Pearl jewelry basics

Pearl is a hard object made of calcium that is developed in soft tissue of clams and oysters. Many say it requires an object such a piece of sand to start the formation of a pearl inside oysters. They come in many shapes, colors, and sources but the most valuable for jewelry purposes is the perfectly rounded pearls. They are somewhat rare, very fine, valuable and admirable. When it comes to natural pearls, they are very rare and more expensive. As a result more and more cultured pearls, raised in a farm for the purpose of pearls are becoming the norm. Due to prices, many are also using less costly imitation pearls for making jewelry. Besides being used in jewelry, crushed pearls are used in medicines, cosmetics and making paints.

Harvested pearls have been used for making jewelry for more than 4,000 years. Today some of the popular pearl varieties include Tahitian, South Sea, Cortez, Akoya and Mabe pearls. They come in many colors including but not limited to white, black, cream and gold. When choosing pearl jewelry pay attention to its luster (sharpness and intensity of reflections on the surface), size of pearls, matching of colors and sizes of individual pearls in the piece, and the style of the piece.