Pearl

Pearl is par excellence the feminine gem, symbol of love, happiness, affection, generosity.There are many legends inspired by pearls: for the Eastern peoples they represent wisdom and the ancients explained their origins by means of a delicate and magic interpretation: when the moon, queen of the night sky, spreads its sweet silver light over the earth, pearl-oysters leave the seabed to rise up to the billowing waves and they let themselves gently swing, thus becoming impregnated in a bond of love of night dew and pure moon rays, and from this union pearls are born! Although it would be nice to believe in this legend, let's try to understand where they are formed and the reasons for the thousands of differences of these real miracles of nature.

Here are essentially three types of pearl jewery: natural, cultured and imitation. A natural pearl (often called an Oriental pearl) forms when an irritant, such as a piece of sand, works its way into a particular species of oyster, mussel, or clam. As a defense mechanism, the mollusk secretes a fluid to coat the irritant. Layer upon layer of this coating is deposited on the irritant until a lustrous pearl is formed. The difference between cultured and natural pearls is that natural pearls begin with no intervention from man.

Natural pearls
There is no real commercial market for natural pearls. If you have a customer looking for natural not cultured pearls contact your customer reprsentive.

Natural pearls are formed when a foreign object enters the shell of a mollusk and irritates the soft mantle tissue within. This irritant can be anything from a minute snail, worm, fish or crab to a particle of shell clay or mud. The sac separates from the rest of the tissue and nacre-secreting cells within the sac secrets nacre over the irritant. This nacre builds up layer by layer. Most of these natural pearls are baroque - irregular in shape, either round or symmetrical. The longer the pearl remains in the mollusk, the more layers of nacre coat it. The pearl grows and so does its chance of becoming baroque.

Natural pearls jewelry today tend to be found primarily in older jewelry from estate sales, auctions, and so forth -- in other words, existing pearls rather than new ones. However, some natural pearl beds are being increasingly harvested.

Cultured Pearl
The cultured pearl forms because someone inserts both a piece of mantle from a sacrifice oysterand a nucleus are inserted into the mollusk. Freshwater pearls are mostly tissue nucleated only. No bead is used.

The cultured pearl forms because someone inserts both a piece of mantle from a sacrifice oyster  and a nucleus are inserted into the mollusk. Cultured freshwater pearls are mostly Tissue nucleated only. No bead is used.

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Orignal From: Pearl