What is a pearl made of and how is it formed?
True pearls only develop from two forms; one is the “natural” pearl also known as an Oriental pearl. The other is the “cultured” pearl and is clearly the most common and most affordable. To form a cultured pearl an irritant such as a piece of tissue or a mother-of-pearl bead is introduced or nucleated into the oyster/mollusk. The mollusk will coat this item with numerous layers of a secretion known as nacre, which will eventually form a resplendent pearl. While the natural pearl forms from nature as an irritant which is most likely a parasite somehow finds its way through the oysters shell and into the Oyster itself, the cultured pearl on the other hand is formed by surgically implanting a small bead or piece of freshwater tissue into the oyster. This is a form of artificial implantation. Both means of pearl formation result in superior, lustrous circular-in-shape pearls. However Natural pearls are simply quite rare and beyond most consumers means. This resulted in the formation of the
