PEARL BUYING GUIDE

The most expensive kind of pearl is natural, but they almost don't even exist anymore. A natural pearl forms when a little grain of sand or other little irritating thing (most likely a parasite of some kind) in an oyster or mussel is gradually covered with layers of nacre, the stuff that coats an oyster's shell. After years and years of build up, a large pearl forms around the scratchy intruder. These pearls can be round, but are usually random shapes, since they form so gradually. The famous story about the value of natural pearls is that Cartier traded one strand of them to buy their building on Fifth Avenue at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Then, in the 1920s, a Japanese man called Mikimoto finally succeeded in forcing an oyster to produce a pearl (without killing it). In this big pearl breakthrough, a bead made out of shell is stuck in the oyster with a little bit of oyster tissue. Because the bead is round and relatively large, it gives the pearl a big head start on forming a round pearl. Thanks to culturing, pearls are now readily available and usually round. Virtually all of the "real" pearls on the market today are cultured, including Japanese Akoya (the classic white pearls), Tahitian, South Sea, and Chinese freshwater pearls. These are jewelry store pearls, and here is the basic price ladder, freshwater are the cheapest, then Akoya, then Tahitian, then South Sea. The bigger the pearl, the bigger the price tag.

Then there are the imitations. Basically these are beads painted with lacquer. Keep reading and you will easily be able to identify fake pearls.

To tell the difference between a pearl that formed in a shell and an imitation, rub the pearl against the edge of your front teeth. Gently! Don't gnaw on it! A cultured pearl (and a natural one, for that matter) will feel rough, slightly sandy in texture. An imitation is hard and completely smooth. Why does the cultured pearl feel rough? The nacre that forms its surface is actually layers of crystals.

Next, we talk about the quality of the pearl.

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