Freshwater Pearls |
The two questions that I am asked the most about pearls are.
Q. How can you tell fake pearls from real pearls?
A. Freshwater Pearls: Fake vs Real.
What is the difference between cultured pearls and freshwater pearls?
A. I think what most people are really asking it the difference
between salt-water pearls and freshwater pearls. It would be a rare thing to come
across a natural pearl on the market today. Most wild mussel hunting is illegal,
and the rare find of a natural salt-water pearl would make it worth a lot of money.
Freshwater Pearls versus Saltwater Pearls.
Natural Pearls, are formed by nature without instigation from human
being. Natural pearl are formed around an irritant, such as a grain of
sand, a piece of coral or seashell. Today, true natural pearls are the most rare, consequently considered
the most valuable pearls, or already become part of antique jewelry.
Cultured Pearls, generally are formed the same way as natural pearls.
The only difference, is the irritant introduced by man ( the nucleus is inserted
into the oyster by man) and the oysters are raised in a controlled environment,
on mussel farms. Nowadays, the great majority of pearls sold are cultured pearls.
The least expensive cultured pearl on the market today rivals the quality of the most expensive
natural pearls ever found. This seems obvious to consumers who hasten to buy freshwater bargains.
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Freshwater Pearls in Print
This summer (2004) I have been seeing quite a few articles about pearls.
If you looked at the June and July 2004 issues of
Bead & Button and
BeadStyle Magazine
then you saw several articles about pearls and shells. With plenty of projects.
Not to be outdone the most extensive collection of articles came from Colored Stone Magazine.
- Fresh Possibilities Low prices, fabulous colors, enough shapes to fill a geometry textbook — what more could a jewelry artist ask for?
When Chinese freshwater pearls began flooding the market several years ago, craft artists took notice. It's not that pearls were new to them: Studio jewelers had been incorporating pearls into their designs for decades, long before the current wave of Chinese freshwater pearls reached these shores. But the growing availability of Chinese freshwater pearls has allowed artists to indulge their passion for pearls as they never could before.
- A Chinese Freshwater Pearl History Just what is the appeal of the ever-popular Chinese freshwater pearl? Perhaps it is the wide array of unique colors, shapes, and sizes that attract buyers. Or maybe it's the fact that these pearls can be purchased at a reasonable price. Either way, China is now the leading producer of freshwater pearls in the world. But this wasn't always the case.
- Pearls of Wisdom Nothing is more natural than a pearl. Unlike gemstones, regularly cut and polished to unleash their beauty, pearls arrive ready-made, as natural as when they emerged from the creature that conceived them — or do they?
- A Look at Pearl Quality When buying cultured pearls, consumers must consider several quality characteristics that are very different from the "four C's" of diamonds or gemstones.
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Freshwater Pearl Production in the US
Native Americans of the Atlantic Coastal areas and
the Mississippi River Basin were the first to collect and use U.S. freshwater mussel
pearls and shells. What is the history of Pearl Production in the United States and where can Freshwater Pearls be found?
Live creatures grow pearls, unlike gemstones or precious metals. A
natural pearl forms when an irritant, such as parasite or a piece of sand,
inadvertently enters the body of a particular type of oyster, mussel, or clam.
As a defense mechanism, the mollusk secretes a smooth crystalline fluid, called
"nacre" (the same secretion it uses for shell-building, composed for the most
part of carbonated calcium), to coat the intruder. As long as the irritant is
present, the mollusk continues to add layer upon layer of nacre on the irritant
until a lustrous pearl has been created.
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