Classification of Pearls

One of the most popular gems with jewelry among women, The Pearl, has the largest family of all other gems making its purchase convenient. You have a large variety and range to choose from, provided you know what type of pearl you are looking for.

There are there main classifications of Pearls:

1. Natural Pearls
2. Cultured Pearls
3. Imitation Pearls

Natural pearls are formed around an irritant such as a grain of sand, a piece of coral etc. The irritant enters the oyster and settles on the shell. The oyster, thus, disturbed by the irritant, secrets the pearl substance called nacre.

Cultured Pearls are formed just as natural pearls, the only difference being that the irritant is introduced by man and the oysters are grown in a controlled environment. Cultured pearls contribute 95% of the total pearls in the market.Both the above categories are classified into Fresh Water Pearls and Salt Water Pearls. As their names suggest, Fresh water pearls are got from lakes, rivers, ponds and other fresh water bodies whereas the salt water pearls occur in seas and oceans.

Imitation Pearls are not formed from oysters. They are some times formed from glass or mother of pearl or coral or conch and are then coated with a solution containing fish scales. These are, therefore not referred to as True Pearls and differ greatly in smoothness, weight and luster.

Some of the famous pearls are:

Black Tahitian Pearls: Black Tahitian Pearls are pearls colored black naturally from black-lipped oyster. They are the only natural colored black pearls and are very valuable because of their rarity owing to the low outputs given by the culturing process. The Black pearls from Tahiti are legendry and are known to evoke magical sensations. They can be black, silvery dark or grey.

South Sea Pearls: The most expensive and largest pearls are the South Sea Pearls, especially those from the Australian waters. As their name suggests these are salt water pearls. The color may vary from white, silvery colors abound in Australian waters to Golden, light yellowish colors typically got from Indonesian and Philippine waters.

Lake Biwa Pearls: These pearls fall under the category of fresh water pearls. Often confused for shape, Biwa is the name of the lake in Japan from where these pearls are obtained and not the name of the shape of these pearls. The production of these pearls has almost nearly stopped for many years now due to pollution.

Akoya Pearls: These are the most common pearls got from the Akoya oyster. These seawater cultured pearls can be owed to the Japanese pearl industry where these are mainly cultured. With exchange of technology, China became a producer of Akoya pearls commonly know as Chinese pearls or Chinese cultured pearls and accounts for a good deal of the total Akoya Pearl production. These are round or near round pearls available in white or cream color with overtones of silver or pink.

Persian Gulf Pearls: These are natural pearls also referred to as Oriental Pearls. These are known to be the finest natural pearls got from the Persian Gulf their production is disrupted because of pollution.

A Foreword to Pearls

Pearl - A symbol of purity, innocence, humility and sweetness.

Since ages these beautiful gems have served mankind in form of beauty-adding jewelry pieces. Their fame reached heights during the Roman times when women were garlanded with pearls.

Pearls are the only live gems found on the surface of earth. They are hard rounded objects produced by oysters, when a natural microscopic substance or a grain of sand enters the oyster and settles on the shell and the oyster, irritated by the intruder, secretes the pearl substance called nacre to cover the irritant.

Naturally occurring pearls are 100% nacre so pearls from oyster alone are considered to be True Pearls.

Pearls, usually occurring in white with a creamy or pinkish tinge but may be tinted with yellow, green, blue, brown, purple and black, depict 8 basic shapes – round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, oval, baroque and circled. The various shapes of pearls are popular with different forms of pearl jewelry.

While most necklaces are referred by their physical measurement, pearls strands command a set of names for themselves. The nomenclature is based on the length of the pearl strand on wearing;

· Collar: It sits touching the throat without dropping down to the neck and usually comprises three or four strands of pearls.

· Pearl Chokers: These lie just at the base of the neck.
· Princess: It reaches the collarbone or sometimes a little below that.
· Matinee of Pearls: A matinee of pearls falls just above the breasts.
· Opera: The opera reaches the breastbone.
· Pearl Rope: A Pearl Rope is any length that fall below opera.

With the discovery of diamonds in the early 1700’s, the popularity of pearls diminished prominently because of more affordability of diamonds than of pearls.
In the early 1900’s the discovery of the secret of culturing pearls by three Japanese men changed the scenario. Prior to the advent of cultured pearls, pearls formed part of the luxurious lifestyle of the royalty. Cultured pearls made the over expensive pearl purchase economical. Though it took several years for these cultured pearls to be accepted, they now account for 95% of the total pearl market.