As history states, pearl existed even before Christian era, founded by the Pandyas of Southern India. The genuine beauty of pearl mesmerised Ibn Battuta, which became evident through his suggested technique of pearl diving. High quality pearls have been there for centuries as a cherished gemstone and is still considered a valuable item for jewellery. Arresting natural pearls are found in shelled molluscs, whereas cultured pearls are obtained from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels.
What is a Pearl?
Pearls can adorn pendants, bracelets, rings and earrings. They are composed of calcium carbonate, which gradually becomes hard when deposited in layers. These layers directly contribute in shimmering a pearl. The shine of pearl depends on the way light gets reflected, refracted and diffracted from the layers. The multiple layers in a pearl break the light falling onto them, causing the irresistible glow. The more the number of thin overlapping layers, better will the extent of lustre.
Natural Pearl Vs Cultured Pearl
Natural pearls as the name suggests, occur in the wild devoid of any intellectual contribution from humans. They are exceptionally rare in number, which makes them exorbitant to afford. Cultured pearls on the other hand, are farmed by man and can be dyed to different colors of pink, green, blue, purple and brown.
How are Natural Pearls Obtained?
A shelled mollusc gets irritated when a microscopic or small organism enters its mantle folds. Generally, the parasites gain access to the soft mantle tissue when the shell valves remain open to eat or respire. In the form of defence mechanism, a mollusc forms a pearl sac and releases calcium carbonate and conchiolin repetitively; resulting in pearl to shield itself against the unwelcomed irritant. The calcium carbonate produced in the pearl sac as mineral aragonite is held together by conchiolin, this combination is known as nacre or mother of pearl.
How are Cultivated Pearls Obtained?
From the variant species of freshwater mussels, which belong to the family Unionidae, cultivated pearls are availed from lakes, ponds and other fresh water bodies. Whereas, saltwater pearl oysters of Pteriidae family are cultivated in the protected environments of lagoons and volcanic islands.
In case of cultivated pearls, a professional introduces a tiny bit of mantle tissue from donor mollusc to a recipient mollusc and a pearl sac is then formed to continue the process of pearl formation. There are many methods for obtaining farmed pearls like from freshwater mussels, saltwater pearl oysters and implanting the tissue either in the mantle or in the gonad.
Where does the Primary Difference of Value Persist?
While a freshwater mussel can produce approximately 40 pearls in one harvest, a saltwater pearl oyster will produce 1 pearl in one harvest. This simple explanation is sufficient enough to give you the idea where exactly the line of price difference lies.
Freshwater pearls: The size of freshwater pearls varies from being 4mm to 14mm, in white and cream body colors with yellow, orange, purple or pink hues.
Saltwater pearls: They are broadly accessible as South Sea, Akoya and Tahitian pearls.
- South Sea pearls are known for their large size, which demands a very long tenure of formation, giving rise to chances of mishaps. The size of these pearls range from 10mm to 15mm. Body colors of white, cream and silver bear pink, green or blue overtones.
- Akoya pearls are said to be the most lustrous ones among the reachable varieties of pearls. The size starts from 2mm to 11mm, in body color of white and cream; with eye-catching blue, yellow and pink hues.
- Tahitian pearls are obtained from the Black Lipped oysters, where one out of ten thousand contains a pearl. The size of this pearl can reach from 8mm to 14mm and in scarcest of cases to 25mm.
Indeed, when something is obtained after so much of hard work and precision, it becomes pricey. But, the profiting news is that the investment done in pearls at one phase as a charming adornment can end up bringing back cash as well. Whenever you make up your mind to sell pearls for good money, you can visit our jewelry store.