In Polynesian culture, the pearl has always been synonymous with purity and power...

Choosing the pearl of your dreams...

Tahitian cultured pearls are all one of a kind items. They differ in size, shape, color, quality, etc.

When harvesting Tahiti cultured pearls, the pearl farmer performs an initial sorting, discarding all the rejects. He then makes a selection of pearls based on their diameter, shape and quality.

Learning about these differences is important before you buy a pearl.

This page lists all the details for choosing pearls you could ever want to know, including how to spot imitations and what to look for, along with many ideas for taking care of your pearls.

Pearl Classification: Diameter

Pearls are classified from millimeter to millimeter and measured by the shortest diameter, which generally ranges between 8 and 14mm. This is done by sorting them through sieves.

Some pearls reach 16mm and very exceptionally 18mm.

To date, the record diameter for a Black pearl is 21 mm.

Pearl Classification: Shape

Four basic shapes are defined at the production stage: Round and semi-round, semi-baroque, ringed and baroque.

For some jewelry makers, shape is purely a design element, be it the sensuous curves of the drop or the flowing free-form lines of many baroque shapes.

For such artists, all shapes that inspire them share aesthetic equality. Most designers agree it is difficult to favor one kind of shape over another. A New York designer once said: "A pearl that looks homely seen loose will be transformed into a thing of beauty if placed in the right setting."

Round pearls are almost perfect spheres whose diameter variation rate is less than 2%. The round pearl is the most sought after and the most rare of Tahiti cultured pearls.

Semi-round pearls are slightly imperfect spheres whose diameter variation rate is greater than 2% but less than 5%

When a pearl is allowed two years to grow inside an oyster, the chances of even, perfectly spherical nacre accumulation are a long shot.

One experienced seller of fine Tahiti pearls says true rounds rarely account for more than 10% of a Tahitian pearl farm's crop. And 5% is more the norm. The percentage gets even smaller, he adds, when taking into account the many round pearls that are so heavily blemished they are unsellable.

No wonder, then, that all other things being equal, fine-quality round Tahitian cultured pearls are the rarest and most expensive of the breed.

However, more plentiful semi-rounds and button shapes can give the look of round shapes for less money, especially when these pearls are set in jewelry. In such cases, slight deviations from round and even noticeable elongation can be concealed or, at the very least, masked.

Ringed pearls, which generally account for 25-30% of a Tahiti cultured pearl harvest, seem to fire the imaginations of many designers. No one knows why "circle pearls" occur so often in harvests. Perhaps it is the species of oyster used to grow them. Whatever the cause of ringed pearls, they often compensate for this characteristic with pronounced color play and multiple hues. Designers often take advantage of their low prices and high appeal by setting bands of precious metal accented with diamonds and colored stones into their grooves. These bands subdivide the pearl into contrasting spheres of color.

Ringed, or circled, pearls are characterized by regular streaks, rings or grooves that are perpendicular to an axis of rotation and cover more than a third of the pearl's surface.

Baroque pearls do not have any axis of rotation. Given the transforming impact of design on the look of a pearl, it is hardly surprising that black pearl specialists usually admire drop and baroque shapes.

Because Tahitian pearls are most commonly used in jewelery, the low incidence of rounds is not considered a drawback. On the contrary, the wide variety of affordable fancy shapes is a big drawing card for jewelers who specialize in them.

Pearl Classification: Quality

Nacre Thickness:
This affects the durability and sometimes the beauty of a Tahiti cultured pearl. During processing, handling and wearing, a pearl's relatively soft and delicate nacre inevitably suffers some abrasion. If a cultured pearl starts off with a thick coating of nacre (and gets reasonable care), the abrasion will not affect its beauty for many years. If, however, the pearl has a thin nacre coating (or is carelessly treated), its nacre will soon wear away, exposing the nucleus.

Luster:
This is the quality of the light reflections from the pearl's surface. Pearls are said to have high, or very high, luster when the reflections are bright and sharp. When the light reflections are weak and fuzzy (or diffused), the pearls are described as dull.

