Pearls have always been very popular as jewellery. These white orbs are perfect for necklaces or even to stand alone in a medallion. A pearl is formed when a tiny piece of sand is trapped inside a shellfish, such as the oyster or species of mussel. The sand irritates the shellfish and it encases the sand piece with layers over layers.
Today, natural pearls like that are still very valuable but becoming increasingly scarce due to overfishing and destruction of the shellfish' natural habitat.
Cultured specimens are organic pearls, often freshwater, which resemble the quality, look and feel of the natural grown. For this reason, they are very popular and much cheaper to buy than natural pearls. The Chinese mastered cultivation 700 years ago, but the West caught up much later.
Pearls come in many colors, rangin from pale white to black, they may even be brown, silver, cream and pink. The color depends on where it was grown and what shellfish created it.
When you want to determine the quality and price of a pearl, there are several things to look at:
The lustre is the most important factor. Lustre is the combined effect of the inner glow and outer brilliance. These two combined, make the pearl seem solid and dense. If it lacks lustre, it may seem brittle, chalky and dull.
The smoothness of the pearl's surface is the second most important factor. A pearl will always have blemishes, as it is grown organically, but the high quality pearl, will only have minute faults, visible only from up close.
The shape is equally important; the roundness of the pearl is a determining factor. It's common for pearls to not be completely round. The rounder, the higher the value.
The color of the pearl is not really a determining factor for a pearl. That is mostly a preference of whomever is the buyer.
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