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[F891]Fresh Water Cultured Pearls

by charisestillson, cha

There are some gorgeous cultured pearls sets of jewellery available. This can be a great gift for someone else or for yourself. Learning a little bit about pearls before you buy them can help you get the best value for your money. Selection of pearls is important because a piece of jewellery made with pearls alone or pearls plus other gemstones can be a valuable and treasured item for generations to come.

What is a cultured pearl? While regular pearls are a natural occurrence, cultured pearls happen with a little bit of human intervention. Normally pearls form in an oyster or mussel when something threatens it so the nacre forms a protective shield around the intruder which might only be a simple grain of sand. Various methods are used to create pearls and technicians can be trained in various methods that can help create a desired pearl with various techniques and environments that force the oyster or mussel to begin the process of creating the pearl.

Cultured pearls can be abundant so may be a little less in price but are valuable nonetheless. The process might involve cleaning and bleaching and various shapes and colors can emerge. Many people order custom jewellery in various styles from all over the world. There are many different types and grades and this can impact the pricing and availability of the pearl.

Pearls can be appraised at hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on many factors. Pearls are graded on multiple attributes including: luster, surface, shape, matching and nacre. A pearl can have from one A to four A's. A pearl with AAAA across the board would be a very valuable pearl. A single A can still be a nice pearl but the higher the quantity of A's, the more valuable and beautiful.

Pearls can be available in varied sizes and shapes and colors. You can buy a set that includes earrings, a bracelet and a necklace. This can be a great gift to give to your mother, your wife, your sister, your best friend, your bridesmaids, your niece, daughter or granddaughter. You can customize your jewellery and have something very ornate or you can have something very simple and elegant as well. A single strand of pearls around the neck can be classically beautiful.

Whether you have a passion for white pearls or like something a little more unique, there are many places where you can buy them. There are an abundance of online sources for jewels and precious gems and because the internet is the globe's largest shopping mall, you can buy just about any style, size, color and type of pearl online. They can be under a hundred dollars and can be well into the thousands.

Pearls available online include freshwater, saltwater, Akoya, Handama, white south sea, golden south sea, Tahitian and more. There are many online galleries that allow you to browse through collections and there are also companies that will do customized order for you.

When choosing a company to deal with, look for a company with guarantees, full details about their products and practices as well as information about the company. Buying your cultured pearls online can save you significantly over buying them in retail.

Another way for pearls to be produced is when a certain stimuli, like let's say a parasite, is lodged in between the shell of the mollusk or the oyster. Then the nacre is also released around the intruder. This then leads to the build-up which produces pearls.

When you say natural pearl, these are the pearls that have been produced in nature. Cultured pearls are the total opposite wherein human beings have a role to play in producing these. Inserting foreign objects into the tissue of the mollusk or the oyster, pearl farmers can trigger the process o making pearls.

Over the years, peals have been in demand in the market, especially in the jewelry market. Pearl is symbolic to modesty and virtue. It is also a precious stone. Though they are technically organic gems, because they came from shellfish or mollusks, history of pearls as jewelry goes way back 4000 years.

How they are acquired and their appearance has changed at the turn of each century but pearl remains to be staples when talking about jewelry.

The basis for the pearl to be really precious is the time the oyster coats the sphere with nacre. Since it is rare for any pearl to have the perfect spherical shape, the rounder the better is the rule for pearl farmers.

Nowadays, pearls that are sold as jewelry today are cultured pearls. Human beings had to play a role in the creation of these jewelry in order to manifest a perfect circle pearl.

Cultured pearls can be rated on five qualities:
1. Luster and orient
Luster is the sharpness of the pearl as well as the intensity of the reflections on its surface whereas orient is those iridescent colors that a person sees when looking within the pearl. The pearl is valuable depending on the luster and orient. The higher the better.

2. Color
Usually pearls are white, black and yellow. The undertones are normally rose, pink or ever green. For personal preference, the pearls can be dyed.

3. Cleanliness
Imperfections are still evident in cultured pearls regardless of the way they were made. Real pearls, be it natural or cultivated, are to be expected on real pearls. But the rule here is the less noticeable these flaws are, then the better.

4. Shape
Spherical pearls, because of its rarity, are the most precious types of pearls. There are still imperfections even if it is round. When one looks closely, the symmetry can also be imperfect. That is exactly why there are teardrop shaped earrings made from pearls.

5. Size
Cultured pearls are often sold by diameter. They are measured in millimeters. The larger the cultured pearls, then the rarer, thus the more expensive. Therefore, the bigger the pearl, the better the price.

If you would be wearing pearls, then you should choose a set that go with one another. Let's say that you plan on wearing necklace and earrings. Then go for the pearls that have similar size, color, luster and most importantly shape. You have to match pearls because just like any jewelry, they are also an investment.

Cultured pearls are also sensitive so you have to be really careful in handling them once you bought a set. They can be scratched by other jewelry that comes in contact. Try to keep these pearls separate from one another or also from the other gems in your jewelry box.

Be it natural or cultured, once you own pearls, they are precious stones like diamonds, rubies, sapphires and the lake. Pearls have often been deemed as classy and elegant. They can match anything you wear. Take for example Marcia Cross as Bree Van De Kamp in ?Desperate Housewives? or Marge Simpson in ?The Sampsons?. They both wear pearls. They may be TV characters but they sure look classy in them. What more if a person wears pearls in real life?

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