How to purchase pearls

Pearl is the symbol of power, wealth since it appeared as decoration of queen’s jewelry in the early modern ages, and it is a “must have” piece of jewelry for almost all the elegant ladies in the world. Doesn’t matter what the skin color you are in, what kind of language you speak, a fine pearl jewelry should be the basic accessory in your jewelry box.

We are lucky nowadays because the cultivation technology of cultured pearls is improving constantly, and there are variety of pearls with different color, shape and prices available on market.

But in the face of thousands of pieces of pearl jewelry, what type of pearl suitable for us and how to pick up the “right” one from them?

Here we go some practical tips for our modern Cassimere Mafia to select the right pearl jewelry and the most efficient way to purchase the pearls:

1. First of all, we need understand the type of pearls, which can create the structure the picture of a pearl jewelry in our mind and help us to decide which type of pearl is our favorite.

According to the growth environments, there are two types of pearls: freshwater pearls and saltwater pearls. Gem-quality saltwater and freshwater pearls sometimes occur completely naturally, but this is very rare. Quality natural pearls are valued as precious gems, single natural pearls are often sold as a personal collection items or appear at international auctions. Matched strand of natural pearls are very few and extremely expensive. Natural pearls still have a small but regular market nowadays.

At the beginning of the 21st century, cultured pearls are able to satisfy almost all needs and ideals for ladies because of the improved cultivation technology of pearls which reduced the market prices.

There are four famous types of cultured pearls on commercial market we need to know:

Freshwater cultured pearls.: they are pearls produced in mollusks in freshwater. Chinese freshwater cultured pearls are famous by their stunning array of body colors and bright overtone never seen in the traditional round Akoya cultured pearls, and there are more than 90% of cultured pearls come from China every year. More…
Akoya cultured pearls.: Akoya is the Japanese name for the pearl produce oyster. The Akoya pearl oyster is used extensively for pearl culture in Japan, China and other areas. They are normally have high luster and nice round shape. More…
South Sea cultured pearls: South Sea cultured pearls are large saltwater cultured pearls from Pinctada maxima or Pinctada margaritifera pearl-produce oysters. The produce localities are Indian, Pacific Oceans, including Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines and Northern Australia. More…
Tahitian cultured pearls: Tahitian cultured pearls are black South Sea cultured pearls with naturally dark color resulting from grafting and breeding in a natural environment in French Polynesia. The dark color comes from deposits of organic pigment, carotinoids and porphyrines in conchiolin. Like South Sea cultured pearls, Tahitian cultured pearls are famous because of the large size, thick nacre coating, natural color and difficult culturing process, and both of them are commanded high prices on market. More…

Besides these four main types of pearls on market, there is some other type of pearls we should know about:

Mabe pearls: Mabe pearls are composite cultured blister pearls which were original produced in China. The finished Mabe pearls had the shape of a half-sphere or a flattened sphere. And the border-line between the pearl and the base can usually be seen clearly, but it is invisible after set in jewelry. More…
Conch pearls: It is a non-nacreous pearl consisting of calcium carbonate arranged concentrically in a crossed lamellar micro architecture. This structure characteristic usually produces a flame-like surface pattern and easy to distinguish from other types of pearls.
mitation: Imitation pearls are products that simulate the appearance of natural or cultured pearls without possessing their chemical composition or their physical properties or their structure. Any product which is pearl-like in appearance is an imitation pearl if its outer layers are not completely composed of a natural substance secreted in the interior of the productive oyster. More…

2. Secondly, you should make sure what you need. Because different purpose leads to different purchasing result. For example, a link style necklace suitable for the V collar and formal evening dress; a set of white color Akoya cultured pearl jewelry would match the bridal gown perfectly. And the budget is the consider factor, too. Tahitian and South Sea cultured pearls are famous by their shining luster and large size, but they recommend high prices at the same time; the freshwater cultured pearls which with the similar cost less than those two type of pearl jewelry.

3. When selecting pearl jewelry, quality is the most important factor. So understanding how to identify pearls and the pearl grading system is very important. There is no universal grading system in pearl industry at this moment, but the GIA (the Gemological Institute of America) presented a “Pearl Grading System” for Akoya cultured pearls and freshwater culture pearls in 2000, which known as AAA – A pearl grade system, while the Tahitian cultured pearls and South Sea cultured pearls are classified by A – D pearl grade system, which know as “Tahitian system”. The quality factor includes luster, nacre thickness, shape, inclusion, size/dimension, matching, color and overtone. More…

AAA – A Grade system:

HANADAMA: Gem luster, 98% -- 100% inclusion free on the surface with unaided eye, perfectly round with very thick nacre thickness;
AAA: Highest luster, more than 95% of the surface are clean with unaided eye, perfectly round shape and thick nacre thickness;
AA+: Very high luster pearl, 90% -- 95% without any growth characteristic on the surface, round shape with thick nacre thickness;
AA: High luster pearl, 75% -- 90% of surface without any growth characteristic, round shape with medium to thick nacre thickness;
A/A+: Good luster with less than 75% surface clean, off-round to round shape and thin to medium nacre thickness.

A – D Grade system:

Top gem: Highest luster, 98% -- 100% inclusion free on the surface with unaided eye, perfectly round shape with very thick nacre thickness;
A: Very high luster, greater than 90% of the surface is inclusion free, perfectly round shape with thick nacre thickness;
A/B: High to very high luster, 80% -- 90% of the surface is inclusion free, round shape with thick nacre thickness;
B: High luster, 70% to 80% of the surface is inclusion free, round shape with medium to thick nacre thickness;
C: Good luster, 40% to 70% of the surface is inclusion free, off-round to round shape with thin to medium nacre thickness;
D: Poor luster, more than 60% visible growth characteristics on the surface with thin nacre thickness.

4. Check the market price
We can check the pearl jewelry’s price on local retail shops or jewelry shop, or just search and compare the pearl prices online.

Normally, the prices from online store are much lower than the brick-and-mortar retailer because of the low operation cost and efficiency running.

5. Choose a competent pearl jewelry store to purchase pearl jewelry. There are a few tips to check it out: whether the store sells the pearls with a very competitive price or not; whether they provide profession advice and service or not; whether they have strong and professional background or not?

After you read through all the basic information about pearl jewelry and tick the question above, you’ve uploaded all the basic knowledge about this industry already, and can start you pearl jewelry shopping trip immediately.

Enjoy your shopping time and wish you have fun with shopping at Pernula Pearl.