I like pearls, I think they’re pretty, and I want to buy myself a pretty pearl pendant to wear. But I don’t know what I should be looking for. Cultured? Freshwater? South Sea? I thought freshwater pearls were those tiny lumpy-looking ones, and they were super cheap - was I misinformed? Because shopping online, a lot of the nice ones say “freshwater” but are big and round and expensive. Is “cultured” good or bad, and what’s the alternative?
I just want a nice creamy white/ivory pearl on a pendant, maybe with some diamonds on it or something, but I don’t want to be ripped off, paying tons of money for a cheap pearl because I don’t know any better.
That’s a good article, pinkfreud. I would add that once the freshwater pearls sold were only the rice-crispy looking things or seriously off-round ones, but there are freshwater pearls that are nice rounds for sale now. If you’re getting a saltwater pearl, it’s almost certainly cultured (it was started in an oyster with a “seed bead”), naturals are a fortune and practically impossible to find.
In terms of pearl quality, most white cultured pearls are graded A to AAA, with AAA best. The indications of high quality in a pearl is a high luster (shine), a surface nearly totally free of imperfections, even roundness, and a even, good color. Generally, in white pearls, a pinkish tone is the most valued; you might get a bit of a discount if you like cream, but on the other hand a top quality cream might be harder to find. You might want to first check in a jewelry store to get an idea of prices and quality and see them in person.
I would say that it really doesn’t make a lot of difference when you’re buying a single-pearl pendant with small diamonds. The cost of the pearl is insignifcant in the scheme of the retail price of the pendant as a whole.
The vast majority of commercially available pearls today are cultured - both from freshwater (mussels, usually) and saltwater (various species of oysters) sources. There is not really any way to tell from outward appearance whether a pearl is cultured or natural: the main physical difference between the two is that cultured pearls are comprised of a substantial layer of nacre (the pearlescent material) surrounding an artificial nucleus placed there by the culturers, whereas true natural pearls are almost entirely made of nacre. Natural pearls are uneconomical and very expensive given the demand for pearls these days, although serious collectors may be interested in them. When a jeweler uses the term “cultured” to describe a pearl item of theirs, it is usually redundant for them to do so.
Gaudere is correct in pointing out that most commercially available freshwater pearls used to be rough and elongated. However, the culturing process for freshwater pearls has improved over the last few decades, and with correct techniques, pearl-bearing mussels can be made to produce a higher proportion of the more desirable round pearls than in years past.
This doesn’t mean that you should shy away from uneven pearls, though. I work in a jewelry store and have seen some phenomenal jewelry designs that utilize rough pearls, as well as “coin pearls” which look sort of like Mentos (perhaps my personal favorite pearl shape).
South Sea pearls are cultured from certain species of oysters that, due to their larger size, can in turn produce very large pearls. Not only that, but these species can also produce pearls with very vivid natural colors, perhaps the most desirable being black (really a dark grey), a soft rose pink, and gold. Such pearls can easily cost in the thousands of dollars per strand, versus a couple hundred for round freshwater pearls and the high hundreds for Akoyas, the best “classic” small saltwater round pearls. However, these pearls are popular for use in pendants, and a single one will obviously not set you back as much as a whole strand.
BTW, many of the vividly colored pearls on the market are actually dyed. If you see a strand of pearls with strong coloration (beyond a light off-white or very pale pink), and it doesn’t cost a LOT of money (i.e. South Sea pearls), then the pearls were almost certainly dyed. But again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because pearls that have been dyed blue, green, whatever can be used to brilliant effect in jewelry.
I hope all of this is helpful. My advice when you go shopping (and I highly recommend shopping in a store and not online) is to find a jeweler who really knows their stuff regarding pearls, gemstones, and the like. That way you can go in knowing what to ask about what you’re buying, and hopefully get a reassuring response in return. Pearls - especially single pearls - aren’t terribly expensive when compared to other types of jewelry, so my feeling is that the likelihood of a rip-off WRT pearls at least is fairly low.
One caveat about cultured pearls is that some pearl farms (ranches?) have been rushing things. It used to be the pearls were cultured five years before the oysters were hauled out and the pearls harvested. Now it’s more like three with some places. As you can imagine, the nacre layer is thinner. There’s no difference in appearance when the pearl is new, but like a thinner gold plating, it can wear through if abused.
Perhaps someone can tell us a way to tell these inferior pearls from the sturdier ones. I, unfortunately, cannot.
Are these the same as “mabe” pearls (I think there’s supposed to be an acute accent on the ‘e’ but I can’t figure out how to do that. Also it may be “mobe”) - where it’s a dome-shape (flat on the back and round on the front)?
I remember learning a bit about those back in the early 90s; bought some good jewelry from the Diamond District in NYC and a lot of places had earrings etc. made from them. IIRC, they were made by placing a shaped plastic shell inside the oyster, rather than a simple grain of sand or whatever. Sometimes they were even shaped - teardrops or ovals or somesuch, rather than plain circles.
Re the OP: If you want to buy a nice piece, go to a good jeweler and ask them to show you not only pendants, but several different necklaces of pure pearls so you can see what the different qualities look like. That might help you in picking out a pendant with a nice pearl. Many years ago, we were shopping for necklaces for our nieces (wanted to get them to put aside for them for a big occasion, e.g. bat mitzvah) and one jeweler showed us a couple in different price ranges. I could tell which was the more expensive just by looking - it looked “richer” somehow, or as if the color was deeper. Kind of the difference between skim (nonfat) milk cream. They’re both “white”, but… Then you can look at the pendants they have in stock and see which one’s pearl comes closest to the combination of pearly beauty and price you’re looking for.
Another alternative might be to purchase the pearl separately and have it set; that way you can pick one that looks right for you. Jewelers discourage buying individual pearls with the plan to “buy one a year until we have a whole necklace” because it’s so difficult to match size and color, but for a single pearl that’s not an issue.
Gaudere - interesting that pinkish tone is the most valued. I purchased a strand of pearls for myself (after getting moderately-priced ones for the nieces) and wound up with a very nice strand that, on comparison with white/cream garments, definitely has a pinkish cast rather than a yellowish one. And it was proportionally (about 50% or so) more expensive than the ones for the nieces. I’ve evidently got expensive taste in jewelry
