What are the different kinds of Pearls?
Natural Pearls are generally thought of coming from some kind of particle inside of an oyster with the lustrous inside of the shell depositing layer upon layer around this particle and then harvested as a Pearl. They have been harvested from around the world and some are right here at home off the coast of California. Currently, most pearls are cultured. This is similar to the ‘farm raising’ of seafood. Certain geographic areas of saltwater produce pearls of many shapes, sizes and colors by implanting the oyster with a mother of pearl bead. The natural process then takes over and because they implant larger beads, they can harvest the Pearls in 2-3 years rather the 5-7 years in the past. This is why you are seeing so many pearls in fashion now. Fresh Water Pearls are from bodies of fresh water such as inlets, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Most desirable is the perfectly round Pearl and is considered the classic style. Shell Pearls are manmade but use the same seed but layers of the inside
