A century ago pearls were very expensive since they were so rare. But with the developments over the years of culture pearls the entire industry of pearl jewelry became less expensive as the pearls were cultured on farms.
Natural Pearls
Natural pearl cultivate when any outside debris enters the oyster shell or mollusk. The mollusk or the oyster generates nacre many times over, surrounding this irritant the birth of a shiny pearl. As pearls became coveted in order to make pearl jewelry l farmers started the industry of cultured pearls.
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusc. A pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes occur. The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable. The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as natural pearls. Cultured or farmed pearls from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up the majority of those currently sold.
Cultured Pearls
Developing cultured pearls was the way to make pearls more abundant and less expensive and to buy jewelry such as a pearl pendant. Creating a pearl in this way involved deliberately adding some outside agent to the inside shell of an oyster so to generate a new pearl and by following techniques develop through the years these new pearls could develop in almost any color, types and size.
Jewelry
Using these new pearls for jewelry started another market. There are still freshwater pearls for jewelry andit is interesting to know that the freshwater and natural occurring pearls are still available and in most cases the most costly is the natural occurring pearls.
Pearl luster
Whether one is shopping for cultured pearl jewelry or freshwater pearls or even in the future with another type of jewelry it is vital to pay attention to the luster of any pearl. You will be able to learn more about a pearl by:
- Deep luster
- Radiance
The luster and radiance indicate the higher quality. These are the ones that pearl jewelry is made of.
Pearl Shapes
The most wanted pearls are ones that are perfectly round with surface that is smooth. A pearl with imperfections on the surface prevent it from being perfectly round. You can then decide what pearl you want for a made to order piece of jewelry-such as a brooch.
Colors in Pearl
The dominant color of a pearl will come from its outside shell as well as the pearl’s inner color of overtones in which deep light is reflected. A light-colored pearl jewelry is made with pearls of white with pink or silver overtone. There is a general rule made with pearl jewelry having pearls of white with silver overtones is usually the more desirable and valuable.