which they very seldom do.
Types of Pearls
There are four main types of cultured pearls:
Akoya
Freshwater
South Sea
Tahitian
Akoya
Akoya Pearls originated from Japan made famous by the Japanese pearl master, Kokichi Mikimoto of the Mikimoto pearl fame. Mr. Mikimoto perfected the art of cultured pearls in 1915 through the successful insemination of a bead nucleus into the Akoya Oyster, which produced outstanding pearls, birthed by nature and assisted by man.
The pearls produced were of outstanding quality with consistency in shapes and sizes, which transformed cultured pearls dramatically. Mikimoto was instrumental in the adoption and practice of cultured pearls that is widely used today.
Akoya pearls are produced by Seawater oysters, oysters that live in saltwater, and originate mainly from Japan, China, Australia, the finest been found in Japan.
Akoya are high quality pearls renowned for their extreme lustre. They are consistently round and come in typically small sizes between 2mm-7.5mm, with sizes 8mm-11mm rare and more expensive. They come in natural colours white or cream with overtones of rose, silver or cream. Japanese Akoya pearls are significantly more luxurious and of better quality than those produced in other region, and as such we only use fine Japanese Akoya pearls in our collection.
Freshwater
Freshwater pearls are the most popular and more commonly known cultured pearls. Freshwater pearls are produced by oysters that live in freshwater environments, such as ponds and lakes as opposed to Seawater. Freshwater pearls originate predominately from China and are also found in Japan and the USA.
Freshwater pearls do not have the extreme lustre of Seawater pearls such as Akoya and South Sea, however they come in a variety of size, colours and shapes making them more affordable and prevalent in pearl jewellery fashion and design due to their affordability and experimentation with design, shapes and colours.
South Sea
South Sea pearls are the most exquisite and rarest of all cultured pearls. They are huge, opulent, high-end luxury, the Rolls Royce of pearls, renowned for their extraordinary large size and divine distinction in shine and lustre.
South Sea pearls are formed by extraordinary large oysters, some measuring more than a foot, found in the South Sea waters. The pearls originate primarily from Australia, Indonesia, Philippines and Myanmar. The size of the oyster enables the production of larger sized pearls ranging from 9mm-20mm, with the average size of 13mm. South Sea pearls come in natural colours White, Silver and Golden.
The formation process is much longer in comparism to other cultured pearl due to its size, it also has a much thicker layer of nacre which results in the most beautiful and divine satin-like glow that is a distinctive characteristic of the South Pearls.
Tahitian
Tahitian pearls are known for their dark mysterious colour and are classed as some of most beautiful pearls in the world. Tahitian pearls are produced in black-lipped oysters found in French Polynesia and Tahiti.
Tahitian pearls come in substantial sizes, slightly smaller than South Sea pearls. Their distinctiveness is the dark colour, a black-like pearl with hues of silver, grey, purple and green. The pearls are mesmerising and though appear black in colour when closely inspected reflects hues of other colours.