subject: How to Pick Out Pearl Jewellery [print this page] If you are looking to buy a pearl necklace, then doing a bit of research will pay off big time. Pearls are great to look at and have been used as jewelry for hundreds of years. In fact, they used to be an adornment, reserved only for the very wealthy. That was naturally because of the way natural pearls are formed; a small piece of sand encased within a mussel or oyster for up to 10 years.
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:
Lustre is the most important factor and is the density of the pearl. Lustre is defined as the combination of the inner glow and surface brilliance of the pearl. Lower quality pearls may appear too white or too 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 of the pearl is also very important. Few pearls are born perfectly round. It is much more common for pearls to be shaped a bit differently. The rounder the pearl, the higher quality it is considered.
The color of the pearl is not really a determining factor for a pearl. That is mostly a preference of whomever is the buyer.
