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TYPES OF PEARLS:
There are two categories of pearls: Freshwater and Saltwater.
Freshwater cultured pearls come from mussels grown in lakes and rivers, whereas Saltwater cultured pearls (Akoya, South Sea, and Tahitian) come from oysters grown in saltwater environments. Freshwater pearls are tissue nucleated and almost entirely nacre, and thus normally have radiant luster. Cultured Saltwater pearls are bead nucleated and are generally considered more valuable and expensive, but today are strongly rivaled by cultured Freshwater pearls.
There are four types of pearls: Freshwater, Akoya, Tahitian, and South Sea.
 Freshwater
Freshwater pearls grow in mussels from freshwater lakes and rivers mainly in China and Japan. The tissue nucleation used to make cultured freshwater pearls most closely replicates a natural pearl more than saltwater pearls. An individual mussel can be nucleated up to 50 times at once, with a development period of 2 to 5 years yielding approximately 35 pearls ranging from 4 to 11mm. Freshwater pearls come in a diverse palette of colors and are typically found in white, cream, pink, peach, tangerine, violet and black. Freshwater pearls are the first pearl type to be cultured by human intervention, and modern advances in China have made the freshwater pearl almost indistinguishable from the historical sought after saltwater Akoya pearl.
 Akoya
Akoya pearls are saltwater pearls grown primarily in the cooler seas of Japan but also in China by the smallest of all pearl oysters - the Akoya oyster. Bead nucleation of Akoya oysters yield mostly round white or cream pearls with pink or green overtones that average 6 to 7.5mm and range from 2 to 10mm. Akoyas are the most round and lustrous pearls in this range of size and can also naturally produce blue, gray, and yellow body colors. Akoya oysters can be bead nucleated up to 5 times at once, with a development period of 9 months to 2 years. Only 5% of the 50% of Akoya oysters that survive nucleation produce best quality pearls. This limited production of high quality round pearls is another reason for its higher market price. Akoya's are also typically associated with the white classic pearl strands admired on Jackie Onassis and Princess Diana.
 Tahitian
Tahitian pearls are grown in the warm seas of the French Polynesian islands in black-lipped oysters that produce cultured pearls in 2 to 3 years in a variety of shapes and with only 5% being round. A popular non-round Tahitian shape is called the “circled” pearl with distinctive nacre ridging around its circumference. Tahitian pearls have an average size of 9.5mm and range from 8 to 14mm. The three colors most associated with Tahitians are: Peacock (dark green gray to blue gray), Aubergine (dark grayish purple), and Pistachio (a greenish yellow to yellowish green). They also come in a variety of colors such as white, black, green and purple, and they are the only pearl to naturally form a black color.
 South Sea
South Sea pearls are grown primarily in the warm seas of Australia, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand, and Myanmar and produce the largest cultured pearls from the large silver and gold-lipped sea oysters up to 12 inches in diameter. South Sea pearls develop in 2 years and average around 13mm. They range from 9 to 20mm in size and are white, silver, and gold in bodycolor with a satin luster and rose, blue, or green overtones. Because South Sea pearls are more rare and the largest sized cultured pearl, they are also the most expensive on the market.
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