Color
While you may be used to seeing most pearls in white, you will find them in a range of colors. People often view pearls and will notice another color than the one they are supposed to see. This other color or "overtone" is an acceptable happening and often will enhance the look of the pearl, especially when light reflects from the pearl in such manner as to create a "creamy" appearance. Pearls are often dyed to achieve a certain look.
Luster
This is what is commonly called "shine" by normal people. The pearl is composed of layers of "nacre" that is deposited slowly. As light reflects off of the material making up this nacre, it is reflected out of the pearl. Since the more layers there are to reflect, the more lustrous the pearl will look, explaining the reason that larger pearls appear to have more luster than smaller pearls.
Surface Texture
The oyster, being a natural creature, will not always deposit the layers of nacre that make up the pearl, evenly. There may be impurities that cause the nacre to be deposited so that when the pearl is finally harvested, there will be isolated areas that do not evenly reflect light and thus will appear as blemishes. Not all pearls, like not all diamonds, are created evenly. Layers of nacre may not adhere evenly and could even fracture and break off. The smoother the exterior, the more light the pearl will reflect.
Shape
While many are used to seeing round pearls, there are other shapes. It may be harder for the oyster to create a perfectly round pearl, and therefore they may be more expensive, but other shapes make attractive jewelry. Some shapes can be Round, Oval, Rice, Tear, and Oblong.
Size
Pearls, like so much other jewelry, are measured by the diameter, in millimeters (mm). Many pearls come in larger sizes, but the larger pearls, with more nacre and luster are more expensive than the smaller variety. Many ear studs are in the 3 to 8 mm range. Rice pearls are elongated and thus measurements are not as critical.
Grading
Many people grade pearls according to a scale which lists the quality as either B, BB, BBB, A, AA, or AAA relative to the criteria outlined above, with B being lower than AAA. Any pearl in the A ranges should serve well as an attractive jewelry item. Pearls are also sold in a size range, within .5mm, as "from 5 to 5.5mm" which will be shown as 5-5.5mm when describing. A "6mm" pearl could be from 5.5 to 6mm if listed as such.
The higher graded Pearls will be rounder, smoother, have less pits and flaws in the surface and be a truer color than lower grades.
C and G inv 9822 Buckingham Lane Berlin, MD 21811 Cande & Greg White
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( Well, Berlin's anyway. )
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