For ages now pearls have been revered as a sign of status. Pearl jewellery can, however, be quite the expensive addition to your collection. Pearls are rated much like gems, and each different type of pearl will have a different value. Natural pearls are extremely rare and make the most expensive jewellery. These pearls are naturally created by hard-shelled mollusks in the wild. Matching strands of naturally occurring pearls is almost unheard of. Almost, if not all, naturally occurring pearls are purchased and sold by serious collectors because of their rarity.
There is an option, however, for jewellery lovers that don’t have the bank account of a collector: cultured pearls. Essentially cultured-pearls are grown by adding a bead and a piece of tissue into a shelled mollusk, or by grafting a piece of tissue from one mussel to another. In enabling the growth of the pearls for mass production, the rarity of the gem has been toned down for cultured pearls. They are still quite breathtaking, retaining the beauty and elegance you would expect from jewellery, yet at a significantly more affordable price. There are many types of cultured pearls, each one having a different value, and thus each one used creates pearl jewellery of different value. If you are a pearl lover it would be wise to get to know the different types of cultured-pearls.
The most expensive cultured-pearl jewellery would be made using the South Sea pearl. They have an insurmountable color of white, cream, and gold. South Sea pearls can grow to be quite large. The Tahitian pearls would be next in line for expensive pearl jewellery. These are sometimes referred to as Black South Sea-pearls. Next are the Akoya-pearls. The most inexpensive pearl jewellery is made using the freshwater pearl. Freshwater pearls have been cultured since the late 20’s, making it a fine-tuned art. All levels of cultured pearl jewellery have their own unique identifying features; just because the cost is less doesn’t necessarily mean the aesthetic value is affected. In addition to personal preference each type of pearl has a different look and feel, transferring this uniqueness to the jewellery it is used to create.
Pearls have a variety of colors and sizes. Luxurious, mirror-reflective, pink Akoya pearl jewellery would make an amazing addition to the jewellery box. If you are going with one color spectrum though, don’t forget to include some dazzling black Tahitian as well.
Pearls will continue to be synonymous with elegance and class. They will always be a dazzling sign of status; however that status no longer has to be defined by income.
