New shapes, colors, sizes and textures are being introduced at breakneck speeds, with new varieties making debuts yearly at the international pearl shows. This guide to A-AAA Freshwater Pearl Grading is going to deal primarily with the classic near round to round white Freshwater pearl, which is the most popular of all Freshwater pearl varieties available today. Read the whole article, or use the links featured in the Table of Contents to skip ahead directly to parts that concern you.
Freshwater pearls are unique in that they are the ONLY tissue-nucleated cultured pearl in the world. Why is this an awesome, wonderful thing? Here's just a few reasons off the top of our heads:. Cultured Freshwater pearls are grown in the freshwater pearl mussel, Hyriopsis cumingii along with other hybridized mussels indigenous to the area in freshwater lakes and man-made aquaculture ponds that also contain fish, shellfish and rice to support the small pearl farmer collectives in China.
The Freshwater pearl mussels are nucleated with 1. The tissue squares are seeded throughout the soft body of the mussel, up to 25 times on each side of the shell, creating a potential harvest of up to 50 pearls per mussel.
The sheer volume of cultured Freshwater pearls dwarfs that of any other cultured pearl type many times over each year, contributing to their lower price points. Most importantly, the shape will be round to the eye from a distance of inches approximately, and up close inspection less than 6-inches will reveal nearly round pearl shapes, with a few slightly off-round pearls detectable.
We also offer our Gem Quality, Elite Collection pearls. These are the cream of the crop when it comes to the Freshwater pearl type. Our Elite Collection pearls represent the top. Typically our Elite Collection Freshwater pearls are used for earrings, rings and pendants because their quality is top-tier. They are the best of the best that Freshwater pearls have to offer, at half the price of an equivalent Akoya pearl. Chalky spots are easily the most common of Freshwater pearl inclusions.
Pits or pitting blemishes are similar to pin-prick inclusions found on saltwater cultured pearls. Thankfully, these inclusions are colorless and only noticeable upon up-close inspection of 6-inches or less. Ridges are an inclusion that is unique to Freshwater pearls, quite likely due to their solid-nacre composition.
Score marks or scoring begins with a small pin prick or pit, and then appears to be drawn off lightly over the surface of the pearl … they can look like small comets or shooting stars for those of us with a romantic viewpoint.
Freshwater pearls come in a wide range of colors, unlike other pearl varieties. The main body colors for these pearls include white, cream, gray, as well as pastel shades such as yellow, lavender, pink and orange.
High quality freshwater pearls have overtones of pink, green and blue although lower quality gems do not display any desirable overtones. The most popular colors for freshwater pearls are white, cream, lavender and black. However, black freshwater pearls are not natural in that they have been dyed to obtain their color. Only Tahitian pearls are naturally charcoal to black in color; all other black pearls on the market have been dyed. The rest come in a variety of shapes, including near round, button, semi-baroque and baroque.
In the past, only round pearls were considered worthy of being set in jewelry but today an increasing number of people are seeing the beauty of irregular shaped pearls. Round freshwater pearls can be quite rare due to the nucleation process employed by freshwater pearl farmers. As I mentioned above, these pearls are not bead nucleated, which means that they are more likely to form in irregular shapes.
Freshwater pearls have the widest size range of all pearl varieties, and typically range from 2. However, sizes over The growth period for freshwater pearls varies from farm to farm, which is why you can find freshwater pearls in a wide range of sizes. Luster is the most important aspect to consider when buying a pearl. It is the luster that causes a pearl to shimmer and shine and really catch your eye. The higher the luster in a pearl, the more valuable it is. Generally, saltwater pearls such as Akoya and South Sea pearls have better luster compared to freshwater pearls.
This is a general rule of thumb, but there are always exceptions and it depends on the individual pearls. Freshwater pearls are the most affordable pearl variety on the market. They are also the most abundant. Compare the two 18 inch pearl necklaces below. Freshwater pearls can be found in all popular types of pearl jewelry. These include pearl necklaces, bracelet strands, pearl stud earrings and pearl pendants. While a perfectly round freshwater pearl is extremely rare, Pearl Paradise deals with the roundest, highest quality freshwater pearls available.
Their sizes range from tiny seed pearls measuring 1 or 2 mm in diameter to 15 mm and larger. While freshwater pearls as a variety are the most common type of pearl, very round and lustrous freshwater pearls are very difficult to find. Top-of-the-line freshwater pearls, such as the ones you'd find at high-end jewelry stores and reputable online stores such as PearlParadise. They are dazzling in their rich, bright luster, and their unique charm will last you a lifetime.
Freshwater pearls are produced by Hyriopsis cumingi triangle shell and Hyriopsis schlegeli Biwa shell commercially in China, and other bivalve mussels that live in lakes, riverbeds and creek bottoms in Japan Biwa pearls and Lake Kasumigaura pearls , as well the United States Mississippi River Basin.
Although most freshwater pearl information lists several areas of the world as home to pearl-producing mussels, the global freshwater market is overwhelmingly dominated by Chinese pearl farms, which account for nearly all freshwater pearls sold today. At freshwater pearl farms, each mussel is surgically implanted with 24 to 32 tiny pieces of mantle tissue, a process known as nucleation.
Once the tissue has been inserted, a sac forms and cells begin secreting nacre pronounced NAY-ker , forming a calcium-carbonate compound - a pearl. Over the course of 2 to 7 years, the mussels deposit layer upon layer of nacre around the growing gems, generally producing more than two dozen pearls clustered on the inside of each shell.
After harvest, millions of pearls are sorted carefully and matched for size, shape, color, and quality. Once the sorting is complete, loose pearls are available for sale individually and strands of matched pearls are sold on temporary strings known as "hanks. Luxury without the markup. Hand-selected and individually inspected pearls ensure our highest quality standards.
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