Freshwater Cultured Pearls

Freshwater cultured pearls are pearls that are cultivated (cultured) in a lake, pond or river.  Freshwater pearls are most commonly associated with irregular shapes and egg-shaped roundness.  However, round high quality freshwater pearls do exist in very limited quantity (approximately 2%) and compete very closely with Akoya saltwater pearls.  Even large round freshwater pearls (up to 11mm) compete with the significantly more expensive South Sea saltwater pearls.  Historically, freshwater pearls came from both Japan at Lake Biwa and China.  But today China is responsible for producing approximately 93% of the worlds’ cultured freshwater pearls.

The freshwater pearl tissue nucleation forms the thickest nacre (natural coating that forms around the pearl) out of all pearl types.  The thicker nacre of the freshwater pearl is influenced by the length of time the pearl is allowed to grow and by its environmental conditions.  More importantly, the thicker the nacre, the more durable and long lasting the pearl will be and usually the higher the luster.

Freshwater pearls are almost all nacre, whereas Tahitians are up to 50% nacre with an average 2 to 3mm thickness, South Sea pearls average 2 to 6mm, and Akoyas are up to 15% nacre averaging ½ mm thick.  Although typically not as round and high quality as their saltwater counterparts that are bead nucleated, the cultured freshwater pearls are the most durable, high luster pearls that most closely resemble true natural pearls.

Freshwater pearls also have a much broader spectrum of colors, whether natural or color treated ranging from white, black, blue, pink, and purple, to brown and gold.  They also have more diverse shapes like coin, bars, button, baroque, oval, and round.

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