CULTURED PEARLS
Cultured pearls
are natural gems. Its natural beauty is unique and used in pearl jewelry. Pearls achieve their most distinctive beauty that comes from the reflection of light through the layers of crystalline nacre. In other words, the unique luster of pearls depends upon the reflection and refraction of light emanating from its translucent layers. The transparent nacre provides the deep shine and the high reflection. The iridescence or opalescence in pearl is caused by the over lapping of successive layers. The luster is the essence of beauty of all pearls types. A high quality lustrous pearl will emit a brilliant and equal reflection with fine radiance.
Cultured Pearls: Real Beauty Helped Along.
When many people hear the term “cultured pearls” they assume that these are synthetic pearls and not worth their time or their money and assume that it is nothing more than plastic. This is not the case; in fact cultured pearls are what you will find in most fine jewelry stores. Do not let the term fool you, cultured pearls are very real, valuable, and would make a nice addition to any collection of jewelry.
Cultured pearls are pearls; they are just helped along by humans. When you consider in the past that pearl hunters would have to open hundreds, if not thousands, of mollusks to find just a couple pearls it makes sense for humans to intervene just a bit and help the process along so we are not unnecessarily pulling these living things from the waters where they are a part of the ecosystem.
All pearls are formed when a foreign piece of matter becomes trapped in the tissue of the oyster or mollusk. What happens then is that the tissue secrets nacre, which is a combination of crystalline and other organic substances, and as these materials build up layer upon layer, what was once an irritant to the animal becomes a pearl! This is an amazing process that takes time but the end result is just beautiful!
The way that cultured pearls are formed is that humans actually implant the foreign body into the clam or the mollusk and then under controlled conditions the pearl is allowed to form over one to seven years, depending on the type of mollusk or clam that the foreign body has been planted in. As you can see, the process is still quite lengthy, but the end result it amazing and of the highest quality.
Cultured pearls were the invention of two Japanese researchers by the name of Mise and Nishikawa. These two researchers created a technique in which the foreign body was planted in the gonad of the oyster, which resulted in a round oyster. A man by the name of Mikimoto patented the process soon after this process was created and in 1916 they harvested the first round cultured pearls and the technique has been used ever since.
The benefit of cultured pearls is that they are designed to be flawless. Farmers know exactly how long it takes for a pearl to be created and therefore they can harvest it at the right time to ensure that the pearls are without flaws and also ensure that the pearl is healthier and will hold up well when it is worn as a piece of jewelry. Cultured pearls are the most flawless you will find.
Cultured pearls are grown tens of thousands at a time, which makes them more affordable than ever before. The problem with natural pearls is that they are available in such a wide variety of colors, shapes, quality, and numbers that when they were found and were sellable they were very expensive. Cultured pearls allow the average person to purchase and wear these beautiful pieces of nature more affordably than ever before.
Cultured pearls have really changed the whole pearl market because they have taken the market and allowed for it to stabilize. In the past most of the pearls that were available naturally came from Kuwait and because of the process of finding them and importing them, they were very expensive. Today there is an unlimited supply of cultured pearls, which has led to the decline of the Kuwait pearl industry.
Many people are worried that their cultured pearls look fake, but really the only way to differentiate between the natural pearl and the cultured pearl is to take an x-ray of it. The only difference between the two is that cultured pearls have the nucleus in the center while the natural pearls do not. Regardless, 99% of the pearls that are on the market today are cultured.
Freshwater cultured pearls are some of the most popular. This variety ranges in size and shape, which is part of their popularity. These pearls usually range from two to eight millimeters with the average being four to five millimeters. There have been some freshwater cultured pearls that have been as large as 10 millimeters. Most of the freshwater cultured pearls come from China, who has dominated the market for quite some time.
In addition to freshwater cultured pearls there are also Akoa pearls. These pearls are smaller than freshwater pearls ranging from two to nine millimeters in size. These cultured pearls were originally created in Japan but from 1990 on China started growing these pearls in serious quantities, giving the Japanese competition for the exports of these pearls. These pearls are usually cream colored or can be yellow or green, though color can be added.
In addition to freshwater and Akoya pearls there are also Tahitian pearls. These pearls are usually black and are quite large with the size range being from nine to 17 millimeters. These pearls are not enhanced by humans; instead they occur naturally black and luminescent, which is why many refer to them as “Queen of the pearls”. The value of these pearls and all others is based on size, shape, and sheen.
When you have cultured pearls you will need to care for them very carefully so they are as beautiful 50 years from now as they are today. Pearl jewelry should always be kept away from other jewelry as scratches can result. You should also refrain from storing your pearls in the sun or even in direct heat as this may cause damage to the outer shell of the pearl, affecting color and luster.
Cultured pearls always make a great gift. Many women like to put together whole collections of pearls to wear to the office or on those special nights out. Pearls have become a lot more affordable in recent years as production is at an all time high for all varieties of pearls. You may still have to part with a substantial sum of money to get a long strand of pearls, but they are worth it!
Cultured pearls today are regarded by many as the only true type of pearl because naturally occurring pearls simply are not that common and when we do see them they are often not as perfect as we have come to expect them to be due to the culturing of near perfect pearls. While they did not start out as popular, today cultured pearls are very popular from one side of the globe to the other!
