Hi hivers
Although pearl has been known for its beauty and purity, it was also known for costing a fortune in the past, but it no longer does because most of the pearls available now are the Cultured(reared) pearls or Immitation pearls which are cheaper and costs around $500-$100,000.
Natural pearls are rare as most of them have been collected over the years.
Pearls are produced by Mollusks and can be found in fresh or salt water.
Salt water pearls are found in Japan, Islands of French Polynesia, China, Australia, Indonesia and Philippine. While Fresh water pearls are mostly found in China.
Most fresh water mollusks don’t possess bead nucleus but only possess a piece of tissue therefore they produced pearls with thicker Nacre than the pearls from salt water mollusks.
Natural (Wild) or cultured pearls are found in Mollusks. For natural pearls, the pearls are formed within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusks or fossil conulariids when layers of Nacre are produced around an irritant in its shell.
Natural pearls are the most valuable pearls.
In cultured or reared pearls a piece of tissue is inserted artificially through surgery into the shell of the mollusks to trigger the production of nacre around the tissue, thereby creating pearls.
The quality of Nacre determines the quality of the Pearl.
Apart from the Natural and Cultured pearls there is another type of pearl known as the Immitation Pearl they are artificial as they are just “Coated Glass Beads”
Although there are pearls of various shapes such as; Oval, Baroque (misshaped) or pear shaped pearls, pearls regarded as good quality are round and smooth.
Apart for the use of pearls as a jewellery, pearls has been used for various purposes such as beautification of clothes, its powdery form (after being grounded) has been added to medicines, cosmetics and paint formulations.
If you are interested in purchasing rare pearls, I would advice you seek professional advice from top jeweller like, so you wouldn’t be a victim of fraud.