Freshwater Pearls vs Faux Pearls (Part 1)

My clients often ask me what the difference is between faux and real pearls. Although there are lots of answers to that question, simply freshwater pearls are usually cultivated in freshwater lakes and rivers or seawater rafts whilst faux pearls are completely manmade. In this article (Part 1) we are going to take a look at how freshwater peals come into being.
How real pearls are formed?

There are a myriad of folk-tales around pearls and to be honest that isn’t really a surprise as there is something utterly beautiful about the simplicity of a pearl. Cleopatra is said to have served wine with ground pearls in it to her more important guests and Lucifer to have broken his teeth because of his craving for pearls. Early Chinese myths told of pearls falling from the sky when dragons fought. Another ancient legend tells of pearls being the tears of the gods and the Greeks believed that wearing pearls would promote marital bliss and prevent newlywed women from crying. Arabic legend even says that pearls were formed when dewdrops filled with moonlight fell into the ocean and were swallowed by oysters.

From legend to science: a real pearl is a natural gem created by a living organism. When a foreign object is introduced into a mussel or oyster the animal coats the irritant with a substance called nacre, the same material with which it builds its shell. Layers of nacre build up to make a pearl.

So seawater pearls are cultivated by implanting an oyster with a mother-of-pearl shell bead. This is called the 'nucleus. To protect itself, the mollusc coats the bead with layers of nacre. The longer the bead stays in the oyster the more the layers of nacre and the finer the pearl.

Seawater pearls remain in the ocean for around two years to develop sufficient layers of nacre but if a pearl is harvested too early the nacre covering the bead will be thin and prone to cracking and flaking. Nacre thickness is one reason why seemingly identical pearls may be priced differently.

Freshwater pearls use a different culturing technique and take up to six years to grow. Freshwater molluscs are implanted with small pieces of tissue rather than a shell bead. When harvested, the tissue has gone, leaving a solid pearl.

How to determine the quality?

There is no international standard for grading pearls so identical pearls may be graded differently by different suppliers. Pearls come in a variety of shapes and colours. Natural colours are mainly down to the breed of mollusc. Other influences include diet, water temperature and pollutants. It is impossible to predict or control what colour pearls will be produced in any hatchery.

However there are ways of assessing the quality of a freshwater pearl:

Shape: Real pearls come in many shapes, but they tend not to be perfectly round. Expensive genuine pearls may be round, but you will have other clues to help you make a determination. Some fakes are made to look irregular, and glass pearls often have flattened ends or slightly oval shapes. In addition to visual clues, genuine pearls tend to warm to the skin much faster than glass pearls. Resin or plastic pearls tend to feel somewhat warm upon first contact.

Round pearls are the rarest and command the highest prices

but it's worth remembering that non-round pearls can offer a lot of pearl for your money.

Lustre is the shine that gives pearls their beauty and is an important buying factor. Lustre refers to the pearls brilliance - the way it's surface reflects light, and to its inner glow - how it refracts light from the layers of nacre within. Pearls with low lustre appear chalky, yellow or dull rather than shiny. This example gives an idea of the lustre expected from different grades.

Surface Quality: pearls are a natural product and, like handblown glassware, small natural imperfections are quite acceptable. Unacceptable faults include cracks or holes in the surface or thin and flaking nacre.

Harvesting and Processing Pearls

Harvesting pearls is a time consuming business. Of the millions of oysters and mussels seeded each year, only a proportion (maybe just 50%) will survive to bear pearls. Of these, many will not produce pearls of a marketable quality. Each pearl must be sorted by size, shape, colour, lustre and blemish. Then they need to be drilled and matched for stringing - a skilled and laborious task. To find 50 perfectly matched high-quality pearls for a 16 inch necklace a pearl processor may have to sort 10,000 pearls.

Many of our wedding accessories including bridal headbands, hair combs, tiaras and bridal jewellery are made of freshwater pearls. As they are a natural gem they give off a unique lustre and work well with most colour dresses from white to champagne as they reflect the colour of the fabric.

If you are opting for pearls in your bridal jewellery or tiara, it’s normally a good idea to choose either freshwater or faux pearls so the pieces work better with each other. More on faux pearls next time.