The Tahiti cultured pearl rivals anything grown in Japan for the sharpness and intensity of reflected light from a pearl's surface. In fact, pearls from French Polynesia often possess such a mirror-like finish and radiant brilliance that their overall appearance is likened to that of very shiny metallic objects, such as ball bearings. The only problem with such an analogy is that it suggests a cold, steely beauty. In reality, lustrous Tahiti pearls have a warmth to them--even when their surfaces gleam as brightly as a dress shoe.

No wonder, then, that luster is one of the most prized factors of Tahitian pearl beauty. And rightly so. Most jewelers probably don't know that the typically high-gloss finish of the Tahitian pearl is something unique to the cultured variety of this gem. The result is that the degree of preferred luster varies from fine jeweller to fine jeweler. Some, recalling that natural black pearls generally had for more of a matte finish, prefer Tahitian cultured pearls with soft, satiny surfaces reminiscent of the natural variety. Others prefer the high-glow pearls at which Tahiti excels.

If lustre is one of the features that sets apart the cultured from the natural black pearl, they'll tell you, this should be played up, not down. Still other jewelers who sell a wide variety of Tahitian cultured pearls take a pragmatic, best-of-both worlds approach. Regardless, the luster of the Tahitian pearls is just like their color- all natural.

Surface:
For reasons best understood by psychologists, pearl dealers talk about the degree to which a pearl's skin is free of blemish as "spotting", a very negative term for a very common pearl feature. Pearl dealers prefer the neutral term "surface" as a way of discussing, or even rating, the presence or absence of imperfections in pearls. In this regard, it is the pearl world equivalent of "clarity".

Quality A pearls: are entirely smooth or are marred with just one or two tiny ripples or indentations (often hidden later by a drill hole) that are visible to the naked eye but are confined to less than 10% of the surface. They all have a very good luster. But a nearly negligible number of pearls merit this rating. Their extreme rarity also adds significantly to their cost. For the most part, jewelers will see pearls that deserve grades of B or lower.

Quality B pearls: are those with some imperfections concentrated over less than a third of their surface and with a beautiful or average luster.

Quality C pearls: are those with light concentrations of imperfections over less than two-thirds of their surface and an average luster. Given the girth of most Tahitian pearls, plus their dark tones and/ or color play, gem stones used with C graded Tahitian pearls are still often quite attractive.

Quality D pearls: are pearls with light imperfections over more than two-thirds of their surface and no deep imperfections; or quality D pearls are those with deep concentrations over less than half of their surface and with a soft luster. This is the lowest grade of all. There are many pearl dealers, jewelry designers and jewelers who believe such unsightly pearls should be labeled "rejection goods" and barred from commerce.

Pearl Classification: Color

Generally speaking, the darker the Tahitian black pearl, the more valuable it is. The finest black pearls also have a green overtone that is called "peacock green". A solid black pearl with no overtone is considered undesirable and may cost as much as 50% less than one of similar quality with green overtones. Pearls with muddy colors are also viewed as undesirable.

Other overtone colors on black pearls are pink, blue, gold, silver and a reddish purple called "aubergine", which is French for the word eggplant. These overtones may be present in a variety of combinations and are considered a plus factor. Black pearls also have a wide range of body colors, the predominant basic color of a pearl- black, gray, blue, green and brown.

What Causes Pearl Color?
A lot of pearl farmers wish they had the full answer to that question. Then they could control the color of the pearls they cultivate. As it is, they have only part answers or clues, which include the following:

The type of host oyster:
Oysters vary in their potential to produce certain colored pearls. For example, black pearls are cultivated in the black-lipped oyster because other oysters do not produce pearls of the same type. Even though pearl farmers know the black-lipped oyster is essential to the cultivation of Tahitian black pearls, they don't know yet how to consistently make it produce a specific color. The pearl may end up being white or a variety of shades of gray as well as black, bronze, greenish or purplish.

The quality of the nacre:
If the nacre is very thin, the color will look milky and lack overtone tints. Besides being affected by the number of layers of nacre, pearl color is affected by the thickness of each layer.

