Pearl

What are pearls? A pearl is a hard usually round object that grows from a live organism inside the shell of a mollusk such as mussels and oysters.  The pearl is produced within the soft mantle tissue of the live mollusk found in lakes, rivers, seas and oceans.  The outer layer of the pearl is called nacre (pronounced NAY-kur) and is formed when the mollusk secretes a protective material around the irritant that infected the organism.  Thus, a pearl is best defined as a nacreous organic gem formed inside the body of a mollusk.

A freshwater pearl is made up of nearly solid nacre and thus is the most durable and often the most lustrous pearl grown.  Whereas the saltwater pearl has an outer coating or nacre that is half or less then freshwater pearls and therefore is not nearly as durable or lustrous, but often are more round and with richer natural pearl colors.

Typically the most desired pearl is round, smooth and lustrous; however, pearls come in many different shapes, sizes and colors and are valued for both gemological and cultural reasons.  The gem value of pearls in pearl jewelry is determined by its luster, size, color, surface flaws, shape, and matching. Luster is the most critical of all pearl gem value factors.  Natural pearls, which are produced by mollusks entirely by itself with no human intervention, are extremely rare and almost non-existent in today’s environment.  Cultured pearls are produced naturally after nucleation of the mollusk by humans and represent nearly all genuine freshwater and saltwater pearls harvested and sold today.

Although valued for their aesthetics, pearls are unique organic gems important to many cultures for its religious symbolism and association with health, wealth and longevity.  The pearl is also the birthstone for the month of June.  Gemologists classify pearls as either natural or cultured borne gems grown organically.  Thus, when retailers use the term pearl when selling pearl jewelry to consumers it should by law only refer to saltwater or freshwater genuine cultured pearls.

Unfortunately, many retailers falsely use the word pearl to describe fake pearl jewelry without including the word imitation.  Jewelry made with imitation beads from ceramic, glass, shell or plastic materials to mimic real pearls should never be called pearl jewelry by itself.  Fake pearl jewelry has no real gem value and should always include one of the following terms in its product name: imitation, man-made, faux, fake, simulated, Mallorca, Laguna, Tecla, Girasol, or Red Sea pearl jewelry.  Genuine pearls are tremendously more valuable and meaningful to consumers because of its natural development from a live organism, historic cultural symbolism, and distinct difference in the weight, depth of the color and shine.

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