Types of Pearls

Virtually every pearl on the market today is a cultured pearl, grown in either a range of mollusks including salt-water oysters and freshwater mussels. The following is interesting information on each type of cultured pearl on the market today.

There are three types of salt-water or marine cultured pearls; South Sea Pearls, Tahitian Pearls and Akoya Pearls. Marine culturing involves seeding a marine oyster's reproductive organ with a bead nucleus and a small piece of mantle tissue. Marine pearls are left to grown for several years before the pearls are harvested.

The majority of pearls used for beading today are cultured freshwater pearls. Freshwater pearls are grown in freshwater mussels and are seeded with the fleshy mantle tissue of a donor mussel. Each mussel is seeded with 12 to 16 insertions per valve resulting in 24 to 32 pearls per mussels after being left to grow for 2 to 6 years. Since freshwater pearls are not seeded with a bead nucleus these pearls are rarely perfectly round.

Learn About Pearl Culturing
Salt-Water Pearls  
South Sea Pearls

There are two groups of South Sea cultured pearls: white and black. Pearls from the white group are primarily cultured in the waters of northern Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Their colors range from gold or light-yellow; varieties primarily from the Philippine and Indonesian waters and white or silvery hues; varieties that occur mainly in Australian waters. Pearls from the black group, including the legendary black pearl of the South Pacific, are found over a wide area from the Cook Islands to the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia 
   
Tahitian Pearls

Tahitian Pearls are some of the most beautful and most unique pearls in the world. They produced by the black-lipped oyster around Tahiti and the French Polynesian Islands. There are no actual pearl farms on Tahiti but many are found in the islands of French Polynesia. The oyster itself is quite large, as much as 12 inches across and up to 10 pounds, which results in larger than average pearls. Tahitian Pearls are unique for their naturally dark colors from charcoal to dark green blacks.
   

Akoya Pearls
Considered to be the classic cultured pearl, Akoya Pearls are cultured in southwestern Japan and China. The akoya oyster is the smallest pearl-producing oyster used in pearl culturing. The resulting pearls also tend to be smaller, ranging in size from 2mm to 11mm and are consistently round or nearly round making them extremely desirable. Akoya Pearls are known for their luster and their soft pinkish white to creamy silver colors. Chinese akoya pearl farming has surpassed Japanese production and now rivals Japanese akoya pearls in quality and quantity.
   
Freshwater Pearls  
Freshwater Pearls

Freshwater pearls come from mollusks that live in the fresh waters of ponds, lakes and rivers. China, the world leader in freshwater pearl production has been involved with freshwater pearl harvesting since the 13th century. Recently over-harvesting and pollution in China has reduced the number of pearl farming mussels. The availabilty of good quality and affordable freshwater pearls has been impacted by this environmental disaster. Freshwater pearls come in an astonishing array of sizes, shapes, and colors.
   

Biwa Pearls

Biwa Pearls are small, uniquely shaped cultured pearls from the freshwater mussels of Lake Biwa in Japan. They were first produced in the 1930’s and at that time the quality of the Biwa Pearl rivaled both natural and cultured saltwater pearls.

For many years any freshwater pearl was called a “Biwa” regardless of where it came from. Today this name is often used to describe cultured freshwater pearls of this shape.
   
Other Types of Pearls
Keishi Pearls

Keshi pearls form when the mollusk rejects and spits out the implanted nucleus before the culturing process is complete. Keshi pearls form in either saltwater or freshwater pearls. Sometimes the implanted tissue breaks up and a separate pearl sac forms without a nuclei. These small freeform pearls are solid nacre and range in color from silvery white to silvery grey. They are generally small in size and, because they do not have a nucleus to shape the pearl, the resulting shapes vary widely. 
   
Mabé Pearl or Blister Pearl

The Mabé Pearl was named after the mabé pearl oyster which is found in the seas of Southeast Asia and in the Japanese islands around Okinawa. These "half pearls" grow against the wall of the oyster’s shell rather than in the tissue and are also called blister pearls. Once the pearl is fully developed the Mabé is made by cutting the blister from the shell, removing the nucleus, filling the pearl with resin and finishing the back with a piece of mother-of-pearl. Mabé Pearls are used for setting rather than stringing and are much less expensive than other cultured pearls.
 

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