The environment they are grown in:
It's theorized that there may be trace elements in the water that affect the color. The color of the tissue that is inserted with the bead nucleus. This involves the color of tissue from another oyster's mantle (the part of the oyster that secrets pearl nacre) that has to be implanted with the shell bead for a cultured pearl to grow.

What Color is Best for You?
Most pearl experts agree that a buyer's color choice should be primarily based on what will look good on the person who will wear the pearls. Some sales persons, however, give color advice by suggesting what's popular in specific geographical areas. But you will also want to know how the color affects the price of pearls.

Imitation Black Pearls:

At one time, if a cultured pearl was black it was certainly stained artificially, usually by immersion in a solution of silver nitrate. Natural black pearls do occur, although more rarely than ever, while naturally-colored black cultured pearls from Tahiti and other places are increasingly common due to the use of the black-lipped pearl oyster known as the Pinctada Margaritifera. But imitation black pearls are not so common as other color imitations since the true black pearl has a color that is far from being a matte black. In fact, the natural and cultured black pearl both have a beautiful sheen. Sometimes this sheen is a greenish hue against a black background. At other times the sheen is a bluish-black color that is very difficult to adequately describe.

Faint Reddish Glow Characterizes Natural Black Pearl
Natural black pearls have a faint reddish glow when viewed through crossed filters, such as when bathed in blue light from a copper sulphate solution and examined through a red filter. Artificially-stained black pearls do not have this red glow reaction. It has been found that overlong exposure to X rays will blacken some freshwater pearls without a nucleus. But this is not so serious as possible blackening of natural pearls.

Some Imitations Have Immediate Giveaway Signs
Imitation pearls are found in graduated and chocker necklaces of such sizes and matching symmetry and color as to be obviously anything but natural or cultured pearls. The immediate giveaway reason is that so many large, perfectly matched pearls would cost a small fortune. But less pretentious imitations still have a giveaway sign. That is the drill hole. It is never so precise in imitation pearls as it is in natural or cultured pearls, which are individually drilled. The mass-produced imitation pearls literally have their hallmark at the drill hole, which shows signs of unevenness and rough formations due to the lack of finish applied to the manufactured pearl. Thick "tears" of the coating may appear at the drill hole as coagulations.

10x Lens Easily Reveals Imitations
Such telltale signs are quickly and easily revealed when an examination of the suspected imitation pearl is made with a 10x lens. Equally, an examination of the surface of glass beads will reveal bubbles just below the surface, or a mat pattern totally unlike the wandering serrated cloissons seen in natural pearls. Likely candidates for treated, imitation black pearls are the hard-to-sell, less popular colors. The typical treatment uses a solution containing a silver salt, such as silver nitrate. The pearl oyster picks up a silver precipitate, which is blackened by exposure to light or hydrogen sulfide gas. The treated color is non-fading.

Ways of Detecting Treated Color Pearls
The treated color can be detected by a number of tests, such as certain types of X-ray analysis and infrared photography. Such tests detect the treated color's comparative lack of ultraviolet fluorescence and its response to dilute acids.

Radiation Used to Alter Cultured Pearls' Colors
In recent years, gamma rays (and other forms of radiation) have been fired at cultured pearls to alter their colors. The radiation is thought to have a "charring" effect on the conchiolin layer, which is the organic matter layed out in thin sheets on the external side of the oyster shell. The new color is dark, generally a shade of gray or bluish gray, but not really like the black achieved by the silver salt treatment. The color is stable and the treatment does not make the pearl radioactive. Naturally colored black or dark pearls usually show reddish fluorescence under long wave ultraviolet. Gamma treated colors usually show only the yellowish fluorescence typical of bead-nucleated and freshwater pearls. Some cultured pearls derive their color from bead nuclei that were dyed before the grafting process. On rare occasions, pearls have also been found with thin plastic coatings to add superficial color. The coating makes them feel strange and, with wear, tends to develop "bald spots".

See our Black Pearl F.A.Q.'s here...

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