Most pearls are now cultured and produced in farms, where a foreign object is placed inside a mussel (freshwater) or oyster (saltwater) to initiate the creation process.

Natural pearls are now very rare and costly.

Cultured pearls are farmed pearls either by way of saltwater or freshwater and can take anywhere between months to 3 years to produce a single pearl.

Freshwater pearls are naturally cream pink and lilac and often not as round as saltwater pearls.

They are grown in lakes and rivers mostly in China and Japan.

Saltwater pearls are farmed in different sea locations around the world using different oyster shells therefore giving a different colour variance.  

Akoya pearls are typically white & cream & farmed in Australia, India & the Philippines.    

South sea pearls are typically white, cream & gold and farmed in the French Polynesia.

Tahitian pearls are typically black, peacock blue, grey and brown and farmed in Tahiti & the Cook Islands. 

The way in which the pearls are farmed, the length of time the pearls are left to process, mantle tissue, nacre & weather changes are all important factors that contribute to the end result, appearance and value of the pearl.  

The rounder, less marked, more lustre and thicker the nacre,  the more costly the pearl. Pearls are graded on their marks by clean, lightly spotted, mildly spotted and heavily spotted. 

Both natural and cultured pearls are formed by a mussel or an oyster over months and even years and because of this slow process it is rare for the surface to be perfectly flawless and is very normal for pearls to have surface blemishes. If a pearl is heavily spotted it can affect its durability therefore making it less likely to last very long. 

Pearls are graded by these key criteria: size, shape, colour, lustre, surface quality & matching. 

The visual phenomenon of body colour, overtone & lustre are due to the compaction and smoothness of the pearls crystalline nacre layers that form during its farming process. 

Please note that because of the process, the colour can slightly vary between products. If you wish to buy a matching pendant and necklace please let me know so I can best colour match.